Is Your Church Ready for Summer? A Pre-Season Checklist for Pastors
Prepare your church for a successful summer with this practical checklist for pastors. Learn how to stabilize giving, schedule volunteers, strengthen kids ministry, improve communication, and plan impactful summer events.
If the people in your congregation are anything like me, they are already beginning to mentally check out for the summer. Half your families have camping trips penciled in, well deserved PTO is being planned out with passion, and somewhere between the end of May and Labor Day, your most reliable Sunday school volunteer is about to send a "Hey, we'll be out of town for a couple weeks!" text. Three of them, actually.
Before you know it, your volunteer bank is thinner than you planned, giving has dipped, and you're running events on the wrong weekends because three key families are in Florida.
Importantly, the annual church “summer slump” does not have to catch you off guard. A few intentional weeks of pre-season planning can be the difference between a summer that drains you and one that actually energizes your church. Here is the pre-season checklist pastors and church staff need before summer officially hits.
1. Audit Your Church Giving Before the Slump Hits
Most pastors would rather talk about anything other than finances, so let's get it out of the way first. According to some estimates, church attendance drops by more than 30 percent during summer months, and giving tends to follow. That is a predictable pattern, and it is worth preparing for.
Recurring giving is one of the most proven ways to stabilize your budget through the summer season. Tithely's internal data shows that recurring givers contribute more than double what one-time givers do annually ($2,739 vs. $1,245 on average). The difference allows ministry to keep moving forward even when congregants are absent from church.
Before summer starts, make sure your online and mobile giving options are easy to find and easy to use. Make at least one clear invitation from the pulpit or in your email newsletter for people to set up recurring gifts, and spend some time looking over the free e-book, Overcoming the Summer Slump: A Recurring Giving Guide. It is worth the time to prepare!
2. Lock In Your Sunday Volunteer Schedule Now
Volunteer gaps tend to arrive out of nowhere. They show up on a Sunday morning when two of your kids' check-in volunteers are on a cruise, and your sound guy is out of service at a National Park. Summer travel is unpredictable, and it compounds.
To prevent these gaps, try to get more lead time. Ask your key volunteers now to flag the weekends they will be unavailable through Labor Day. Then, use that information to identify gaps before they become crises.
Scheduling tools inside a church management platform can make this much easier. When volunteers can submit their availability online and you can see coverage gaps in one view, you are not playing phone tag in June.
3. Make Sure Your Kids Ministry Is Actually Ready
Parents do not come back if their kids did not have a good experience. That is simply how it works. One mom said it to me plainly: "If my kids are excited to come back, I will be back, too."
Summer is also when a lot of families visit churches for the first time. They just moved, they are in town visiting grandparents, or someone finally got them to say yes to an invitation. Your church’s kids ministry is frequently the deciding factor in whether they return.
As you get ready for summer, ask yourself these questions:
- Is the check-in process smooth, fast, and clearly safe? Paper check-in creates anxiety for first-time parents.
- Do you have enough volunteers to sustain coverage through July and August?
- Is the curriculum engaging for the summer season, or is it running on autopilot?
- Are you prepared for a surge of visitors in June who might become regulars by fall?
A digital check-in system can remove a lot of friction from first-time family visits and give parents real peace of mind. If any of those questions made you wince, that is good information to have now.
4. Plan Your Communication Rhythm
When people travel, they disengage – and that’s okay! Still, if they want to stay connected, a consistent communication rhythm during the summer can keep your congregation invested in the life of the church even when they’re not in the room.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A weekly email that is simple, pastoral, and personal goes a long way. In a recent Tithely webinar, Jay Kranda made a point worth writing down. He said that the biggest digital opportunity for most churches is not more video or social content, but consistently engaging the people you already have through something as straightforward as a weekly Thursday email.
This email can be a Monday follow-up email that helps people revisit and apply the Sunday sermon, or it can be a series of event reminders or midweek scripture encouragements. Whatever you choose, pre-plan your rhythm. Improvising each week is far less effective than mapping out your summer content ahead of time.
