EmailIf 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 really don’t know how many times should i say thank you for providing these tips. They have become my help. May God bless you.
vincent.
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!
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