How Your Church Can Thrive in the Summer

By Christine Bove

Summer is fast approaching. Although it’s a fun time for most, for churches, the summer can be a time of uncertainty. 

People often use the summer season for travel, so attendance tends to be low. And when attendance is low, congregation interaction proves to be more difficult to initiate. And when people are absent, tithing and offerings are down as well. 

It might feel like the summer is just a season to survive until you get back into the swing of things in the fall.

We want to encourage you! Don’t be discouraged by the slow pace of summer. Instead, let it be a  blessing in disguise.

There are plenty of things that your church can do during the summertime to keep your congregation connected. 

Here are three tips you can implement for your church to keep the energy going during this season.

1. Have an active online presence

This is probably the most important of the three summer tips. Having an online presence allows your congregation to keep their church in their pocket until they come back home. 

Here are three ways to have an online presence:

• Create a website.
  Having a website allows people to have access to your church while they are on-the-go. With a church website, traveling attendees, regular members, or others who are interested in your church can access your online services. This means you can connect your YouTube channel or another video platform to your website and people can still be a part of your church while they are away. 
  
  
• Having a website also lets you have a social media presence.
  Social media allows you to interact with your congregation and potential visitors 24/7. They don’t need to be physically in your church to get connected. Everything they need to know about your church and how to get connected is right in their pocket.
  
  You can also do fun contests with your members with sharing summertime photos and serving opportunities. You can also post bite-sized content of Bible verses or quotes from your sermons to keep God on the forefront of people’s mind. 
  
  
• And lastly, having a website lets people give their tithes and offerings online.
  Giving online frees people up to give wherever they are. They don’t need to be in the church building to worship God with their tithes and offerings. With a website, you can now make it accessible to those traveling to continue their worship. 

Need a church website? We offer a website builder made specifically for churches to have an online presence and to collect online donations. Interested? Call us at 877-494-4655 and ask about StartSITES.

2. Present a themed series

Presenting a themed series puts less pressure on the preacher. It also ties a common theme together for people to continuously engage with over the summer.

Having a theme also makes people intrigued to follow each week of the series; they don’t want to miss out! By creating a theme, you help your congregation grasp a bigger understanding in bite-sized pieces.

With a themed series, you can also create intrigue by inviting guest speakers to your church! 

This gives the preaching staff a break but also breathes some new life into your congregation with God’s truth from a new perspective. Check out our blog for more details on how to legally compensate a guest speaker.

And lastly, with a themed series, you can also create outreach opportunities for volunteers to serve your local community. 

Summertime provides a perfect opportunity for giving back and investing in a community. And if you have a themed series to support it, it’s a great way to make action steps within lessons practical.

3. Host intentional family activities

Family activities could be tied to your themed series, or they can be just fun activities that stand alone.

During summer, fun family activities are a great way to bring together your church families and those who are in the local community. 

There are many different kinds of family activities, such as: 

• Sunday afternoon with games and yard activities.
• Family picnic on a Saturday.
• Family sports team run through the church at local parks.
• Fourth of July party with food and fireworks.
• Neighborhood parties for mingling with the locals.

Another great option is hosting a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for children. 

VBS is an excellent way for the kids from your church to learn more about God. It also presents a great opportunity to invite kids who are in the community who are not yet part of a church family. 

This also serves parents well by freeing them up to work, run errands, or just to have a day off while their kids are in the best of care.

One thing to note for any activity the church does is to have policies and liability forms in place. You should have liability forms available for any activity that has potential physical liabilities. 

You’ll find an editable version of a Liability Release Form and a VBS Application Form, among many others in our Documents Suite.

Keep the momentum going

These are just a few ideas for you and your church to keep the momentum going in the summertime. There is, of course, so much you can do to keep your ministry thriving.

While the summer is an excellent time to plan fun events, you and your church leaders can use this time to also look further into where your church is going for the rest of this year, and for years to come. 

You can use the slower summer months for shoring up administrative tasks within your church. For example, look into future budgets, sermon topics, board meetings and more. You can also look into serving and outreach opportunities and back-to-school initiatives.

Don’t let the summer slow down your church’s pursuit of its mission. Use it as a catapult to keep your congregation in motion, moving toward the mission you all share.

Summertime can become your church’s favorite time of the year! It can be a time where families can gather together and spend time with their local communities. It’s also a precious time for you and your members to further God’s mission and make an impact.

If you have any questions about any of the products mentioned above or would like to know more about taking care of your administrative tasks, give us a call at 877-494-4655.

If you don't have time to talk today, schedule a call below! You can choose a day and time that works best for your schedule and one of our specialists will call you when you're ready.

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