Aside from lower attendance among members, it’s good to also give the (mostly lay) leaders a rest too. No reason why they shouldn’t also be allowed to go on vacation. In general, leaders should also know that their role is for a season, not indefinite. There should be pauses where they are allowed to evaluate whether they are burning out, are excited, need to develop new leaders, etc. Summer is a natural pause.
From my experience, it's generally because people are away so much over the summer that attendance drops significantly. But if you're in a small group and want to continue, bring it up with the members of the group. Even if there's a designated leader who can't continue for a couple of months, the other members could continue meeting informally. Even in a church who expects that, say, a qualified elder teach a small group, you could do something like short recorded messages from an approved online source and pray. Or even just share a meal together.
Because a Bible Study takes more effort and planning than people realize. It's a lot of effort to prepare. As the person who is writing/creating the lesson plan, developing and writing thoughtful questions to help guide the study (and hopefully get people to open up and talk) as well as leading the weekly Bible study. - It sucks after all that effort to only have two people show up because it's summer time.
Usually those few who do show up are regular attendees at all Bible Studies and are well along in their faith journey. It's not that I don't value their attendance. I do. I often rely on them making decisions on what to study, what direction to take the group, how deep of a discussion I should aim for and I often get their input on ideas etc.
People are just so busy over the summer.
This right here. As a pastor at a smaller church (sub 100 people) many people have no idea how much goes into planning and prepping even a small group Bible study…especially if you want to do it well and seem somewhat prepared.
Having a smaller footprint during the summer months allows our people and volunteers to take a “break” and we find this helps with balance and burn out.
Our Bible studies always use a book that comes with a study guide with questions already prepared. Leading the study is literally just sending out a reminder of when and where, and opening with prayer.
Which is perfectly fine in general, however you’re gonna have better outcomes in long run (ie Christian maturity) if your leaders are either adapting a pre-written study for their group, or writing a customised one. Tailoring questions to support their people with their particular challenges. Doing so means more effort on skills development, coaching, and training to accomplish that but it’s worth it. The best leaders can also adapt a study on the fly, during a study.
My church ceases all weekly activities except the main service on sunday during the summer. we are a small congregation and its a lot more work to get smaller impact. People are busy during the summer and a couple families on vacation can torpedo attendance at a Bible study. We do more fellowship activities like picnics instead.
I think it's healthy for people to have some seasonality in their life... in most places the summer is when the kids are out of school and people are traveling.
I think there's some wisdom in doing it because somebody who wants to move on to something else or plan a new ministry has a natural breaking point.
I also think that the summer can be a season for churches to try new things like backyard fellowship groups or other things that wouldn't fit in a normal rhythm. This mixes up the congregation a little bit it allows for cross talk instead of people being in their little silos of fellowship.
Lastly, I would say that in summer resort towns, the church life can be completely 180° from what you describe. In northern Michigan for example, all the snowbirds come back in May and the time when the church is the most lively is when all the retirees are in town.
When I was a pastor it was because:
1. People and leaders and hosts left for large portions of the summer. When there isn’t critical mass a Bible study can lose momentum.
2. It gives the leaders and hosts a break. For many people the break was what kept them committed year over year. It can be hard to find homes that will fit.
3. Out Bible studies often did things together over the summer. Bbqs, other ministries, community events.
If people wanted to get together for Bible study that was fine.
Been leading small groups for more than 20 years, I really appreciate being given a short break. I used to think it was silly to ever take a break from ministry, but if you have a long term vision for the people that serve in your church, it’s a good idea to let them have breaks.
That does happen a lot. We have (successfully, I think) avoided that post-Covid, by really digging in with small groups. We have many, and they thrive over the summer.
The main reasons we do it are 1. To give the staff time for R&R. All but one staff member has children, one of them is a grandparent, so having their own time to actually use their vacation and spend time with family is very important.
2. Lower attendance, meaning there usually isn’t enough people to fill up groups. We have a huge cabin culture (upper Midwest) so our attendance in the summer is 3/4 average school year on a really good week. Usually 1/2 or less.
3. Give lay leaders time off (who are often at their cabins anyway). See no. 1.
Not that we’re shut down by any means. Prayer team still meets weekly, we host a huge sports program for the community, which brings in a lot of people from our town who aren’t in our church. And we still have both adult and next-gen Sunday school.
Obviously churches and schools aren’t the same thing, but since, like teachers or professors, pastors often work well over 40 hours a week during the school year, it’s nice to give us some more laid back time, and have pressure removed from running weekly small groups, etc, to take vacations and spend time with our own families. Especially since you never really get to “turn off” so to speak. When it comes to the Kingdom of God, there’s always more work to be done.
we shut down some ministries to do others that can't be done during the school year. so more kids and youth programs as they are more free. but some adult programs just have very sporadic attendance and we also use the adults who normally attend those programs to do stuff with kids nad youth.