6. Plan Your Church Calendar Events Wisely
Hosting more events in the summer is not always better. Fewer, well-supported events that people actually show up to will do more for your church's momentum than a crowded calendar that exhausts your volunteer team. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you map out your calendar:
- Are these events scheduled around times when a large portion of your congregation will actually be in town?
- Does each event have a clear purpose, such as outreach, community building, or discipleship, or is it on the calendar out of habit?
- Is there someone clearly responsible for promotion, logistics, and volunteer coordination for each one?
If the answer to any of those is unclear, simplify. And when you do promote your events, do not rely exclusively on Sunday announcements. Use creative church event promotion ideas like text messages, social media, shareable graphics, and small group leaders to spread the word earlier and wider.
A Summer That Thrives, Not Just Survives
Summer doesn’t have to be a season of survival mode. With a little pre-season work, shoring up your giving strategy, getting ahead of volunteer gaps, making sure kids ministry is ready, and keeping communication consistent, you can create margin instead of chaos.
If you are looking for tools to help your church stay healthy this summer, from recurring giving to volunteer scheduling to kids check-in, Tithely is built for exactly this. Learn more here.
Sign Up for Product Updates
Susanna is a theological content writer with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about ministry, running, and exploring new cultures through international travel. In her free time, you’ll find her surfing, obsessing over the Olympics, or enjoying the San Diego sunshine!
If the people in your congregation are anything like me, they are already beginning to mentally check out for the summer. Half your families have camping trips penciled in, well deserved PTO is being planned out with passion, and somewhere between the end of May and Labor Day, your most reliable Sunday school volunteer is about to send a "Hey, we'll be out of town for a couple weeks!" text. Three of them, actually.
Before you know it, your volunteer bank is thinner than you planned, giving has dipped, and you're running events on the wrong weekends because three key families are in Florida.
Importantly, the annual church “summer slump” does not have to catch you off guard. A few intentional weeks of pre-season planning can be the difference between a summer that drains you and one that actually energizes your church. Here is the pre-season checklist pastors and church staff need before summer officially hits.
1. Audit Your Church Giving Before the Slump Hits
Most pastors would rather talk about anything other than finances, so let's get it out of the way first. According to some estimates, church attendance drops by more than 30 percent during summer months, and giving tends to follow. That is a predictable pattern, and it is worth preparing for.
Recurring giving is one of the most proven ways to stabilize your budget through the summer season. Tithely's internal data shows that recurring givers contribute more than double what one-time givers do annually ($2,739 vs. $1,245 on average). The difference allows ministry to keep moving forward even when congregants are absent from church.
Before summer starts, make sure your online and mobile giving options are easy to find and easy to use. Make at least one clear invitation from the pulpit or in your email newsletter for people to set up recurring gifts, and spend some time looking over the free e-book, Overcoming the Summer Slump: A Recurring Giving Guide. It is worth the time to prepare!
2. Lock In Your Sunday Volunteer Schedule Now
Volunteer gaps tend to arrive out of nowhere. They show up on a Sunday morning when two of your kids' check-in volunteers are on a cruise, and your sound guy is out of service at a National Park. Summer travel is unpredictable, and it compounds.
To prevent these gaps, try to get more lead time. Ask your key volunteers now to flag the weekends they will be unavailable through Labor Day. Then, use that information to identify gaps before they become crises.
Scheduling tools inside a church management platform can make this much easier. When volunteers can submit their availability online and you can see coverage gaps in one view, you are not playing phone tag in June.
3. Make Sure Your Kids Ministry Is Actually Ready
Parents do not come back if their kids did not have a good experience. That is simply how it works. One mom said it to me plainly: "If my kids are excited to come back, I will be back, too."
Summer is also when a lot of families visit churches for the first time. They just moved, they are in town visiting grandparents, or someone finally got them to say yes to an invitation. Your church’s kids ministry is frequently the deciding factor in whether they return.
As you get ready for summer, ask yourself these questions:
- Is the check-in process smooth, fast, and clearly safe? Paper check-in creates anxiety for first-time parents.
- Do you have enough volunteers to sustain coverage through July and August?
- Is the curriculum engaging for the summer season, or is it running on autopilot?
