Church leaders have pretty clear perspectives about low attendance days.
They know when to expect them. Some are common across different regions and cultures. Others are unique to specific localities. Most of them are painful for pastors and other church leaders.
So, when I put the question out on social media, the responses were fast, funny and, sometimes, furious. I doubt there will be many surprises on this list. They are still good reminders we are all dealing with the challenges of commitment. Here are the nine most common low attendance days in order of frequency of response.
- Spring break. “We get hit hard on both the weekend before Spring break and the weekend after. I’m ready to move to a church in a retirement community.”
- Holiday weekends. “Labor Day. MLK Day. Memorial Day. You name it. As long as there is a long weekend ahead, our folks will find an excuse to miss church.”
- Bad weather. “We don’t get much snow, so any accumulation above 1/1000 of an inch sends people to get milk and bread at the grocery store, and makes them stay away from church lest their lives are at risk with such dangerous precipitation. But they will be okay to go to work on Monday.”
- Good weather. “We miss as many folks in really good weather as we do in lousy weather. They will stay away if there is a 5% chance of rain; but they will really stay away if there is a 20% chance of sunshine. The lake calls.”
- Sports. “Travel teams. College football. NFL. Kids playing soccer and football. In the Old Testament they worshipped false gods. We still do today. They are called sports.”
- Summer. “Our attendance always takes a hit in the summer time. Vacation. Staycation. Sleep-in. When schools out, any excuse works.”
- Time change. “Let’s see how loud the businesses would scream if the time change took place on a weekday. It’s really convenient to hurt the churches.”
- Pastor on vacation. “I’m almost to the point of not letting anyone know when I go on vacation. When the pastor’s away, the members will play.”
- Christmas to New Year. “Whether that’s one or two Sundays, it’s always lousy for us. Bah humbug.”
What are the low attendance days in your church? Have you found an approach to countering these trends? Let me hear from you.
Posted on April 8, 2019
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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86 Comments
That is spot on for us.
Albeit somewhat intrusive and potentially “hard-nosed”, I preach out against it anytime the text affords it being mentioned (on idolatry of sports, recreation, festivities…etc). I try to do so boldly so that it is made clear to the flock that it’s a serious matter and should be dealt with very cautiously and thoughtfully.
For the church leadership to embrace 1-2 Sundays a month as normative for worship attendance is giving liberty to the flock to simply wander and miss the mark on the appropriate emphasis in relation to why we gather on the Lord’s Day.
In doing this. along with many other pastors, it’s really ruffled some feathers and sometimes left me to assume I’m legalistic for taking that stance, judging off of the comments and hear-say I receive from others in the church. It’s discouraging to say the least.
I have found the answer.
I have decided to never let the absentee control my attitude. If a church member makes a decision to not attend, I will not give them any control over my spirit or attitude. I refuse to give them that much power over me.
Love them pray for , when they get in trouble, and they will, they will call you.
This is just one of many reasons my husband and I love “tent-making” (volunteer pastoring). For us, this list is simply a matter of fact, not reason to fret. Of course, God wants us all to have a heatlhy detachment from these issues as we love our congregations, so this comment is not meant in any way to put down salaried pastors. We need all kinds of churches. And we need to keep our eyes on Jesus in the light of these very real American problems!!!
Totally agree. We have one lady who lives a block away and can’t be there on time to teach her once a moth toddler class. We recently got a new building and our first service will be Easter, can’t imagine how late she will be now.
At most churches where I have served, communion is served once a month and it’s typically on the first Sunday. People must put it on their calendars as an opportunity to skip sharing a meal with the Lord as they would rather share a meal at Denny’s (that’s certainly tongue-in-cheek). I have mixed up the days in which communion would fall and was met with disdain…from the folks who would miss communion! Anyone else?
I have pastored in Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Ohio and have found that opening day of hunting season is a time when attendance surfers. Even many of our young ladies enjoy hunting and out is looked at a family time away.
Dominica Absentia i.e., the Sunday after Easter.
Our low attendance days now are hard to figure out. It seems people feel that regular attendance is maybe twice a month so we have a fairly large group that comes twice a month and then a different group twice a month. If folks would go back to regular attendance being there every week except vacation and sickness we’d have a church full every Sunday.
Yes. We address that issue on another post dealing with frequency of attendance.
Back in the day if someone only attended church once a month my grandma would’ve considered you to be “backslidden” and/or maybe even questioned your salvation, but in today’s culture many who attend once a month view themselves as a regular attender.
I remember one of the lowest attended Sundays was when we promoted a high attendance Sunday! I’m not sure if the concept was made clear? But the consensus seemed obvious.
The same thing happened to us. We promoted a high attendance Sunday. Made big efforts to invite others and reach out to those who rarely come. Ended up being one of the lowest days ever. Many who missed later told us they made other plans for that day that they’d been putting off because they knew so many would be at church that they wouldn’t be missed. =(
I’d like to see a poll on tardiness. We have some people (leaders and teachers) who couldn’t be on time if their life depended on it. Classes are left hanging. I’m pretty sure they are always on time for school and work, but not for church. Just venting. . . thanks!
I hear you!
Totally agree. We have one lady who lives a block away and can’t be there on time to teach her once a moth toddler class. We recently got a new building and our first service will be Easter, can’t imagine how late she will be now.
Luke, I have that lady’s sister in my church. At first I wondered if she walked in to work 20 minutes late every day like she does every Sunday. Then I learned that she and her husband own a business-they set their own hours M-Fri, and Sunday is no different.
Living in a small town, anytime there was a Sunday function at the school, from lunch fundraisers to late afternoon ballgames, attendance would take a hit.
I don’t know if it qualifies as one of the lowest attendance Sundays, but the Sunday after Easter is usually pretty deflating. Seems like everyone who goes once a month or once every two weeks goes at the same time on Easter and then are gone the next week.
In my experience youth sports are hands down the biggest single detriment to church attendance today.
Yeah, that’s a real struggle for us, too.