As we move into the summer months, in many churches there are significant changes in programming and activity. Many churches have no choir in the summer. Some churches go to an alternate form of Sunday School or have no Sunday School at all. Attendance drops significantly in almost every church and therefore the giving also goes down. I always wonder about these things. Of course, we might say that the church is simply adapting to the realities of the summer; teachers who have taught all year need some time off, people go on vacations, the choir needs a break, etc. I understand all of those but I'd like to make a few comments and/or raise a couple of questions.
Does God take the summer off? I know that sounds like a stupid question, but don't we imply by our reduced activity and programming that the churches act as if its so? I try to imagine what we're teaching the children of our Sunday Schools when we say by what we do that its just not as important to learn about God in June, July, and August.
Of course people need breaks from what they're doing from time to time. No one would argue that, but can't we find ways to let the children know that Sunday School is important in the summer?
As to church attendance, is there really a reason it goes down in the summer as much as it does, in nearly every church I've known? Sure, people take vacations, but they don't all take them at the same time and most people don't get to spend the entire summer at the shore. For most, its two weeks at a time. So where is everybody all summer? It used to be that churches weren't air-conditioned but now most are, so the arguement that its too hot to come to church doesn't hold water anymore.
I suspect that its more a matter of people making choices to do other things rather than come to church. That says to me that there is something amiss in many peoples' priorities. Over the years I have passed the homes of church members who were out mowing the lawn, or getting a tan in a lounge chair in their yard, or doing other things instead of coming to church.
Somehow, we have failed to instill in our members an awareness of the importance of worship and fellowship that they can so easily do other things just because the weather changes.
The summer slump...the frustration of every pastor.
What are your thoughts?

Spending Priorities

As you may know, we are attempting to raise funds to replace the sanctuary air conditioning units. The total cost will be somewhere around $40K. No one is arguing that the air conditioning isn't necessary in this day and age when attracting new people to the church involves (in part) making sure that they are physically comfortable. It's also important that the people who are already a part of the church be physically comfortable while in worship. It helps us to focus on worshipping God rather than how badly we feel if it's too hot. Those things said, the discussion does bring us to the larger issue of priorities. Obviously we do the ministry of the Church with the resources people are willing to share; those of their Time, Talent, and Treasure. Since there are limits on all of those we are forced into prioritizing how we will use them. With respect to the money that is available, we have to answer some basic questions about who we are and what we understand the Church to be. Do we spend most of our money on things that primarily minister to us like air conditioning, sound systems, new carpets, music, Sunday School supplies and so on, or do we put more money into things like missions, community service, outreach (as in deliberatly going out into the community to bring people to faith in Christ), and, for want of a better word, marketing? One consultant I know says that every church should spend 17% of their budget or more, on "marketing" alone. The reality is that people do not automatically come to our churches anymore. Something has to draw them. They have to know that we exist and have some idea of who we are, or they simply will not visit. That's just one component of the outwardly focused side of the ledger.
I used to know a pastor, now deceased, who insisted that his church give 50% of their budget to missions! Imagine what we could do if that were ever achieved here at St. Andrew's.
So, what do you think? Obviously there is overlap; categorizing things as those for us and those for others is not so clear cut. But, by and large, we have a sense of the distinction between the two. Do we spend too much of our resources of Time, Talent, and Treasure on ourselves? Are there things that we could do better in this regard?