- Are you prepared for a surge of visitors in June who might become regulars by fall?
A digital check-in system can remove a lot of friction from first-time family visits and give parents real peace of mind. If any of those questions made you wince, that is good information to have now.
4. Plan Your Communication Rhythm
When people travel, they disengage – and that’s okay! Still, if they want to stay connected, a consistent communication rhythm during the summer can keep your congregation invested in the life of the church even when they’re not in the room.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A weekly email that is simple, pastoral, and personal goes a long way. In a recent Tithely webinar, Jay Kranda made a point worth writing down. He said that the biggest digital opportunity for most churches is not more video or social content, but consistently engaging the people you already have through something as straightforward as a weekly Thursday email.
This email can be a Monday follow-up email that helps people revisit and apply the Sunday sermon, or it can be a series of event reminders or midweek scripture encouragements. Whatever you choose, pre-plan your rhythm. Improvising each week is far less effective than mapping out your summer content ahead of time.
6. Plan Your Church Calendar Events Wisely
Hosting more events in the summer is not always better. Fewer, well-supported events that people actually show up to will do more for your church's momentum than a crowded calendar that exhausts your volunteer team. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you map out your calendar:
- Are these events scheduled around times when a large portion of your congregation will actually be in town?
- Does each event have a clear purpose, such as outreach, community building, or discipleship, or is it on the calendar out of habit?
- Is there someone clearly responsible for promotion, logistics, and volunteer coordination for each one?
If the answer to any of those is unclear, simplify. And when you do promote your events, do not rely exclusively on Sunday announcements. Use creative church event promotion ideas like text messages, social media, shareable graphics, and small group leaders to spread the word earlier and wider.
A Summer That Thrives, Not Just Survives
Summer doesn’t have to be a season of survival mode. With a little pre-season work, shoring up your giving strategy, getting ahead of volunteer gaps, making sure kids ministry is ready, and keeping communication consistent, you can create margin instead of chaos.
If you are looking for tools to help your church stay healthy this summer, from recurring giving to volunteer scheduling to kids check-in, Tithely is built for exactly this. Learn more here.
podcast transcript
Susanna is a theological content writer with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about ministry, running, and exploring new cultures through international travel. In her free time, you’ll find her surfing, obsessing over the Olympics, or enjoying the San Diego sunshine!
If the people in your congregation are anything like me, they are already beginning to mentally check out for the summer. Half your families have camping trips penciled in, well deserved PTO is being planned out with passion, and somewhere between the end of May and Labor Day, your most reliable Sunday school volunteer is about to send a "Hey, we'll be out of town for a couple weeks!" text. Three of them, actually.
Before you know it, your volunteer bank is thinner than you planned, giving has dipped, and you're running events on the wrong weekends because three key families are in Florida.
Importantly, the annual church “summer slump” does not have to catch you off guard. A few intentional weeks of pre-season planning can be the difference between a summer that drains you and one that actually energizes your church. Here is the pre-season checklist pastors and church staff need before summer officially hits.
1. Audit Your Church Giving Before the Slump Hits
Most pastors would rather talk about anything other than finances, so let's get it out of the way first. According to some estimates, church attendance drops by more than 30 percent during summer months, and giving tends to follow. That is a predictable pattern, and it is worth preparing for.
Recurring giving is one of the most proven ways to stabilize your budget through the summer season. Tithely's internal data shows that recurring givers contribute more than double what one-time givers do annually ($2,739 vs. $1,245 on average). The difference allows ministry to keep moving forward even when congregants are absent from church.
Before summer starts, make sure your online and mobile giving options are easy to find and easy to use. Make at least one clear invitation from the pulpit or in your email newsletter for people to set up recurring gifts, and spend some time looking over the free e-book, Overcoming the Summer Slump: A Recurring Giving Guide. It is worth the time to prepare!
2. Lock In Your Sunday Volunteer Schedule Now
Volunteer gaps tend to arrive out of nowhere. They show up on a Sunday morning when two of your kids' check-in volunteers are on a cruise, and your sound guy is out of service at a National Park. Summer travel is unpredictable, and it compounds.
