For a lot of people, summertime is a slow time of year. It can be quite wonderful. But, for some, summer can be chaotic, busy, and a season to simply survive while maintaining some shred of sanity. Whichever end of the spectrum you think best characterizes how summer hits your church, the truth is that discipleship should happen in the summer, regardless of whether the season is lazy or frenetic.
Here are seven mistakes that churches often make with their summer discipleship plans (or the lack thereof):
1. They don’t set any goals for the summer at all.
The unfortunate reality is that many churches plan around the summer instead of planning for the summer. Many see the summer as an obstacle to overcome, when it comes to discipleship, instead of a gift to seize for the good of the fall. No goals means no accountability, and no accountability often means no real growth.
Without intentionality, summer can just kind of happen to our churches. Before the summer hits this year, see if your church staff can establish even just one or two goals you hope to achieve when it comes to discipling people this summer. It can help you make the most of the time instead of squandering it.
2. They treat summer as a discipleship offseason.
We’ve written about this topic before, but it merits repeating. Summer is an offseason in so many ways. Schedules either free up or get more packed, depending on the person and the family. Many people travel to visit loved ones or enjoy time away on vacation. Church attendance dips, and even among those who do attend, there can be inconsistency. All of this is real and valid.
But this reality doesn’t mean discipleship can’t happen. As much as summer is an offseason, it is also the preseason for the impactful fall semester of ministry, and our churches will be better off if we take the summer seriously for the good of the fall.
3. They trade depth for busyness.
Some churches just throw a bunch of events against the wall every summer to see what sticks. And maybe this is better than doing nothing at all, but being busy isn’t always a good thing!
Good can be the enemy of great in a situation like this, and it’s important for churches not to opt for being busy in place of providing people with the opportunity to develop deep relationships that lead to gospel growth. Cookouts, fire pit nights, and other such events can be valuable, but churches are wise to also offer deeper discipleship opportunities in addition to these kinds of events.
4. They lose touch with inconsistent attenders.
Summer schedules can easily scatter congregations. Families travel. Church staff finally use some vacation days. This is all real, and it’s fine. But one of the biggest mistakes churches make in the summer is not intentionally engaging inconsistent attenders.
People who attend church inconsistently are obviously more likely to disengage permanently, and summer is obviously the time when this is most likely to happen. Perhaps one of the goals your church can set for this summer is to not let occasional church attenders fall through the cracks. Set up coffee meetings or informal get-togethers with people who may be at risk of flowing out of your church for good.
5. They fail to equip small group leaders to lead independently.
When church staff steps back for the summer, however they do, unprepared volunteer leaders can often stall out. A lot of lay church leaders rely heavily on direction from their closest staff member–this makes sense, of course. The problem is, if staff are out a bit in the summer, as is typical, this can leave lay church leaders ill-equipped to lead effectively in the summer months.
What would it look like for your church staff to be sure that lay church leaders are ready to lead without guidance this summer?
6. They don’t use summer to onboard new leaders or programs.
Even more than simply making sure lay church leaders are equipped to lead in the summer without active guidance and direction, what would it look like for your church to make the most of the summer by using it for leadership development? In doing so, you could set your church up for an even more effective fall ministry season.
One of the ways we see this done well in churches with whom we partner is in churches that choose to facilitate Rooted pilot groups in the summer. We wrote about this here on the blog just last week, but summer can be a super effective time for churches to pilot Rooted, especially because a Rooted pilot group should provide a solid stable of leaders who can facilitate Rooted in the busy fall season of ministry.
7. They miss out on following up with spring visitors and new attenders.
Most churches see an influx of new attenders in the spring season following the Easter holiday. Whether or not those new attenders make it through the summer and stick around for the fall may depend, in part, on whether or not they have an opportunity for community and discipleship in the church throughout the summer. Summer silence is one of the surest ways to lose contact with newcomers who were just beginning to get connected. If for no other reason, consider exploring some summer programming specifically to minister to these people who may be learning about what it means to follow Jesus for the first time.
Summer Is a Gift
Don’t just treat summer like a gap this year. Treat it like the gift that it is. Surely our churches will make one of these mistakes this summer. No church is going to execute a perfect summer balance of programming and rest. We will stumble and fall. Consider how you might do ministry this summer in a way that is sustainable and ensures that new believers or newcomers to your church feel cared for and seen.
