Many Churches follow the Christian Year in their programming, which runs from Advent to Kingdomtide. This implies that new budgets should be set in the Fall, rather than December. The end of the year is time for execution, not decision making. Christmas has a lot of activity centered around the birth of Jesus in Nazareth. Why add to the busyness of the season by having budget meetings?

A better time for setting the budget is September. Start after school is back in session, and schedules have settled down. Follow your budget review, planning process then to completion. The goal would be to have a new Church Budget settled and ready to go by Advent. This should include technical ministry needs for the Christmas season as well. By doing this, the new equipment will be available for the Christmas productions, rather than having to wait until next year.