To prevent these gaps, try to get more lead time. Ask your key volunteers now to flag the weekends they will be unavailable through Labor Day. Then, use that information to identify gaps before they become crises.
Scheduling tools inside a church management platform can make this much easier. When volunteers can submit their availability online and you can see coverage gaps in one view, you are not playing phone tag in June.
3. Make Sure Your Kids Ministry Is Actually Ready
Parents do not come back if their kids did not have a good experience. That is simply how it works. One mom said it to me plainly: "If my kids are excited to come back, I will be back, too."
Summer is also when a lot of families visit churches for the first time. They just moved, they are in town visiting grandparents, or someone finally got them to say yes to an invitation. Your church’s kids ministry is frequently the deciding factor in whether they return.
As you get ready for summer, ask yourself these questions:
- Is the check-in process smooth, fast, and clearly safe? Paper check-in creates anxiety for first-time parents.
- Do you have enough volunteers to sustain coverage through July and August?
- Is the curriculum engaging for the summer season, or is it running on autopilot?
- Are you prepared for a surge of visitors in June who might become regulars by fall?
A digital check-in system can remove a lot of friction from first-time family visits and give parents real peace of mind. If any of those questions made you wince, that is good information to have now.
4. Plan Your Communication Rhythm
When people travel, they disengage – and that’s okay! Still, if they want to stay connected, a consistent communication rhythm during the summer can keep your congregation invested in the life of the church even when they’re not in the room.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A weekly email that is simple, pastoral, and personal goes a long way. In a recent Tithely webinar, Jay Kranda made a point worth writing down. He said that the biggest digital opportunity for most churches is not more video or social content, but consistently engaging the people you already have through something as straightforward as a weekly Thursday email.
This email can be a Monday follow-up email that helps people revisit and apply the Sunday sermon, or it can be a series of event reminders or midweek scripture encouragements. Whatever you choose, pre-plan your rhythm. Improvising each week is far less effective than mapping out your summer content ahead of time.
6. Plan Your Church Calendar Events Wisely
Hosting more events in the summer is not always better. Fewer, well-supported events that people actually show up to will do more for your church's momentum than a crowded calendar that exhausts your volunteer team. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you map out your calendar:
- Are these events scheduled around times when a large portion of your congregation will actually be in town?
- Does each event have a clear purpose, such as outreach, community building, or discipleship, or is it on the calendar out of habit?
- Is there someone clearly responsible for promotion, logistics, and volunteer coordination for each one?
If the answer to any of those is unclear, simplify. And when you do promote your events, do not rely exclusively on Sunday announcements. Use creative church event promotion ideas like text messages, social media, shareable graphics, and small group leaders to spread the word earlier and wider.
A Summer That Thrives, Not Just Survives
Summer doesn’t have to be a season of survival mode. With a little pre-season work, shoring up your giving strategy, getting ahead of volunteer gaps, making sure kids ministry is ready, and keeping communication consistent, you can create margin instead of chaos.
If you are looking for tools to help your church stay healthy this summer, from recurring giving to volunteer scheduling to kids check-in, Tithely is built for exactly this. Learn more here.
VIDEO transcript
If the people in your congregation are anything like me, they are already beginning to mentally check out for the summer. Half your families have camping trips penciled in, well deserved PTO is being planned out with passion, and somewhere between the end of May and Labor Day, your most reliable Sunday school volunteer is about to send a "Hey, we'll be out of town for a couple weeks!" text. Three of them, actually.
Before you know it, your volunteer bank is thinner than you planned, giving has dipped, and you're running events on the wrong weekends because three key families are in Florida.
Importantly, the annual church “summer slump” does not have to catch you off guard. A few intentional weeks of pre-season planning can be the difference between a summer that drains you and one that actually energizes your church. Here is the pre-season checklist pastors and church staff need before summer officially hits.
1. Audit Your Church Giving Before the Slump Hits
Most pastors would rather talk about anything other than finances, so let's get it out of the way first. According to some estimates, church attendance drops by more than 30 percent during summer months, and giving tends to follow. That is a predictable pattern, and it is worth preparing for.
