Does it ever feel like your leadership team struggles to stay focused during the summer months? Do vacations and Vacation Bible Schools disrupt church leadership rhythms, shifting everyone into September survival mode? Have you ever wished away Memorial Day in an effort to sustain effectiveness and engagement?
Here’s the reality: The problem with July/August momentum requires a January/February solution.
Ministry momentum doesn’t just happen. Churches won’t stumble into growing effectiveness during a busy season, and engagement doesn’t magically reappear in September after a summer spent on the white sand beaches. Leaders create momentum, steward effectiveness through every activity, and intentionally build engagement. A vision planning retreat in the winter months of January and February directs church team efforts, energy, and focus through summer and deep into the fall.
A winter retreat sets the tone for every ministry, program, and event that will find its way onto the calendar. A vision planning retreat when the leaves are gone brings focus and energy when the leaves are green. Looking ahead in January or February allows church leaders to plan, align, and set, not continually reset, weekly rhythms toward measurable progress. Leveraging a vision planning retreat in winter positions the church for a year of mission-moving, disciple-making momentum.
Planning for momentum
Momentum is hard to define but easy to recognize when it’s there—and painfully obvious when it’s not. In ministry, momentum is that sense that everything is moving in the same direction, that leadership, staff, and congregation are aligned, and that progress is happening. When a church has momentum, small wins lead to bigger ones, and people are more engaged because they feel like they’re part of something significant.
But here’s the kicker: Momentum doesn’t come naturally. It takes intentionality. Churches that thrive aren’t just lucky. They’ve built momentum from the ground up, starting with a clear plan and a focused team. And that kind of planning needs space, time, and clarity—three things that are hard to come by in the middle of the summer ministry grind but that can be cultivated in a well-designed winter retreat.
Here are three reasons a vision planning retreat in January propels vision in July:
1. It directs mission
Bringing leaders together in January gives every leader the gift of focus all year. Move beyond simply asking, “What do we want to do?” and lean into aligning every effort toward a disciple-making call unique to your context and community. Set direction toward the mission at the beginning of the year to ensure every step forward is intentional because momentum grows from intentionality.
2. It unifies leadership
As soon as the Lenten season begins, leaders tend to drift into ministry silos and get out of sync with each other. A winter retreat brings calibration, connection, and coordination as the team collaborates to row in one direction for the year. Disconnected teams row in circles, as individual ministries paddle with opposing forces of events and programming. Gather the team to plan the whole year and bring everyone into the Holy Spirit’s cadence of effectiveness. Fall momentum is the byproduct of winter unity.
3. It ignites success
Small victories can grow into big, momentum-fueling wins, like a snowball rolling down a hill. Setting quick 60-to-90-day disciple-making initiatives early in the year brings a sense of accomplishment and movement that sets the tone for the year. In January, it’s easy to overestimate how many big projects can be done and underestimate how much small victories might matter. Think in smaller, measurable, accomplishable initiatives, because August momentum feeds off of February progress.
Thriving into the fall
Momentum is the difference-maker between a church that survives through the summer and a church that thrives into the fall. Momentum anchors ministry purpose all year long, and it begins with a strong start. A January or February retreat isn’t just about planning. It’s about propelling your church forward through the year with clarity, energy, and focus.
Will you play catch-up six months from now, or will you start the year strong, with clear direction and unstoppable momentum? Will you spend July hoping for effectiveness or directing it? And will your team sync ministry efforts or scatter ministry energy this summer?
The choice is yours, and it begins with scheduling time to dream and plan in January for effectiveness in July.
This article was originally published at Lifeway Research.
