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
We are increasingly having low attendance during cold and flu season. “The whole family had to stay out just to blow that poor kid’s nose.”
Well, most of that list reflects a very negative attitude of the “Pastor” towards his people. I do live in Canada. And so “bad” weather could mean 3 feet of snow over night. I also think that folks stay away for whatever reason is the result that the Pastor has no focus in his ‘preaching” give a good reason for folks come to church, no matter about weather, vacation or any other distractions. We have a very short summer. Many folks in our church have cabins/cottages at the lake. So we do not see them much between May long weekend aka Victoria weekend and Thanksgiving (early Oct). One church in our city have Thursday evening service only during July/August. Many churches in our city have Saturday evening services. So work with the flow and adapt.
I do not agree with the statement at all when this person said……
“Well, most of that list reflects a very negative attitude of the “Pastor” towards his people”
I have an amazing pastor who does amazing services…..people are going to come that really want to hear the word and the ones that are casual about it are going to be casual, you cannot always blame the pastor…… how is it the pastors fault if a parent gets their children involved in sports and sports are on days they have midweek service or Sunday service? The Pastor has no control over that…..
And if people miss Sunday’s service because of a football game or a basketball game or whatever, that reflects the condition of their heart not the condition of the church itself or the pastor necessarily.
On a couple of occasions, I filled in for a pastoral absence where attendance was actually up about 10 or 12%. Red flag?
I love those Sundays – I think of them as opportunities to design my sermon specifically for those die-hard members who are really wanting to go deep into the message of the day, who know a lot of the background stuff. I spend a lot of time on those sermons – they are my reward to the “faithful” who are there week in and week out.
I cannot disagree with any of those, especially the travel sports. We will be the first they come to when in the high school years if problems arise. By then, parents have already shown their kids what is important by their action.
I like to stress the positive. Our people serve and are plugged in and I encourage church attendance when they are on vacation. Don’t take a vacation from God. At a previous church where i knew the gulf coast was a primary vacation spot, i created a pamphlet with a list of churches to attend in different cities. Attend church where you vacation and bring back and idea/ministry from another church. This is truly showing our kids what is important.
Rather than condemning everyone who doesnt attend every Sunday morning you might want to find out why. Not everyone lives in that perfect world of suburbia where the super-soccer mom stays home with the kids and dad goes to work Monday through Friday.
There are a lot of people who dont have the option of a free Sunday morning for worship or anything else because of non-negotiable things like work or the need for sleep.
I can’t speak for others, but I wasn’t talking about people who have legitimate reasons for missing church, such as work or illness. I’m talking about people who are perfectly able to come to church, but don’t.
Hey Thom, For my part of the state low attendance is from Thanksgiving to New Year, and don’t forget, Super Bowl Sunday!
“In the summer, it’s too hot,
In the winter, it’s too cold,
but when the weather gets just right,
you find somewhere else to go!
It’s up to the mountains, down to the beach, or to visit some ole friends…..
Or just stay home and kind of relax in case the kinfolk drop in.”
Should be a song (actually it is). This was written years ago before the advent of travel ball, travel cheer, travel dance, travel….oh, well you got the idea. Candidly, this is a change of attitude in the culture – young and old alike.
First it was ‘NEVER MISS SCHOOL OR CHURCH SERVICES”…Now (for both), it is ‘missing a little won’t hurt.’ The difficulty with this is that it has changed our culture with the big three – family, church, & school.
Low attendance days? You made some great points – all of which are true, but none of which should be. For me, this is sad for many reasons, and spiritual sensitivity leads the list. Thanks Thom.
Yep, I was a teenager when that song was popular. I wasn’t much into southern gospel music in those days (I’m a big fan now), but I still liked that song. In my opinion, it’s more relevant than ever before. Have you read any of the studies about why millennials don’t attend church? Their excuses are just as lame and contradictory as the ones in the song.
I’m surprised that Father’s Day did not make the list. Always a low attended Sunday. Mother’s Day traditionally has been a well attended Sunday; however, we have become aware that over the last few years, Mother’s Day can be just as low as Father’s Day.
In cities, people are always in and out of town, especially when they don’t have family there and fly out on Sunday for business trips or come back in on Sunday night having been to see family.
There can only ever been 1 Sunday in between Christmas and New Year- they’re 7 days apart.
My article did not say “between”. It said “Christmas to New Year.” If they fall on a Sunday, it’s two days.
To answer your question, “no, I have not figured out a way to address any of these trends.” No. 5 is the one that gets under my skin as a pastor. We definitely worship sports and recreation in this country. And yes, all of the other reasons you have listed are just as true for my congregation as well. The preaching of God’s word is so important and yet it can be so discouraging to work on a sermon when you know that Sunday morning attendance is going to take a hit for a multitude of reasons. The word must be preached but those who need to hear it are not there.