As summer winds down, a new school year approaches, and people settle back into their routines, it’s time to re-engage with your congregation and revitalize the energy in your church. This transitional period offers a unique opportunity for pastors and church teams to reconnect with members, welcome newcomers, and refocus on your mission. With careful planning and renewed energy, you can ensure a strong start to the new season and set a positive tone for the months ahead.
Here are four ways to re-engage your congregation after the summer lul.
1. Plan a Back to Church Sunday Gathering
September 15 is officially “Back to Church Sunday,” a day dedicated to encourage and support churches to invite their communities into church. This is a chance to address a common missed opportunity for growing engagement: according to research, only 5% of Americans have received a personal invitation to church, but 80% say they would be open to attending church if they were invited by a friend.
Starting a buddy referral program is a great way to encourage members to reach out to a friend and invite them to join for Sunday service. Leveraging push notifications from your church’s app is a great way to kick-off the program, especially if some of your members are still traveling or on vacation for the last days of summer.
“We launched our Church app just about a year before the pandemic. We had no idea how important it would become for us in the years to follow. It has become our primary means of communication to our community!” said Jim White, Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church of Palmdale. “We have everything from our livestream to giving to small group sign ups to prayer concerns being shared with our app. It has become our single most important resource for communicating our mission and ministry to our people!”
Consider creating an invite for them to share directly with their friends and family. While raising awareness via social media is a good start, you don’t want to limit your audience to people who follow your social media accounts. Encourage your team to canvas the local neighborhood, and provide resources for your members to invite friends and neighbors directly.
Also explore ways to make your facility special as you welcome newcomers to the Back to Sunday celebration. First impressions go a long way, and this is a great opportunity to put your best foot forward and show your community the love of God in every interaction.
Depending on your church’s budget, you could rent a few food trucks or inflatables to give the event a “carnival-like” atmosphere. And there’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned “potluck” with yard games.
If your church has a big enough parking lot or family event center, you can host the event there, or you can open up your church doors so newcomers can see your beautiful facility. But no matter what you plan, give your church enough time to get the word out.
2. Raise awareness by offering your facility as a community gathering place.
Offering your facility as a gathering place is a powerful way to foster deeper connections and demonstrate your church’s commitment to the local community. By opening your doors to groups like the Boy Scouts, Alcoholics Anonymous, your local Chamber of Commerce, or the Lions Club, you create a welcoming environment that encourages regular interaction and engagement. It’s a win-win: you’re providing organizations with a reliable and convenient meeting space, and also introducing new people to your church.
Show that your church is more than just a place for Sunday worship; it is an active participant in the daily life of people in your community. The goodwill from these simple acts can lead to increased involvement in church activities, as members of these community groups may feel more connected and invested in your church’s mission. Slowly but surely, your church will become a cornerstone of the community, fostering a spirit of collaboration, support, and unity.
Technology can help you schedule and organize which groups will be using your facility and when. This will help ensure your leadership team has visibility to who’s coming and going, and who they can expect to see in the building. Solutions, such as Pushpay’s ChurchStaq software, allows your ministry team to accomplish this seamlessly.
3. Level-up your livestream experience
Encouraging people to gather and physically worship in your church is a natural go-to after the doldrums of summer. However, don’t neglect the opportunity to engage with your community via livestream. Hybrid church is here to stay, and creating a welcoming and engaging online experience is just as important as the attention you give to your in-person experience. In fact, according to the 2024 State of Church Technology Report, 91% of churches today are livestreaming worship services, and 62% say it will play a key role for their church in the coming years. Not only that, but offering an online option is a great way for new people to explore your church and hear your message in an environment that’s comfortable for them, before they even set foot in your physical church.
Whether you’re a single campus church or have multiple locations, ensure you invest in a livestream solution that doesn’t compromise on quality or reliability. Resi Media offers hardware and software options that can fit the needs of any budget. The new Resi Mini Encoder is a portable device that packs a powerful punch to help deliver a great livestream experience from wherever you are, making high-quality encoding more affordable and accessible than ever. It easily fits into a backpack, so you can harness its power for portable church, youth group, traveling speakers, and more.
4. Check in on those who have stopped giving or attending
Church leaders tend to take drops in attendance and giving personally. But, sometimes, a family’s or individual’s physical or financial disengagement from your church is a consequence of external factors.
Maybe someone got laid off from their job, a family is going through a divorce, or a parent received a bad diagnosis. Whatever the issue, a drop-off in attendance or giving is often a red flag that something is amiss. At these junctures, proactively checking in with your congregants is how your church can foster deep connections within your ministry.
However, you’ll completely miss these warning signs if you’re not tracking giving patterns, attendance trends, and who’s serving. Make sure your church technology is equipped with the tools necessary to alert you when someone begins drifting away. An example to consider is Insights, which delivers real time data to help you know your people and grow your church.
As you develop your plan to re-engage your community this fall, be sure to consider ways technology can help with the heavy lifting on logistics and communication, so you can focus on what matters most—your people. And don’t forget, building engagement is a year-round job, so be sure to check out ways to engage your community beyond Sunday, which delivers helpful tactics to continue engagement year-round.
About Amanda Opdycke:
Amanda is a strategic problem solver who has spent 10 years helping organizations drive innovation, engagement, and growth. She is the senior product marketing manager at Pushpay, helping churches adapt their strategies with technology in order to foster growth in the Church.