If your church is like mine, the dog days of Summer can be the dog days of attendance too – especially for young families who use the Summer break to go on vacation.
5 Ways To Avoid Poor Attendance Blues
This is an aspect of ministry that I still struggle with. It almost always affects my mood when our kids church attendance is way down. But I’m learning some strategies to overcome this.
1. Give thanks to God for those who have come.
It’s a privilege to teach, even when the crowd size is down. So, I have been trying to thank God for those who do come, rather than being down about who is out of town.
2. Pray for those who are absent.
Missing church is a good reason to pray for families. Even if it’s just a vacation, the lack of spiritual food may affect their walk with Christ. But you should pray extra for those who are just getting extra sleep.
3. Remember that every child matters to God.
Even if there is only one child in your Sunday school class, your should teach with all your might. That one child matters greatly to God, so do your lesson and leave the results up to Him.
4. Take advantage of the smaller crowd to build relationships.
One positive side effect of low attendance is the chance to talk more with the children. So spend some time asking about their summer.
5. Keep working hard and trust God to bring in the numbers.
Low attendance always makes me want to work harder to get kids in the door. I think that is a good response, as long as I keep trusting God to determine the outcome. So, why not make some extra phone calls and home visits this week?
I hope this blog post has encouraged you. If so, then you can leave a comment below. I appreciate your prayers too. Thanks for reading.
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I have been encouraged by your words. I almost threw in the towel.
I will try your advise and I will pray for as well.
All the best and stay blessed
Thanks so much. I needed your words of encouragement, as our attendance has really decreased this summer.
God’s Blessings
Your comments were an encouragement to me. We also have the same problem at our little Country Church.One Sunday recently I only had 2 children and the teacher was absent, I am a Senior member who taught Sunday School for 18 yrs and the teacher chose me as her helper.I am responsible for gettin together our lessons and crafts etc. We have become really good friends working together. The scripture says where two or three are gather in MY name I will be in the mist. Those little kids are our future Church. We have become too number minded.Which is more important ?Numbers or Souls
Here’s a one page guideline we use. It might be a good starting point for your manual.
http://ministry-to-children.com/church-nursery-guidelines/
We try to take advantage of the blessing of smaller numbers in summer Sunday School and mix things up. Summer offers a great opportunity to bring in many short-term volunteers… giving them an opportunity to serve, other volunteers the opportunity to rest and renew, and possibly introduce new folks to serving who might shy away from a longer term commitment till they get their feet wet! It also allows us to mix up the kids a bit more and do even more hands on stuff. Yes, low numbers can be discouraging, but each kid and family in our church are in God’s hands. We can trust that He knows what He is doing!
Thanks to you Toni for your encouraging tips, I am glad to know that not only my congregation suffer from low attendance during the summer break, you know what this is a universal thing where people take the time to visit those they had not seen for a while and as you say get lots more rest. This show us we need to do lots more work and overload so when summer comes along we would not be empty. Blessings to you and your staff.
Dear Bro Tonny,
Thanks for your thoughts on encouragement during summer low attendance of children to Sunday school. It’s been a great support for me, being a Sunday school worker to lean on god and develop my faith. Thanks a lot. Praise the lord for you.
Thanks for the encouragement:)
How about “reward” all the faithful attenders with a breakfast buffet? Or have brunch or a luncheon following services! Maybe others will think twice about missing so often! Vacations are fine and often necessary, however some just get in the habit of missing! Let’s stress the need for God. Afterall, it’s His day! Being in His house, around His table, fellowshipping and worshipping is a must! Unfortuneately, people these days never feel guilty for putting God on a “back burner”! Let’s encourage Sunday or Saturday “day trips”, or short trips excluding the Lord’s Day!
This is certainly the case at our church. It’s amazing how suddenly the attendance drops! Surprisingly, it’s the younger kids that drops and the preteens who stay strong in their attendance. Either way, this is a great post — I think I’ll pass it out to our Team members as way of encouragement. Thanks!
THANKS! this is something that I am really struggling with right now. We have only about 15-20 kids so when some are out our nubmer is very low. Thanks for the reminder that God care about every child and to teach that child like you would if you had several. THANKS!!
We’ve been hit with a double whammy this summer. Just after VBS we went ahead and promoted our middle school children to a new ministry. I lost 10 kids to that when I only thought I would lose 3. THEN, the great “vacate” started. It has been greatly discouraging to me and I have lost some momentum. I am greatly aware that I must step things up a notch and not let things slide just b/c numbers are down, but to be honest, I am very tired. Your words were an encouragement to me. First of all, to know that someone else feels the “loss” of summer too, but to remember to be grateful for who is there and to pray for those who are not is a good reminder. We need to all pray for one another and encourage one another. Thanks for doing that!
This was excellent. I needed this. Thank you.
Karen
@Candes: Thanks for your thoughts. I like your point about building relationships with the volunteers too.
I’m relatively new to being the Nursery Director so I’m usually putting out some kind of fire.
When our attendance is low I see it as an opportunity to get to know my volunteers better.
I am able to down shift and fine tune the nursery routine. I’m always looking for new ways to improve.
I accept it as a blessing from God to refocus on my purpose. I keep envisioning a rock in the middle of a rushing stream. It’s a place of rest where I can hold steady.
Sooner of later the Lord will move me further down the stream.
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