Len DenBraber | Assistant District Superintendent for Multiplication I’ll never forget a conversation I had in the first month of my ministry as the Lead Pastor in Kamloops. It was June, and I was still meeting people for the first time in the lobby when a couple, who I knew were key leaders, approached me. The conversation went something like this:
We celebrated the people who were there, rather than acknowledging the people who weren’t there. There were Sundays when I would start my message by saying something like, “Wow. Looks like everyone went camping this weekend (haha).”
“Pastor, we’re so glad you’re here and we’re so excited about what God has in store for our church!”
It dawned on me that this wasn’t respectful to those who made the effort to attend church, and it certainly didn’t motivate them to return in the following weeks. Instead, I started to say things like, “Thanks for being here today. You could be anywhere else, but you chose to make worshipping Jesus a priority – and that’s something to celebrate!” At the very least, it set the right tone and acknowledged the commitment of those present rather than focusing on the ones who were away.
“Thanks!” I replied, suspecting that they had something to add. “Well… I guess we’ll see you again in September.” My face must have shown my surprise, so they proceeded to explain that in the summer they went camping every weekend. It’s not that they had a problem with the church, it’s just that they wanted to take full advantage of the good weather while they could. It wasn’t long before I discovered that they weren’t the exception: sometimes more than half of our regulars were away on any given Sunday in July and August. Truthfully, they were also AWOL for much of September so they could squeeze every last minute of sunshine out of the summer before the weather turned.
We realized that summer is an opportunity to welcome new people. With the inevitable dip in attendance, the temptation during the summer slump is to cut corners on message preparation and service planning. However, June through September is when new people move into town and others go “church shopping.” Typically, guest attendance actually increases, and the summer is a critical time to introduce new people to the church.
For the first few summers, this trend drove me crazy. I was frustrated by the lost momentum and (to be honest) I resented those who had the freedom to go away for the weekend. Eventually, I realized that there was nothing I could do to change this reality, so I had to flex with it instead of fight against it. Here’s what we (eventually) did to deal with the summer slump:
Summer is meant for fun! One warm Sunday after church, a number of families with young children decided to go to the local spray park together. Even though our kids were a little older, we were invited as well. While we watched the kids run and play, the adults chatted about 8
