Summer’s Challenge for Churches

For many congregations, summertime can be a challenge: worship attendance drops, programming takes a sabbath, and vacation schedules have staff and parishioners alike coming and going like ships in the night.

In short, the summer has its own distinctive rhythm - and in response, churches often do one of two things:  they either try to ramp up special programming or resign themselves to a quiet, relatively disconnected season.

But there is a third, more excellent way: churches who identify their community’s distinctive summer patterns and then develop flexible, portable strategies that move with those tides, not against them, in effect empowering families to experience church and feel connected with their congregation even in the midst of summer’s unique ebb and flow.

For example, since school is out, is summer a season when your community’s families are looking to spend more quality time together in nature?  Are parents looking for activities to fill the longer days?  Are these months peppered with vacations, and so with the down time and intensive “together time” that vacations often include?  

Why not provide a flexible, theologically engaging resource that helps families make some structure for these different rhythms, a way to meet people where they are and help them feel connected to their faith community along the way?

SALT is here to help!  “Sing! Play! Summer!” is a beautifully-designed, twenty-page guide featuring over 50 summertime activity ideas, all organized around passages from scripture and six songs by Butterflyfish, SALT’s internationally-acclaimed house band.  The music will put pep in your step and faith in your heart - and MP3s of the songs are included in the download.

Your summer soundtrack is here!  Families can take the guide into the back yard or out on the road, tailoring activities to their interests and bringing church along wherever their summer adventures take them.  Each module breathes life into a biblical story or theological idea, making it a springboard for activities the whole family can enjoy.

So this summer, make church a moveable feast!  Put a little banjo in your Bible and a little swing in your summer, celebrating the season through the twin delights of faith and music.  Don’t fight your community’s summer rhythm - go with its flow instead, and equip families to make church together, feel connected to their congregation, and discover God in some beautiful, unexpected places.

Check out SALT’s summer printables:  “Sing! Play! Summer!” and “Find Your Slow Summer.”