[00:20] Why Do Big Events Become So Stressful?
Every church has events that feel “big” for its size.
For many churches, Christmas is probably the biggest. And it often arrives when everyone is already exhausted.
In Australia, December is particularly intense. The church year is wrapping up, schools are finishing, families have end-of-year commitments, performances are happening—and then we're trying to pull off one of our biggest church events at exactly the same time.
It can create a mentality of:
“Just get to the end. Just get through Christmas. Then I can rest in January.”
But sometimes January isn't enough to recover. And sometimes the next event is already waiting.
That can create a vicious cycle where one person coordinates Christmas, becomes completely overwhelmed and declares, “I'm not doing that again next year.”
Then someone else takes it on—and experiences exactly the same thing. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[03:00] Mental Fatigue Is Different
Big events can leave us physically tired, but there's also the mental load involved.
Physical fatigue can often be addressed by stopping and resting.
Mental fatigue can be much harder to recover from—particularly when you're experiencing physical and mental exhaustion at the same time.
So the goal isn't necessarily to make a major event effortless.
There may still be an enormous amount of work involved.
But we can think strategically about how we manage the stress surrounding that work. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[04:00] Decide Your Big Events in Advance
One of the simplest things churches can do is decide ahead of time which events are actually going to be big events.
Don't arrive at an occasion and suddenly think:
“We should probably do something for this.”
When Mel worked at a larger church, they had what they called the “Big Five”—Christmas, Easter, a women's conference, Mother's Day and Father's Day.
Not every event was equally large, and Mel wouldn't necessarily recommend having five major events. But the important thing was that the church had decided which events would receive significant energy and resources.
Everything doesn't have to become an event.
You can acknowledge an occasion without creating a major production around it. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[05:30] Manage the Energy of Your Team
The number of events isn't the only consideration.
You also need to ask:
Are the same people doing all of them?
Five events managed by five different teams is very different from five events that repeatedly depend on the same group of people.
Creative and music teams can be particularly vulnerable because they're still carrying their normal weekly responsibilities between major events.
So when planning the year, don't simply look at the calendar.
Look at the energy you're asking people to expend.
And don't feel pressure to create an event simply because another church is doing one.
Decide as a team what matters for your church and your mission. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[07:00] Work Backwards From the Event
Once you've decided what you're doing, manage the timeframe.
Start with the event date and work backwards.
How many weeks do you have?
When does communication need to begin?
When do decisions need to be made?
What needs to happen in month one, month two and month three?
Mel used a large whiteboard so the whole team could see how long they had until each event and what needed to be accomplished along the way.
People work differently. Some don't want to think about an event until two weeks beforehand—and then suddenly they're running around like a headless chook.
But having a visible plan and communicating it consistently can put everyone at ease.
Don't just have a deadline. Have a pathway to the deadline. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[08:00] Do the Conceptual Work Early
The conceptual work doesn't need to wait until the event is close.
If you're three months out from Christmas and only then asking, “What's our theme?”, you may already be creating unnecessary pressure.
Planning early can also save money.
You can wait for sales. You have time to order things. You can check that what you've ordered is actually right. And you have breathing room if something doesn't work.
God can certainly help us figure things out at the last minute.
But that doesn't mean we need to leave everything until the last minute. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[09:00] Give Creativity Some Breathing Room
Starting early also creates space for collaboration.
When Mel was overseeing creative events, getting the conceptual work done early meant there was time to bring creative people together for brainstorming sessions.
The question could simply be:
If there were no barriers, what would we love to do?
That creates an encouraging environment for creative people and gives others genuine ownership of the process.
Instead of one person having to produce every idea, you're drawing on the gifts and imagination of the broader team.
And sometimes that's where the best ideas emerge.
One year, a brainstorming session produced the idea for a Gogglebox Christmas.
It was huge—but it was also a lot of fun. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[10:30] Events Can Develop People Too
Creating enough time for collaboration has another benefit: leadership development.
