Never Miss A Beat: Your Essential 2025 Church Promotions Calendar

As I post this, it’s the end of 2024.

The next thing you know, it will be January, and someone will put a meeting on your calendar to talk about Easter.

🤯 Yikes. How does that happen?! Maybe this sounds familiar…

Back in October, my team was in Charlotte, NC, for a meeting and stopped to check in with the communications team at a large church we’d worked with a few years ago. While catching up, my eyes scanned over their annual planning wall calendar and all of the dates coming up:

• Parent’s Seminar
• Fall Harvest event
• Christmas activities

Me: “Hey… are you doing 2025 planning? I don’t see it on the calendar.”​

Comms Director: “You know… we really need to add that!”

​Me: “You do! Let’s put it on your calendar right now before you get into everything else.”

Moral of the story: When you get busy, it’s easy to forget to look up and take stock of what’s coming down the road.

The Essential Dates You Need In Your 2025 Church Promotions Calendar

Don’t get caught off guard. Take this list of 27 dates to put into your Church Promotions Calendar detailed below ⬇️⬇️⬇️. You’ll know when…

📅 important dates are coming up.
💭 give yourself time to plan for major promotional pushes.
🙌 and build in time for review and preparation for 2026.

After working in marketing and communications for 20+ years and churches for almost seven, I know how events (even the annual ones) can sneak up on you when you’re busy with the day-to-day details. 😁

I’ve also built in “100 Days” markers for Easter, Christmas, and other major dates. These tend to be “all hands on deck” efforts that require more coordination, resources, and time to execute. Even if you’re a smaller church, having that extra time built in gives you a much-needed buffer.

Take 5-10 minutes and put these dates on your calendar now. Future-You will be grateful 🙃

❄️ Early in 2025:

After you’ve rested from the holidays, it’s time to start planning for Easter.

• Fri. Jan. 10: 100 Days to Easter Sunday
• Mon. Jan. 20: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Mon. Feb. 17: President’s Day

✝️ Easter season:

A great time to talk about baptism, membership, or other important discipleship steps.

• Wed. Mar. 5: Ash Wednesday/Lent Begins
• Sun. Apr. 13: Palm Sunday
• Sun. April 13 – 20: Holy Week/Passion Week
• Sun. Apr. 20: Easter Sunday

☀️ Late spring and summer:

Whether your church does something special for these dates or not, it’s good to be aware of what else may be on people’s calendars.

• Sun. May 11: Mother’s Day
• Sat. May 24 – Mon. May 26: Memorial Day Weekend
• Sun. Jun. 15: Father’s Day
• Fri. Jul. 4 – Sun. Jul. 6: Independence Day Weekend

🍂 Fall:

For many people, Labor Day serves as a mental marker to “get back” to a routine. Also: start planning for Christmas!

• Fri. Aug. 29 – Mon. Sept. 1: Labor Day Weekend
• Tues. Sept. 16: 100 Days to Christmas
• Wed. Oct. 1: Pastor Appreciation Month begins
• Thurs. Nov. 27 – Sun. Nov. 30: Thanksgiving Weekend

🌟 Christmas Season:

Don’t forget Giving Tuesday!

• Sun. Nov. 30: Advent Begins
• Tues. Dec. 2: Giving Tuesday
• Sun. Dec. 21: Last Sunday before Christmas
• Wed. Dec. 24: Christmas Eve
• Thurs. Dec. 25: Christmas

🎉 Bonus Dates:

Depending on your church’s calendar, here are other dates you may want to add.

• Church Vision Casting
• 100 Days to your VBS/Kid’s Camp, etc.
• Annual Stewardship or other Giving Campaigns
• Church Anniversary Celebration
• Community Outreach events

🗓️ 2026 Planning:

Learn from my clients! Make sure you mark time to get ready for 2026.

• 2025 Promotions Evaluation/Audit
• 2026 Planning

Add these to your calendar now, and share them with those you collaborate with the most.

If you’re looking at your 2025 communications calendar and think, “I have NO idea how I’m going to make THAT thing happen,” don’t stay stuck and wondering. That won’t get you anywhere! We can talk it through and see what options will work best for your church and your goals.