August is the New September
This may not be true all over the world, but most of the new generation leaders in the U.S. are seeing a trend in churches: August is the New September.
In years past, September was one of the biggest months of the year for churches. The week after Labor Day, people settled back in and seemed to refocus on God and ministry.
Don’t wait until September, start in August!
I’m not sure if it is the change in school schedules, the distraction of Fall football, or some other factor, but people are coming back to church earlier.
If you normally consider August as the last month of your summer schedule, I’d suggest a change in your thinking. View August as the first month of your Fall planning.
Please jump into this conversation! How is August different than in years past? What do you do that works? Do you agree? Disagree?
(Please tell us where you are from if you are explaining your experiences.)
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You’re absolutely right. My girls have their last day of school today. They used to get out June 13th or so. Each year the date they go back to school gets pushed earlier and earlier into August. Everyone around us is having to adjust vacations, etc. because of this. I hate it! I still like thinking about August as summer. At GCC people consider early August as “going back to church/school time.”
My kids are back in school the first full week of August. I think that can have a lot to do with it but I know that the way I lead at the church (my attitude) has everything to do about it. It’s a conscience mind set change.
How does one gear leaders back up in July to begin in August? That sounds almost impossible.
I’m in the metropolis of Florence, South Carolina but we have seen the same trend. The last couple of years August has been the best month for our fall. One thing we do - we make the last Sunday of August a big day that we really push - whethere its a special speaker, emphasis or just a high attendance day…whatever the day may be it gives us something to build for throughout the month…
When I was still in student ministry ( 2 years ago) we saw this happening for sure. For the last five years in our city, students have been going back to school no later than August 14th. Some trips and events we would plan in August stopped and basically we went to a two month summer calendar. I would say you’re right on Craig.
Our experience in the last couple of years is that the beginning of August is down but the end shows a big trend into the September boom. Schools where I am do not begin till after Labor Day. This is why I think that the big boom is September.
I totally agree. In our neck of the woods(Seacoast, NH) the first weekend in August is like a holiday weekend and after that everyone starts settling back in. All the schools start in August & all the sports team start practicing in early August so everyone is back home. Like you said, Labor Day used to signal the end of summer and the beginning of the fall, not any more. So like I said yesterday we kick off our 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting in early August and use it as a way to help people gear up for the coming madness of fall. It has worked great for us in years past and we hope making a bigger push this year.
We do a week-long outreach at most of our church plants near the beginning of August and have had a lot of success with it. The outreach has been a great launch into the fall every year for them and has given them a positive face in the community!
That was the way it was in Florida too. We saw a spike of new guests in August and it dropped back in September. But this year could change. The state of Florida realized it was losing millions in tourist revenues as well as cheap labor so they changed all that. Now, schools can not start back not more than a week before Labor Day. So, we could be going old school again (pun intended).
I’m not clear on this one. Our church is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Our schools don’t start back until after Labor Day. So that’s when summer vacations officially end for us.
On the other hand we are 1 year old church plant and still don’t have enough of track record under our belt to gage this properly. So I just sent an email out to 8 pastors in the area to see what they think the trend is?
I will also be interested to see if the gas prices keep people in town this summer and if that changes the dynamic.
Brandon, I am guessing with school starting after Labor Day, August won’t be as strong for your church. Please tell us what you learn from your emails to other churches.
Amy asked how to bring back leaders in July and August. July might be a little tougher… but in many places, I think they are back in August.
We’re in Michigan and we only get about 10-12 great weeks of summer. Because we’re tourism based, school’s are not allowed to start until after Labor Day. While it’s true that school sports and bands start about the second week of August - many of the people are still squeeking out vacation time, or just going camping for the weekend. We have seen a slight shift though - which would hold true with your point - our biggest month used to be October, but September is leveling that out now. Interesting. Oh, and July is by FAR our worst attendance month.
We have seen this trend for the past few years. Last August we broke our all time non-Easter weekend attendance record two weeks in a row. We were really not ready for the growth and I believe we missed some opportunities to reach and retain the new people. We have now shifted our plans for this year including series topics, voulnteer training and small group infrastructure. Rather than waiting until September to have all these ready to launch we will be ready August 1.
With schools starting earlier & earlier and the soaring prices of gas, I think we should expect MORE from August.
- in a previous post, I mentioned our August block parties, well, another thing we do is collect backpacks over the summer (donations from Walmart, Target, etc) and ask our people to fill them with school supplies - we add age appropriate Bibles, music, etc.
- then we do a ‘back-to-school’ Sunday (advertised weeks before) and bless the children of our community.
- we also invite school workers: teachers, custodians, volunteers & administration. we pray and CHEER for them!
*to be honest, we expect growth all summer long - we’re excited!
This is certainly true for us, and has been for several years - ever since somebody in Texas decided that school should start in early-danged August (that changed this year back to something more reasonable).
It’s magnified by the fact that we live in a college town, and pretty much the whole city runs on the school’s calendar. At the church we literally plan - and calendar - by semesters - spring, fall, summer. And those semesters are school semesters, not traditional calendar stuff.
Last summer I was terrified because we were a brand new church and what would summer do to us. We continued to grow through the summer. August was better attended than September and I think that’s because most people here see August as back-to-school time.
Just to follow up with my earlier comment. I got feedback from four other pastors in my area (near Niagara Falls, Ontario). They all agree that August attendance has been growing, but they still have not been able to engage people until September. This may be a mindset on their part…not sure. Most feel that people are still in vacation mode until September and then into the back to school frenzy. The all felt that it actually takes until October to get people fully engaged. Our area is a heavy tourist area and we also have a large University and a Community College. Many lives are dictated by tourism and school calendars. This may be the reason or we may be just a little behind the curve, based on the reports of higher attendance in August.
