Paint Point 5: Keeping your weekly attendance up during a pandemic.
There’s no doubt that your church services feel lighter. Whether you have only started partial services or are still hosting them online, your weekly attendance is just not what it used to be.
People are at home in their pajamas with a book and coffee in their hands. They most likely forgot that church was on! This is frustrating for every church leader. I’m sure everyone wishes this pandemic would be over already and that we can have some type of normalcy in this crazy world.
Keeping your weekly attendance up can seem like an impossible task. Here are some ideas to help keep your congregations coming back to church, even during the new season.
- Hold specific services for specific groups
- Saturday night service (following social distancing, of course) for the people who don’t want to wear masks.
- Sunday morning service for those who want to wear a mask and feel like everyone should too.
- Drive-in service for people who want to get out but don’t want to put themselves at risk of going into the building. (This is a great option for the older group).
- Offer multiple services such as 5 throughout the week at half capacity (or enough to follow social distancing guidelines)
- Communicate cleaning and sanitizing plans
- Ensure the safety of members and their families.
- Avoid ushers or greeters having contact with people.
- Have designated door holders to avoid members touching a high-trafficked surface (outside and sanctuary doors).
When you create an option for everyone, then more people are willing to do what appeals to them the most. Additionally, over communicate what your plans are. People want to know that you’re taking every precaution you can to ensure their safety. With overly communicating and creating options, people should start to show back up because, let’s be honest, they missed their church family!
Read more in the pain point blog series!
