Fend off the summer attendance slump by intentionally connecting families to your ministry using these four summer family fun ideas.
It’s here—that glorious season when the sun’s warmth descends like a heavy blanket, the heat waves ripple the air, and the only thing audible is the hum of the air conditioner.
But wait just a minute…If the only sound in your ministry is the occasional whir of air conditioners kicking on, you’re missing the excited buzz of connecting families—and strengthening their ties to your ministry and church.
Summer attendance at most churches inevitably wanes. Families vacation and enjoy the warm weather. Kids play summer sports, go to camp, and savor a break from school. Churches feel the squeeze when pews sit empty and kids don’t show up.
Some churches counteract summer downtime with drastic measures. One California church went to a monthly Sunday service and suspended all ministries until fall. Others cope by creating more programs in the hope of drawing kids and families to maintain attendance.
RELATED: Children’s Ministry: Here’s Why What You Do Matters
Ministry experts conclude that summer is a high-risk time for churched families because they’re busy with seasonal activities and the temptation to skip church is strong. Spotty attendance may even remind families of what they’re “missing” outside of the church and eventually result in them skipping church altogether.
Even if your summer attendance is down, you can create opportunities to keep families tied closely to your church. Offer family-specific experiences that intentionally draw families back to your church and ministry. Here are four proven ideas from children’s ministers across the country.
4 Summer Family Fun Ideas To Help Boost Attendance
1. AMEN Program
We wanted to give families a reason to keep coming back to our small church over the summer, so we asked people to share their hobbies with kids from our children’s ministry and their families. We called it the AMEN Program: Action Ministry with Educational Networking. The primary goal of the program was to increase interaction between older and younger members of our church and families. The AMEN sessions lasted one hour weekly for four weeks.
We asked people to describe their special crafts or skills, and then we contacted people such as woodworkers, quilters, candle makers, choir and band members, bakers, and others to create options for kids and their families. Families got a list of available hobbies and ranked their top three choices. Some wanted to spend two weeks on one hobby and two on another hobby. We asked the hobby leaders to plan their activities each week. The mixed-age groups worked well because families could help each other and older kids helped younger ones with more complex tasks.
