Community calendars serve as centralized listings of local events, offering residents a quick snapshot of what's happening around them and opportunities to engage with others. They appear in regional newspapers and magazines and on their sites, online forums, radio and TV station websites, tourism sites and municipal pages. Anyone can submit an event for consideration to these calendars, and the majority are free. Yet, they are often underused tools for connecting churches with the public.
According to an Eventbrite trends survey, nearly 70% of respondents reported a preference for attending events close to home. Churches offer meaningful events and gatherings that can help meet their community's desire for local activities. So what's to lose by trying community calendars as a means to inform and engage the public?
Consider a calendar posting for special or large worship nights, concerts, charity fundraisers, pet blessing events, VBS, Easter egg hunts, fall festivals, Christmas candelight service and the like. They're also appropriate for promoting upcoming Bible studies.
It's time to get started using community calendars, and the following insights can help shift your mindset towards them and offer guidance for their use.
Benefits to realize
Community calendars can benefit churches by:
- Increasing visibility for a church and its offerings
- Placing information in front of a broader audience beyond a congregation and its direct neighborhood
- Elevating awareness for an event that increases attendance/activity participation
- Capturing the attention of individuals new to the area and those seeing community engagement
Information to share
Submitting an event involves providing basic details by addressing the five W's: Who, What, Where, When and Why. Give the event name, date, time, location and a brief description. When the calendars allow, utilize images and/or hyperlinks to direct people to the official event page on your local church's website.
Churches should use accessible language, avoiding heavy jargon or internal acronyms. A clear, welcoming message encourages participation from people of all backgrounds. The type of information that draws you to an event is the kind of information to incorporate in your listing.
Timelines to consider
To make the most of this resource, churches should submit online event listings at least two to four weeks in advance, allowing time for approval, publication and public discovery. Since they require additional lead time for consideration to meet print deadlines, magazines are best suited for events that allow for two to three months of advance notice.
Tactics to explore
Whenever a church confirms an upcoming event or activity, it should plan to post the information on community calendars as soon as it becomes available. Consistency builds familiarity, and over time, the public may begin looking for your events specifically on these platforms.
In addition to submitting events, churches can also monitor these calendars to discover what's happening in the community. This creates opportunities for collaboration, volunteerism or simply showing support at other gatherings. Being present at local events builds relationships and demonstrates that the church is invested in the community beyond its own walls.
On a related note, although not a community calendar, pair the listings and reach the public by utilizing neighborhood Facebook pages and similar platforms to share about events.
In an era when people are overwhelmed by digital noise, community calendars offer a concise, grounded, and trusted source of local information. By tapping into them, churches can extend their reach, share their message and continue to show how they are a vital part of community life.