For most churches the attendance cycle looks something like this:

• Winter (after Christmas break) – people start coming back to church. January & February are normally months that a lot of guests come to church. Many have made New Year’s resolutions to start going (or something similar) and they stick with it for a while. It is not the highest attended season because the typically harsh, colder weather deters the elderly and parents with infants.

• Spring – Spring is when it kicks into gear. March, April, and the first part of May (minus a Spring break week somewhere) will typically be the highest attended Sundays on the books. It doesn’t hurt that Easter is in the mix either.

• Summer – no comment.

• Fall – the Fall season for churches starts after Labor Day weekend. It is normally higher attended than the Summer but it is not as high as the Spring. Many people vacation in the Fall if their children are pre-schoolers or they are emptynesters. But you cannot expect the Fall attendance boost to just happen. Many good members have gotten into some bad habits with their attendance over the Summer. How do you combat that? Have a high attendance day after Labor Day weekend.

What kind of High Attendance day? How about National Back to Church Day?

Lifeway, Outreach Magazine and others are sponsoring September 16 as National Back to Church Sunday. There are a ton of resources available on the website to help you pull it off. If you start now, you would have a little over a month – not the best of circumstances but why not give it a shot?

You can find out everything you need to know here: http://backtochurch.com/

Check out this rap video for some inspiration.