- Resist the urge to overly involve your child in sports that will take them away from church on Sunday. Remind when we don’t do this, we confuse our children and send a message that says church is optional and is something you only do at the holidays or if there’s nothing else scheduled.
- Encourage parents to take the long look. Decide now what kind of person they want their child to be when they leave home. What do they want their child to know about God? What truths from the Bible do they want their child to follow? What kind of character do they want their child to have? Lay out a plan to begin teaching and emphasizing those things now.
- Help parents see what really matters. Athletic success is a good thing. Academic success is another good thing. Social success. Financial success. All of these are good things, but the most important success is spiritual success. It should the number one goal for parents to have for their children.
- Get families involved in serving. As I mentioned earlier, families who serve are the people who are at church more often. Create a culture of serving in your church. Emphasize it. Honor it. Cast vision for it. Make it a requirement to serve if you are going to join the church. The more people you can get serving, the better attendance you will have. In this new paradigm, growth doesn’t come from attendance. It comes from engaging people to serve. When you make this shift it helps close the back door.
- Create environments that have kids dragging their parents to church. Kids who love coming to church translates into families who faithfully attend church. In today’s culture, many times parents take their cues from their children when it comes to attending church. On more than one occasion I have heard parents say, “Yeah, I was going to stay home today and just watch the service online, but my son wanted to go to the church…so here we are.” Remember the key to the heart of a parent is their child. Give kids a great experience at your church and make sure they are saying “yes” to the most asked question by parents – “Did you have fun today?”
- Help families get connected to a small group of people who knows them and misses them when they are not present. For kids, it may be a small group with a caring leader, who sends a child a “miss you” card when they are absent. A leader who prays for them each week. Whatever format you use or whatever you call it (small groups, Sunday School, breakout groups, etc.), make sure children are part of a group (to clarify – a group of 6-8 kids – not a group of 20 kids – that’s why ratios are so important). For parents, the same can be said. They need to be tied to a small group, Sunday School group, life group, home group, etc. Small groups deepen relationships and people who have close relationships at church will attend more often.
All of these things can help kids and parents attend more frequently. Of course, one factor I did not touch on was kids whose parents are divorced. This can often cut their church attendance in half as they are in a different home twice a month and that home may not be go to church as often as the other home.
Think about all the good things that happens in a family when they attend church on a regular basis. It’s not about what we want FROM families, it must be about what we want FOR families. We know the spiritual growth that comes from consistent church attendance. We know the relationships that can be formed. We know the blessings that will come with faithful church attendance. We know it honors God. It honors His Word as He tells us in Hebrews to “not forsake the gathering together with other believers.”
Let’s be a cheerleader for the families in our ministries. Let’s share with them the blessings they will receive when they attend faithfully. Let’s make our ministries so irresistible that kids can’t wait for the weekend to come so they can attend church. Let’s make our ministries so impacting that families lives are changed. Let’s help families develop a love for God’s house. Let’s help families put church at the top of their weekend activities.
When we do these things, we will begin to see a turnaround as families begin to attend more frequently.
Your turn. How often do families attend your church? What are some ideas or insight you have to encourage families to be more consistent in their attendance?
This article about church attendance and families originally appeared here.