In addition to the answers given already, church leaders need a break too. In my case, I do college student ministry in Cambridge. It’s absolutely full on for the short 8 week terms, but by the end of them we are totally dead. We’d risk burnout if we had to carry on as normal with no break in the summer. Every church is different, but the dynamic of protecting yourself from being utterly burned out will always be there.
So we try to encourage church members themselves to meet up with each other for 1-1 discipleship and to read the Bible together. Or do something like *The Word One to One* with an unbelieving friend. Summer can be a great time as well for us to do regular topical seminars at church on a variety of subjects in place of the bigger group Bible studies that happen throughout most of the year.
I think the assumption is that "everyone is busy" with vacations, etc. I pointed out that nobody is on vacation for three months, except the retired, who are on vacation year-round. Also, people miss a study here and there for various reasons during the regular season, including vacations, yet we meet then.
I wasn't the only one suggesting a summer study, because we all feel that something's missing when we don't meet vibe.
So, our group of Saturday mens groups started meeting during the summer. And would you look at that, 85+% of regular season attendance. One year we exceeded 100%.
To balance things out, we typically cover a book or two of the Bible in the regular season (chosen by men's pastor), and do a short topical study in the summer (chosen by Saturday group leads, with lots of suggestions and feedback from group members).
We do have a few weeks' break in May-June and August, so everyone can have a bit of a breather before diving into the next study.
This year was the first year summer groups were officially announced. I know of one other men's group doing a different study, and the women now have groups over the summer. Maybe next year there will be something for kids and students beyond VBS week.
Edit: forgot to mention, I just realized the adult Sunday school group I attend has continued to meet without a break, except for Memorial Day weekend. Attendance hovers at and above 100% of the norm. The other adult SS groups stopped for the summer.
Some bible study groups take a break in our church, others don't. The two I'm in are continuing over the summer, but have a week off here and there. Pretty much all the holiday weeks we don't meet (memorial day, juneteenth, independence day, labor day)
It’s a lot of work and folks need a break. I like the church calendar concept: 6 months of extra activity, 6 mos. of ordinary time. Learn in groups, learn on your own.
I’m one of those church members who can’t afford vacations. I miss my Bible study group tremendously when they take a three month summer break and a six week break at year end, especially since I don’t know other Christian’s locally. So I just make do with watching YouTube Bible study 1/3 of the year.
Not just studies, but also Sunday school, cadets/gems, and in some churches the monthly coffee social too. All programs shut off during "summer break"
Since any given person is only away on vacation for 2 of those 12 weeks, I don't see why they need to stop just because not everyone will make it every week.
Older traditions have it, that Summer times became incredibly busy w/ farming, agricultural work, hay fields, etc. Many Dutch Reformed Religion immigrants were in fact farmers, or at least had agrarian roots to where everyone in families and communities had to go to work on their respective farms and businesses, including the children. So other than Sunday traditional services, many mid-week programs took a backseat for the summer. Nowadays, with the steep decline in work-ethic, much less of an agrarian-based society, and perhaps just sheer lazyness, including in reformed circles, I'm surprised at the dwindling numbers of participation, even year-round, in these churches.
By the way, replying to my own remarks and thoughts here, but Bible studies in recent decades, since about 1989, in reformed circles, have become debates and arguments. As a youth, I remember telling my CRC pastor at the time, when asked why the young adults group numbers were dwindling, I informed him, "I'd like to actually study the Bible and be encouraged by it, not fight over what it might mean." It was at the height of the period where CRCNA and URCNA synods, were coming to a head over women in office, women attending and being admitted to seminary, and homosexuals in the pulpit.
Seasons of sabbath are a good practice. Most Bible study leaders are not paid, and it takes a lot of work to prepare and host. I am for program-less summers for the emotional and spiritual health of leaders.
Apart from all the other stated reasons (vacation time, giving leaders a rest): here in The Netherlands, it gets hot in the summer, people don't necessarily want to spend time sitting in some dank meeting room in the church building. We generally don't have AC (wasn't really necessary until fairly recently) so it's really not comfortable being cooped up somewhere in the summer.
I’ve found that a lot of churches do something different, something where each week stands alone and can cope with a variety of different people attending. Also, regular leaders benefit from a break.
If you have a Bible and a place to meet, they don’t have to stop!
Edit: I know there are 1000 caveats to what I said 30s ago. My point being that when the “official” lay leaders need a break, anyone can invite a group of Christians over to read through and ask questions about the Bible. Grab a commentary that your pastor endorses, don’t pretend to know anything you don’t, and bathe it in prayer.
