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Increasing Attendance—Idea #1 To encourage people to get into the habit of going to church, consider doing Sunday series as opposed to individual lessons--a series on health or Jesus’ parables or from a book--etc. As a rule of thumb 4-week and 6-week series work best. They are long enough to help establish the habit of attending regularly; yet short enough not to feel like a "life sentence." If you do Sunday series and you tape your lessons, put them together as an album. You can encourage album sales and attendance, by selling the album empty and giving them the next tape each week. (Consider offering a discounted price for the full album series). Promoting your series with an attractive (yet inexpensive) postcard sent to your mailing list will usually do more to boost attendance, than promoting your series in your newsletter. Postcards tend to get looked at when they arrive, newsletters get put aside for reading later (sometimes not at all).
Increasing Attendance—Idea #2 Consider doing special theme Sundays. Here are some that we do at Church of Today, San Diego: Rock & Roll Sunday: encourage your congregants to get out their poodle skirts, bobbie socks, letterman jackets, etc. Decorate the church with 50’s and 60’s memorabilia. You might even be able to get a local classic car club to come out. It’s exposure for them and you and certainly adds a flare. Have the hymns and solos have a 50’s and 60’s beat. Conclude with a "sock hop" after the service. Country Sunday: similar to Rock N Roll Sunday but with a Country & Western theme. Kid’s Day: have special activities for the kids after church and invite everyone to stay. Encourage your parents to bring the neighborhood kids. We’ve had a petting zoo; astro jump (usually cheaper on Sundays because that’s not your typical "birthday party day"), we’ve rented cotton candy machines, popcorn carts, and snow cone machines. (Look in the yellow pages and you’ll find lots of neat things for kid’s birthday parties that work well for this kind of event.) No Excuse Sunday: encourage people to come to church "dressed" in their favorite excuse for skipping church. We’ve had people come in their pajamas, bring their gardening gear or laundry basket, wear their sports gear—including full scuba gear, ski garb, etc. We’ve decorated around the church with camping gear, beds for those who say Sunday’s their only day to sleep in, big screen television with football or baseball games playing … you get the idea. And we do a contest for the best excuse. (Special thanks to the Church of Today, Warren, Michigan and the late Reverend Jack Boland for this fun idea of "No Excuse Sunday.")
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