When everything is rushed, we tend to rely on the people we already know can get the job done.
But when there's breathing room, we can involve other people.
We can discover gifts we didn't know were there. We can give people opportunities to contribute. We can train and develop them.
And the person coordinating the event doesn't have to be the expert in everything.
Sometimes your role is simply to bring the right people together and help draw the best out of them. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[11:30] Use Your Communication Tools
Big events are happening alongside everything else the church normally does.
Sunday is still coming.
Worship still needs to happen. Ministries are still running. Meetings are still happening. People still need care.
So event communication can easily become lost amongst everything else.
Use whatever communication tools work for your team.
That might mean a WhatsApp group. It might mean a whiteboard. It might mean providing a weekly update in staff meetings.
Mel would regularly remind the team:
“We have three months until this event. These are the things we need to get done.”
And she would come prepared with exactly what she needed from each person.
Clear communication reduces the amount everyone has to carry in their heads. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[13:00] Adjust Your Expectations
There's also a deeper issue we need to address.
Sometimes when we're planning a big church event, we can begin to believe that the intricacies of the event are responsible for the transformation we're hoping to see.
Mel remembers one event at a large church where a huge screen on the stage malfunctioned.
Some of the creative team began panicking.
The event wasn't going to be as good.
It wasn't going to look the way they'd planned.
It might be a disaster.
But eventually Mel stopped and reminded everyone why they were doing the event in the first place.
They wanted to help people find Christ.
And someone finding Jesus wasn't dependent on a screen. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[14:30] Big Isn't Necessarily Better
We need to remember what actually brings transformation.
It's not the screen.
It's not the production.
It's not how impressive the stage looks.
It's the Holy Spirit.
Our culture tells us that bigger is better, and that assumption can easily find its way into church life.
But big isn't always better for someone's faith journey.
In fact, an event can become so focused on scale and spectacle that we lose the human connection people actually need.
There can be incredible value in doing something impressive on a large scale.
But that doesn't mean impressive is what someone needs in order to encounter Jesus. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[16:00] Maybe We Need Smaller Events
Instead of putting all our energy into one enormous evangelistic event, perhaps there are times when smaller events that genuinely engage with the community are more effective.
Not every event needs to be chasing the big win.
Smaller community-focused events can distribute the workload across the year and require fewer people to make them happen.
They can also create something incredibly important:
opportunities for genuine relationship.
For this generation, those smaller points of connection may sometimes be far more effective than the traditional large, one-off outreach event. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[17:00] Don't Forget Who Is Greeting People
Here's one thing that's very easy to overlook.
When someone new arrives at your event, who is actually there to meet them?
We can become so consumed by the operations of the event that we forget to think intentionally about the people walking through the door.
Rather than simply finding someone willing to greet, consider involving people with genuine gifts in evangelism or hospitality.
People who love meeting people.
People who naturally make others feel comfortable.
People who want to connect.
Otherwise, the event can become little more than going to the cinema: people arrive, watch something and leave having only interacted with the people they came with.
That's not what we're trying to achieve. S1 Ep 36 - How do we take the s…
[18:30] The Stage Isn't the Most Important Part
Looking back at some of the large events Mel was involved in, enormous amounts of energy went into what was happening on the stage.
But perhaps there should have been even more thought given to what was happening in the room.
If we're genuinely doing these events for evangelism, the interactions people have may be far more important than what they're watching.
We care about how things look.
We want to do things well.
But excellence can't distract us from the reason we said we were doing the event in the first place.
[19:00] Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing
Ultimately, if we're holding an event to reach people and draw them towards Jesus, we need to get to know them—and they need to get to know us.
That doesn't happen simply by watching something on a stage.
It's relational.
And ultimately, evangelism leads towards discipleship.
We're not trying to create an impressive moment, see someone make a decision and then say, “See you later.”
We're inviting people into relationship, community and a life of following Jesus.
So perhaps one of the best ways to take some of the stress out of our big events is also the simplest:
Keep the main thing the main thing.