With summer just around the corner, your church may be wondering how you can keep the momentum going during the unpredictable summer season.
Vacations, pool parties, and family visits to your home are a few reasons why attendance at your church may be down this year. Not to mention, your congregation daydreaming during the sermon about their upcoming trip this summer.
What can you do to maintain a healthy weekly attendance and an energetic congregation this summer? Here are five ideas to create momentum during those dreaded summer months:
1) Increase your social media presence.
If your church only posts events and sermons on social media, summer time is an excellent opportunity to get your congregation involved. Enlist them to create posts and engage in conversation with your church.
If you don’t know where to start, your youth group may be a great way to brainstorm ideas. They will be on summer break, looking for projects or activities to keep them busy. They will bring new and fresh ideas to engage with your church community. Posting pictures, videos, and promoting events are a good way to get them connected and involved in your ministry community.
2) Combine your small groups in fellowship and to serve with one another.
Unpredictable church attendance also affects your small group attendance. Start a summer service project at your church or create an opportunity for your small groups to combine with one another in fellowship. Know a member who needs assistance? Coordinate with several ministries to serve together in ways that will lend a hand to those in need.
3) Sermons Posted Online / Live Stream.
With so many people out during the summer, it is imperative to notify your church congregation when new sermons are available on your website or how they can watch a service online while they’re on vacation. You can send this out in an email, app notification, text, bulletin, or any other means of communication that you use.
Streaming your Sunday morning service online is also an effective way to keep your congregation connected. If you haven’t set up a live stream at your church, you may want to consider using Facebook® Live or YouTube® Live to get started. These tools give your congregation a chance to connect with what is happening at your church without physically being there.
To take it a step further, you could put a team together that interacts with those watching the service online. It’s a good idea to have the team monitor comments. If someone has a tough, theological question, they can pass it along to the pastoral staff. Or, a viewer may have a simple question about where to register for an upcoming event and the team can quickly answer them.
4) Encourage a Summertime Giving Campaign to raise funds for a project at your church.
Need to pave the parking lot, paint the sanctuary, or restock the food drive shelves? Giving campaigns are an excellent way to raise awareness about the projects that need to be completed at your church. They will get people excited to give towards a ministry project and promote a sense of ownership towards your church.
5) Create a fresh look for your website.
Whether you have a staff that maintains the website throughout the year or not, summer is the best time to “freshen up” your online presence.
Replace the images on the website. Review each page and see if any improvements can be made. Check your site’s analytics to see which pages are the most popular and which ones get the least amount of traffic. Then, make your edits from there.
Creating a fresh, new look for your website is an exciting update for those visiting your church website. Especially, if they will be spending a lot of time on your site this summer watching or listening to the service while they are out of town.
Summer is a great time to check in on your whole ministry. It is a time to try new things and find creative ways to get your congregation involved in your church community.
