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The Summer Slump
Most churches experience a “summer slump.”
- Attendance drops
- Giving slows
- Volunteers miss
- Interest fades
What should a leader do during down times? Although I can’t answer the question for you specifically, I would say, “DO SOMETHING INTENTIONAL!”
You might:
- Challenge the church to host summer neighborhood block parties
- Ask your small groups to take the summer off and challenge them to devote one weekend a month to an inner city mission project.
- Write devotionals for people traveling on vacation.
- Do a summer long overview of the Old Testament
- Experiment with a different style of worship
- Participate in “One Prayer” (Couldn’t resist)
- Take some extended time off
- Challenge people to devote a week of their vacation to minister on an international mission trip
Whatever you do, don’t miss this great opportunity to pray, seek God, and do something intentional! Even though many are distracted, God still wants to do something powerful through your ministry this summer!
Please share any summer ideas or ministries you are excited about.
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Good morning C! Giving your post some thought. Just finished Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Preaching on those would definitely give new meaning to “summer slump.” We have two mission trips planned for this summer: one to a Cherokee reservation in OK and one for the local community to do work (handicap ramps, paint, scrape, cut grass, etc). That one has garnered lots of excitement. My question: I would like to know what some pastor’s ideas are for sermons. Do you do a series through a book? Do you do a series that if they miss one, they won’t miss out? How about you Craig? What is your approach?
Intentional… while people are a little more inconsistent during the summer, this is the best time to slow down “activities” and busyness, and train and build relationships. I strongly encourage my pastors and team leaders to invest their time and energy into leadership development during the summer. They may not be able to do large group training, but it’s much more effective to invite someone over your home for dinner and a training session. Now is the time to train small group leaders preparing for the fall, train leaders in any area where it takes more than one session to get people ready.
Just be flexible, but don’t waste the summer.
Patrick, I agree completely. Leadership development can be a huge part of the summer! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Bill asked a good question about preaching. Do you preach through a book? Do you do a series that people can miss one and don’t miss out? Maybe some of you can share your summer message thoughts.
This is not terribly original since I ’stole’ it from you about 2 or so years ago, but I have found the summer months the best time to do the “See you at the movies’ series (we started it when we were meeting in a movie theater). We encourage people to invite friends and neighbors and we make the series pretty interactive by asking people to comment on what they think the moral or spiritual message embedded in the movie might be. We have found this to be a big hit during the summer and it doesn’t matter if you miss a week or two since there is no continuity between messages.
I love the idea of the summer series being a little more lighthearted and able to stand on its own. Summer is also a time when people are more relaxed in their schedule in the community, and are often willing to accept invitations from neighbors or friends to try church out.
In light of your recent posts, a pre-summer series on intentional disruptions would be interesting. Teach the congregation to use the travel/change in routines to see God’s hand at work in a new way.
Craig, as always, thanks for the creativity and transparancy. You are talking about stuff most people sit quietly on.
Only thing I would add, is to plug the fool out of your children’s ministry. For Fellowship this is a great source of outreach for the summer. (Not to mention most parents are looking for an opportunity to get rid of their kids for a few nights…)
This summer we are trying a lot of new things in Children’s - all of them focused around moving visitors into the weekend worship services. It’s going to be awesome to see how God uses what is normally a down time to bring families into the House!
I think I mentioned this previously, but we’re doing a four-pronged spiritual growth campaign. It involves a sermon series that is both live and podcast, a growth manual available both in print and in eBook format, discussion groups throughout the week and online, and did I mention, online resources and forums that intersect with each week’s topic.
The material covers the basics of spiritual growth and trasformation, but is aimed at both new beleivers and seasoned believers who have a “Re-new” track option.
More information here:
http://www.lifevesting.com/blog/2008/05/22/grow/
Tonight in our youth ministry we’re launching our Summer Vision for 2008. We find that launching a short term vision every 90 days gives focus and excitement regardless of season.
This summer we have chosen to focus on 3 primary targets
1) All summer we are going to bring Jesus back to the forefront in our music, preaching, and study. We found that we were pumping “the ministry” and not Jesus…so all summer long we’ll be studying the gospels, and preaching “Christ and him crucified”.
2) We are sending out students on micro-missions. Our goal is to do 120 micro-missions in 90 days. A micro-mission is ANYTHING that requires risk, fills a need for unchurched people, and is done in Jesus’ name.
3) We are using our gatherings this summer to teach basic doctrine and church values each week in a fun way by videotaping our senior pastor’s wife and calling it “Moments with Momma” and she will use five minutes to explain one point each week from her kitchen while she is baking.
In other words this summer we fully expect students to love and understand Jesus and the power of the cross, impact our city, and become stabilized in their faith. Can’t wait!!!
Brian, Love it! Way to go! You should have an amazingly spiritually charged summer!
Andy, Thanks for sharing your idea. It sounds strong.
Ardentvox, I’m sure our kids’ team just shouted for joy when they read your comment! Great stuff! Thanks!
Marla, Good idea on the summer disruptions.
Joseph, I took that idea from Vince at Forefront Church. It has made a big difference.
One thing that we do at our church in the summer is have occasional outdoor services. It works well for us because we have an open courtyard in the middle of our facility. It is about the size of a regulation football field.
We are being really deliberate about looking/listening for opportunities to bring HOPE to those caught in the ‘heat of summer’… for example: everyone seems to be talking (complaining) at the gas pumps - why not deliberately choose joy while filling up? You’ll stand out and often have opportunities to ’share the reason for your hope’
- other places where we often check-out or join the complainers: long, hot, lines at amusement parks… or airport security lines…
- facing ordinary frustrations with extraordinary love WILL make a difference - in US if no one else - from the gas pump, to the amusement park to the airport… LIVE deliberately.
Craig,
This will be our first summer as a church in Las Vegas. Any ideas or suggestions for me?
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Love the post. Just came across this blog about two weeks ago and have enjoyed it very much. “Intentional and Strategic” are two words that my Pastor has been challenging the leadership at our church about. I’m a newbie campus pastor and our base church is about 15 minute away. A question was posed to the leadership at our church from our Senior Pastor in recent weeks. The question was one of those that hits you like a ton of bricks. Here it is: “If we were to shut the doors of our church tomorrow, would the surrounding neighborhood, would our city, would our community even know it?” My challenge this summer is being “intentional and strategic” about getting out of the 4 walls of the church and making God, making our hearts and making our church known. Practically speaking we gear one service every 6 weeks strictly towards evangelism. This summer I plan on not just one service but a three week series towards evangelism involving “connection points”, neighborhood block party, saturday “non traditional” evening services, and closing bbq with special invitation. What a great time it is to make Christ known. God bless.
O Jesus de Aquarius…
Jesus sempre foi superestimado, considerado por uns como o FILHO DE DEUS, ou subestimado por outros como, o profeta de 3 anos de serviço.
……
[...] [Repost from May 27, 2008] [...]