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calendars

Common Prayer, Daily Office, The Church Year

The Church Calendar

Hands clasped in prayer over book

A Shared Christian Rhythm of Time and Prayer

The Church Calendar is a practical resource designed to help Christians live faithfully within the rhythm of Scripture, prayer, and shared time.

Across centuries and cultures, the Church has ordered its life around seasons that tell the story of Christ — His coming, His life, His death, His resurrection, and the sending of the Spirit. This project offers a simple way to recover that shared rhythm, without denominational requirement or institutional control.

The calendars provided here are offered for common use, personal formation, and fellowship across the Body of Christ.

How to Use These Calendars

Each calendar layer can be used on its own or together.
You may subscribe to one, some, or all — according to your calling, context, and conscience.

These calendars are tools, not rules.
They exist to serve prayer, Scripture, and Christian life — not to replace local church worship or personal responsibility.

The Calendar Layers

Layer 0 — The Church Year

Common Christian Calendar

This calendar provides the shared structure of the Christian year:

  • Seasons such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost
  • Major feasts and holy days
  • The weekly rhythm of Sundays

Layer 0 contains no prayers and no readings.
It simply marks time in a way Christians across traditions have recognised for centuries.

Best for:
Anyone seeking a shared Christian rhythm of time, without liturgical texts.

Layer 1 — Common Prayer

Historic Form (1662)

This calendar builds on the Church Year by adding historic prayers of the Church.

It includes:

  • Proper Collects for named Sundays
  • Principal feasts and holy days
  • Language retained in its historic form

The prayers are drawn from the Book of Common Prayer (1662), one of the most influential witnesses to Scripture-shaped prayer in the Western Church.

This calendar does not require adherence to any denomination. It is offered as a historic resource for prayer, learning, and formation.

Best for:
Christians who wish to pray with the historic Church while remaining rooted in Scripture and free in conscience.

Layer 2 — Daily Office

Common Christian Rhythm

The Daily Office provides a simple, optional rhythm of daily prayer:

  • Morning Prayer
  • Evening Prayer

Each appears as an all-day reminder, not a scheduled appointment.

The Daily Office is intentionally minimal:

  • Scripture-centred
  • Flexible in timing
  • Suitable for individuals, families, and groups
  • Non-intrusive to daily schedules

There are no fixed hours and no obligation.
If a day is missed, prayer is simply resumed.

Best for:
Christians seeking a gentle, sustainable rhythm of Scripture and prayer in daily life.

Sources & Witnesses

The prayers used in Common Prayer – Historic Form (1662) are drawn from the historic Book of Common Prayer (1662), a formative witness to early Christian liturgical practice as received and preserved within the English Church.

These texts reflect a long-standing pattern of Scripture-shaped prayer that has served Christians across cultures and centuries. The Book of Common Prayer has been translated into many languages — including Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and others — and continues to influence Christian worship globally.

In drawing from this tradition, we are learning from and honouring the faithful witness of the Church through history.
We do not submit to any denomination as an authority, but to the apostolic and scriptural authority of Jesus Christ, as received in Holy Scripture.

Subscribe to the Calendars

Each calendar can be subscribed to using:

  • Google Calendar
  • Apple Calendar
  • Outlook
  • Any calendar app that supports .ics subscriptions

You may subscribe to one or more calendars depending on how you wish to engage.

Instructions for subscribing are provided below.

Why This Exists

This project exists to support:

  • Unity within the Body of Christ
  • Faithfulness to Scripture
  • Respect for the historic Church
  • The priesthood and responsibility of every believer
  • Shared life, prayer, and mission

The Church Calendar is not an end in itself.
It is a means of formation, offered in service of Christian fellowship, discipleship, and mission.

How to Subscribe

The Church Calendars can be viewed online and subscribed to using the calendar app you already use. Subscribing allows the calendars to update automatically when changes are made.

You may subscribe to one, some, or all of the calendar layers.

View the Calendars Online (Google Calendar)

Each calendar is embedded on this page using Google Calendar.

  • This allows you to explore the seasons, prayers, and daily rhythm before subscribing.
  • Viewing an embedded calendar does not add it to your personal calendar.
  • You may return here at any time to browse the calendars without subscribing.

If you would like the calendar to appear in your own calendar app, follow the steps below.

Subscribe using Google Calendar

  1. Open Google Calendar in your web browser.
  2. In the left-hand menu, locate Other calendars.
  3. Click the “+” icon next to Other calendars.
  4. Select From URL.
  5. Paste the calendar URL provided below.
  6. Click Add calendar.

The calendar will appear under Other calendars.
You can rename it, change its colour, or hide it at any time.

Note: Google Calendar may take several hours to reflect updates.
If changes do not appear immediately, they will sync automatically.

Subscribe using Apple Calendar (iPhone, iPad, Mac)

On Mac

  1. Open the Calendar app.
  2. Select File → New Calendar Subscription.
  3. Paste the calendar URL.
  4. Click Subscribe.
  5. Choose your preferred name, colour, and update frequency.

On iPhone / iPad

  1. Open Settings → Calendar → Accounts.
  2. Tap Add Account → Other.
  3. Select Add Subscribed Calendar.
  4. Paste the calendar URL and tap Next.

Subscribe using Outlook

  1. Open Outlook Calendar.
  2. Select Add calendar.
  3. Choose Subscribe from web or From URL.
  4. Paste the calendar URL.
  5. Save the calendar.

Calendar URLs

Use the links below to subscribe directly:

A Note on Notifications

These calendars do not include notifications by default.

If you wish to receive reminders, you may enable notifications within your own calendar app. We recommend keeping notifications optional and gentle.

A Note on Use

These calendars are offered as a support for Christian life, not as an obligation.

  • You may subscribe or unsubscribe at any time.
  • If a day is missed, simply return.
  • If a season feels heavy, take it slowly.

The aim is faithfulness, not pressure.

Formation Readings

Deepen your formation with readings from the common table