A while back I shared with you the seven most poorly attended Sundays of the year. If you’ve been around for a while you already know them. They are Sundays that follow some event or special holiday.
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is usually tough as is any four day week end. But we have one coming up that is usually characterized by a low attendance and a general malaise. It’s the toughest day of the year and it crosses denominational, demographic and geographic lines.
In the Roman Catholic Church calendar the Sunday after Easter is called “Low Sunday.” Although the official explanations have been adjusted for public consumption what I heard as a kid in the Catholic church was that it was the lowest attendance of the year and as a result was named Low Sunday.
Whatever the explanation, it’s a fact. Your attendance will very likely dip on April 7th. So foreknowledge is a gift from God and requires action on your part.
Let me suggest some things that may boost your crowd for that day.
- If you do baby dedications in your church, this is a good day to schedule them. It will keep the families who are having their children dedicated on board for that day. Encourage them to invite several families who do not attend your church be there to witness the blessed event.
- Schedule baptisms that day. Again – those being baptized should be encouraged to invite others to attend as witnesses of the event.
- We are planning to eliminate Sunday School for that day and have an all church breakfast at our facility with all the trimmings. Eggs, sausage, ham biscuits, gravy, (we’re in the South). “Even the wise are bound by a bribe.”
- Contact your marginal families. Give them a special responsibility that day. Greeting, ushering, etc.
- Reduce the number of chairs if possible. Critical mass is the number of people present in relationship to the number of seats.
- Consider making your Easter sermon a two part series. Each message will still have to stand alone however, because some folks will not be there for one of the two weeks.
If this is your first Easter you’ll probably need to inform your leadership team about what’s coming the following week. If they are able to anticipate the drop they will be better able to absorb it.
He Is Risen!
