Monday Morning Insights

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    Taking the Summer Off From Ministry

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    She continues…

    “...then we realized from a ministry standpoint that we lost a lot of ground if we didn’t capitalize on the potential for summer to be a time of impact, experimentation, and even building. Our mid-week services actually enjoy a substantial increase in attendance over the summer, with students back at home and most of our congregation embracing a different rhythm of life.  On weekends, we observe that when we signal to everyone that we are moving forward, that authentic, meaningful, creative gatherings will still be offered, the congregation is far more disciplined to show up and continue engaging and growing.  So how does a staff/volunteer team feel any kind of break if the goal is still to build?  Is it healthy to keep up a relentless pace 52 weeks of the year?

    Our solution, developed over many years and still being tweaked, has been to develop enough depth on our team that we can take turns refreshing ourselves with some time away.  Platooning.  Our teaching pastors schedule their time off well in advance, making sure we have someone strong available for each of the summer months.  Our arts teams do lean into some guest artists on occasion, but mostly spread the weight of planning and executing services so that no one individual or team is “on” all the time, and everyone has the opportunity for some kind of break.  It takes a long time – and an investment of resources – to grow to a place of platooning.

    Read more here at Nancy’s blog...

    FOR DISCUSSION: How does your church approach ‘summer’ ministry?

    What does your summer ministry look like? Do you intentionally shut down some ministries for the summer? Do you take it easy or coast? Nancy Beach has some insight as to what they do at Willow I think you'll find interesting. She says, "People who serve on staff at a church, and the key volunteers who also make it happen week after week, sometimes bristle at the whole idea of taking it easy in the summer, at seizing anything that feels like a significant break. At our church, our pastor has taken a summer study break for many years. Meanwhile back at the ranch, Sundays just keep arriving with an obvious need for someone to figure out how to keep things going. We used to try to scale our services back at least a bit in the summer, avoiding anything too complicated or risky, especially when our team was very small and feeling overwhelmed most of the year. But..."

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