It’s good to monitor this and to get us thinking about it.
My church, Gracepoint, has the UC Berkeley campus as one of its core ministries. When the fall semester starts in late August, everyone in the church has been going and executing on our ministry plans at full clip since the beginning of the month. One thing I really enjoy is that after a full month’s of ministry throughout August, we have a one-day retreat over the Labor Day Weekend in September to reflect, refresh, and renew.
I have to disagree. The best summer month in Oregon is August. People vacation more in August I think because school doesn’t start until after Labor Day. We could push August at our church, but so many people are hit and miss that month.
Maybe we are just wierd. My thought was always “wait until the week after Labor Day”. So I planned around that. Turned out that was the worst attended week of all. We now wait to the end of Sept or beginning of Oct before that big push. For whatever reason June and July are not that bad as far as attendance. Then August just tanks. However, I love having August to get ready for the end of September.
C,
We have mixed results. Our school starts about the 3rd week of August but the summer fun still continues. We live in a “play” area and we also have lots of people who like to take the weekends to play even when school is in. It isn’t even until September that those weekend fun trips end or slow down. Also I have only been through 2 Augusts so I am unsure what to expect. But I will track it this year and see what happens. May I suggest that you consider re-visiting this topic in late September or early October to see what the results were now that people will be tracking it?
The last couple years it seems like we’ve started picking up in mid-August. The place empties for the holiday weekend and then explodes from there on. It seems like Mid- August is a pretty good way for us anticipate the fall…
oh well…. while they are fasting at Seacoast, we are “praying and feasting” at Church of the Highlands in B’ham., AL. for 21 days. In August we gather at the church at 6am. One of the pastors will share from the Word, we worship and intercede for the lost until 7am. Afterwards the Starbucks coffee is flowing and fellowship for those who can hang around. The statistics are amazing. We are asking for the lost and they just seem to suddenly be everywhere and strangely hungry for something “more” than the life they are living. It is so much fun to be part of the harvesting.
I’m not saying your wrong but I’m going to really watch this August to see if your right for two reasons: 1. here in Michigan this is the second year that it is illegal to start school until after Labor Day. This has backed everything up and caused many to delay vacations until August. 2. I could agree if we are talking about church-changers. Because their programming slows down and no one will notice if they are gone they just might feel free to church shop. The problem is that they bring with them a whole new set of expectation that I’m not sure if we ever meet. If the Lord is leading them to make a switch, OK but moving furniture in the kingdom is not reaching our community.
Craig,
I’m so glad that you’ve taken what churches have labeled as ’slumps’ and turned them upside down. Yes people travel at certain times of the year, but salvation, heaven, hell, etc…. those are seasonal are they. I dig that many churches are starting to lay down the excuses for ’summer slumps’ and are recognizing that summer is just a different season and that there are still fish that are hungry and bitting. I just landed a four pound bass in the middle of the day after my brother said, “hey man, don’t go, nothing’s bitting this time of day….” Let’s just say he wasn’t complaining after we grilled it and ate it.
Craig,
I’m so glad that you’ve taken what churches have labeled as ’slumps’ and turned them upside down. Yes people travel at certain times of the year, but salvation, heaven, hell, etc…. those aren’t seasonal are they. I dig that many churches are starting to lay down the excuses for ’summer slumps’ and are recognizing that summer is just a different season and that there are still fish that are hungry and bitting. I just landed a four pound bass in the middle of the day after my brother said, “hey man, don’t go, nothing’s bitting this time of day….” Let’s just say he wasn’t complaining after we grilled it and ate it.
I completely agree. Over the past few years I have noticed that May has become the month that everyone in church falls off the face of the earth and the middle of August is the time we see new people come and regulars return on a consistent basis. I really am not sure why this is but I was completely frustrated until we finally just adapted our operations to it. I send a letter out every year about remaining faithful in tithing through the summer months. The last 2 years I thought I was being proactive because I had planned to send it out in the beginning of June. By the end of May we were feeling it big time. This year I sent it out in the beginning of May and I definitely notice the difference. It’s so interesting that you are talking about this. I thought it was just something to do with the Pennsylvania crowd.
This is agreat conversation. In Northern ontario (Sudbury)canada…kind of across from Michigan, people begin to leave us for their summer homes/cottages the long weekend in May. Many do not return untill Canadian thanksgiving early October. This makes for a very short church calendar year in which to get anything done. Our Major industries are semi-shut July and August. This summer we are putting our best foot forward by slightly reducing the intesinty of our media presentations and only one worship team. We do a lot of consolidation to try and present quality.we also broadcast live each sunday on radio to help the cottagers and campers stay connected. We use an Automatic debit system for offerings which keeps our finances reasonably strong wehile attendance drops to 50%. Thanks for the feedback, every body.
We were just talking about those numbers today. Our two biggest non-holiday weekends are the first weekend after New Years Day (think resolutions) and the first and second weekends in August (think getting back in sync after Summer). We are all over those weekends.
In Ontario, Canada we have a “summer shutdown” mentality as well as a “cottage” mentality. Even if you don’t own a cottage, it’s assumed that’s where you are. So it was with some surprise about ten years ago we found ourselves attending a Canadian church that simply refused to miss a beat over the summer months. (Except with regard to mid-week kids’ programming.) Their faithfulness and dedication didn’t go unnoticed. The needs of people don’t take a vacation. And attendance at worship, like other spiritual disciplines, shouldn’t suffer a loss of continuity.