July and August use to be considered summer in Canada. But for anyone who is involved in church work in Canada know that the summer is being extended. It now goes from the May 24th long weekend to Canadian Thanksgiving which is on the 2nd week in October.
I pastor in a city. A city is a “from” place. If you pastor as church where people like to vacation you pastor in a “to” place. People don’t want to stay in a city in the summer time so the go “from” the city “to” their vacation destination, where they may or may not attend church. `From” churches shrink in the summer, “to” churches grow.
As a pastor I do not resent people going away on holidays. But it does create an challenging dynamic. Even in the winter time we figure on any given Sunday we are missing a quarter to a third of our people. I do not usually hear “I didn’t feel like going to church so I stayed at home.” It is usually, “We decided to go out of town to visit family,” or “we had family come to visit.” That is just a regular Sunday. But in the summer in Canada most people take vacation. Assuming that people take two to three weeks of vacation in the summer and there is eight weeks of summer, that means that on top of the usual missing suspects another quarter to a third of people are gone every Sunday in the summer on vacation. What that means is that on a Sunday in the summer we could be missing 50%-66% of our people.The numbers at Sunnyside would bear that out. In the winter, we will run 320-360 on a normal Sunday. In July and August we will 160 to 200.
It is, however, the extended summer that is becoming more challenging. People with cottages are opening earlier in the spring and closing later in the fall. They want to eek all they can out of the summer. Spring camping and fall weekend camping are becoming far more common. The May 24 long weekend and Thanksgiving weekend are now the brackets to Summer.
What this means for Ministry
This creates a dynamic in the summer where full participation in boards and committees is a pipe dream. If a committee needs to plan for the fall, the major decisions need to be made by the middle of May.
The dynamic of small groups change in the summer. Most groups are impossible to maintain. If one does a small group, it will need to be a low accountability small group. (Come when you can) The start time for small groups now is the end of September.
Communications of new fall initiatives are a challenge. Because everything seems to restart in the fall, it is easy to drown in a sea of announcements. Different ministries compete for people`s attention.Communication, to be effective within the church much become much more targeted.
Summer preaching does not foster organization vision. There just is not enough critical mass to create movement.
A minister can rail against these realities all he wants, but it does not change reality; it only creates hard feelings and guilt responses that accomplish nothing. It is best to look for other opportunities for ministry.
Opportunities in ministry
While organizational ministry is problematic, opportunities abound in organic personal ministry. I find that, while people don`t feel like they need to see me, they are often willing to take the time to see me. I often get to meet people in a relaxed setting like a coffee shop patio or a park. There I get to hear what is going on in their lives when they are not under extreme stress – and often am allowed to speak words that help them move forward in the discipleship process. There is just something different about working with people at this time of year.
People are often willing to give some vacation time to ministry opportunities. We have a couple of mission trips that go out in the summer – because many people want to make a difference with their holidays. Others take time to run VBS or Soccer camp. There are some real difference makers in the summer. Hockey families often have more time in the summer and are willing to give some of that time to concentrated ministry.
People may not make it to church, but they do check their email and facebook. In the winter, when people are under stress, they will often delete items that they don`t have to read. In the summer they will take the time to read what people write. Some of them will listen to sermons online. Others will take the opportunity to read. Alternative means of speaking into people`s lives must be explored and used.
Conclusion
It is better to recognize reality and work with it rather than ignoring it or fighting against it. The challenge is to keep the main thing, the main thing. The main thing is the transformation of people into the likeness of Christ. In Canada, what works during the winter does not work during the summer. So we need to keep the mission and change the methods.