Recurring giving is one of the most proven ways to stabilize your budget through the summer season. Tithely's internal data shows that recurring givers contribute more than double what one-time givers do annually ($2,739 vs. $1,245 on average). The difference allows ministry to keep moving forward even when congregants are absent from church.
Before summer starts, make sure your online and mobile giving options are easy to find and easy to use. Make at least one clear invitation from the pulpit or in your email newsletter for people to set up recurring gifts, and spend some time looking over the free e-book, Overcoming the Summer Slump: A Recurring Giving Guide. It is worth the time to prepare!
2. Lock In Your Sunday Volunteer Schedule Now
Volunteer gaps tend to arrive out of nowhere. They show up on a Sunday morning when two of your kids' check-in volunteers are on a cruise, and your sound guy is out of service at a National Park. Summer travel is unpredictable, and it compounds.
To prevent these gaps, try to get more lead time. Ask your key volunteers now to flag the weekends they will be unavailable through Labor Day. Then, use that information to identify gaps before they become crises.
Scheduling tools inside a church management platform can make this much easier. When volunteers can submit their availability online and you can see coverage gaps in one view, you are not playing phone tag in June.
3. Make Sure Your Kids Ministry Is Actually Ready
Parents do not come back if their kids did not have a good experience. That is simply how it works. One mom said it to me plainly: "If my kids are excited to come back, I will be back, too."
Summer is also when a lot of families visit churches for the first time. They just moved, they are in town visiting grandparents, or someone finally got them to say yes to an invitation. Your church’s kids ministry is frequently the deciding factor in whether they return.
As you get ready for summer, ask yourself these questions:
- Is the check-in process smooth, fast, and clearly safe? Paper check-in creates anxiety for first-time parents.
- Do you have enough volunteers to sustain coverage through July and August?
- Is the curriculum engaging for the summer season, or is it running on autopilot?
- Are you prepared for a surge of visitors in June who might become regulars by fall?
A digital check-in system can remove a lot of friction from first-time family visits and give parents real peace of mind. If any of those questions made you wince, that is good information to have now.
4. Plan Your Communication Rhythm
When people travel, they disengage – and that’s okay! Still, if they want to stay connected, a consistent communication rhythm during the summer can keep your congregation invested in the life of the church even when they’re not in the room.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A weekly email that is simple, pastoral, and personal goes a long way. In a recent Tithely webinar, Jay Kranda made a point worth writing down. He said that the biggest digital opportunity for most churches is not more video or social content, but consistently engaging the people you already have through something as straightforward as a weekly Thursday email.
This email can be a Monday follow-up email that helps people revisit and apply the Sunday sermon, or it can be a series of event reminders or midweek scripture encouragements. Whatever you choose, pre-plan your rhythm. Improvising each week is far less effective than mapping out your summer content ahead of time.
6. Plan Your Church Calendar Events Wisely
Hosting more events in the summer is not always better. Fewer, well-supported events that people actually show up to will do more for your church's momentum than a crowded calendar that exhausts your volunteer team. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you map out your calendar:
- Are these events scheduled around times when a large portion of your congregation will actually be in town?
- Does each event have a clear purpose, such as outreach, community building, or discipleship, or is it on the calendar out of habit?
- Is there someone clearly responsible for promotion, logistics, and volunteer coordination for each one?
If the answer to any of those is unclear, simplify. And when you do promote your events, do not rely exclusively on Sunday announcements. Use creative church event promotion ideas like text messages, social media, shareable graphics, and small group leaders to spread the word earlier and wider.
A Summer That Thrives, Not Just Survives
Summer doesn’t have to be a season of survival mode. With a little pre-season work, shoring up your giving strategy, getting ahead of volunteer gaps, making sure kids ministry is ready, and keeping communication consistent, you can create margin instead of chaos.
If you are looking for tools to help your church stay healthy this summer, from recurring giving to volunteer scheduling to kids check-in, Tithely is built for exactly this. Learn more here.
Sign Up for Product Updates
Susanna is a theological content writer with a Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about ministry, running, and exploring new cultures through international travel. In her free time, you’ll find her surfing, obsessing over the Olympics, or enjoying the San Diego sunshine!
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