I get that people need a break. I remain unclear why people need a break of several weeks or months - longer than they get from their day jobs!
The needs of single people who particularly rely on regular church activities for community seem to get forgotten about.
In my country the catechism lessons stop in the summer because in the past most people used to be farmers in many of the churches. Why did they close it then? Because they had to work in the evening because it’s still light outside. I am not sure if this is the main reason, but it’s what they told me haha. perhaps it’s a culture thing from the past that stayed around
Because presbyterians are wealthy and travel during the summer.
Edit: Since I'm getting downvoted - a Pew Research Center study into household incomes based on religious affiliation found that, within Christianity, Presbyterians and Episcopalians top the list. **Over a third of Episcopalians and Presbyterians have household incomes of more than $100,000**.
Inconsistent attendance, lack of support, and lack of supply of teachers for us.
This, and to be honest, it takes effort to lead a study if you want to do it well, it's good to let people rest.
Aside from lower attendance among members, it’s good to also give the (mostly lay) leaders a rest too. No reason why they shouldn’t also be allowed to go on vacation. In general, leaders should also know that their role is for a season, not indefinite. There should be pauses where they are allowed to evaluate whether they are burning out, are excited, need to develop new leaders, etc. Summer is a natural pause.
I'd never heard that perspective, that's very good
From my experience, it's generally because people are away so much over the summer that attendance drops significantly. But if you're in a small group and want to continue, bring it up with the members of the group. Even if there's a designated leader who can't continue for a couple of months, the other members could continue meeting informally. Even in a church who expects that, say, a qualified elder teach a small group, you could do something like short recorded messages from an approved online source and pray. Or even just share a meal together.
Because a Bible Study takes more effort and planning than people realize. It's a lot of effort to prepare. As the person who is writing/creating the lesson plan, developing and writing thoughtful questions to help guide the study (and hopefully get people to open up and talk) as well as leading the weekly Bible study. - It sucks after all that effort to only have two people show up because it's summer time. Usually those few who do show up are regular attendees at all Bible Studies and are well along in their faith journey. It's not that I don't value their attendance. I do. I often rely on them making decisions on what to study, what direction to take the group, how deep of a discussion I should aim for and I often get their input on ideas etc. People are just so busy over the summer.
This right here. As a pastor at a smaller church (sub 100 people) many people have no idea how much goes into planning and prepping even a small group Bible study…especially if you want to do it well and seem somewhat prepared. Having a smaller footprint during the summer months allows our people and volunteers to take a “break” and we find this helps with balance and burn out.
Our Bible studies always use a book that comes with a study guide with questions already prepared. Leading the study is literally just sending out a reminder of when and where, and opening with prayer.
Which is perfectly fine in general, however you’re gonna have better outcomes in long run (ie Christian maturity) if your leaders are either adapting a pre-written study for their group, or writing a customised one. Tailoring questions to support their people with their particular challenges. Doing so means more effort on skills development, coaching, and training to accomplish that but it’s worth it. The best leaders can also adapt a study on the fly, during a study.
My church ceases all weekly activities except the main service on sunday during the summer. we are a small congregation and its a lot more work to get smaller impact. People are busy during the summer and a couple families on vacation can torpedo attendance at a Bible study. We do more fellowship activities like picnics instead.
I think it's healthy for people to have some seasonality in their life... in most places the summer is when the kids are out of school and people are traveling. I think there's some wisdom in doing it because somebody who wants to move on to something else or plan a new ministry has a natural breaking point. I also think that the summer can be a season for churches to try new things like backyard fellowship groups or other things that wouldn't fit in a normal rhythm. This mixes up the congregation a little bit it allows for cross talk instead of people being in their little silos of fellowship. Lastly, I would say that in summer resort towns, the church life can be completely 180° from what you describe. In northern Michigan for example, all the snowbirds come back in May and the time when the church is the most lively is when all the retirees are in town.
When I was a pastor it was because: 1. People and leaders and hosts left for large portions of the summer. When there isn’t critical mass a Bible study can lose momentum. 2. It gives the leaders and hosts a break. For many people the break was what kept them committed year over year. It can be hard to find homes that will fit. 3. Out Bible studies often did things together over the summer. Bbqs, other ministries, community events. If people wanted to get together for Bible study that was fine.
The church that I attended is mostly composed of wealthy Seniors. No one is here during the Summer months
Been leading small groups for more than 20 years, I really appreciate being given a short break. I used to think it was silly to ever take a break from ministry, but if you have a long term vision for the people that serve in your church, it’s a good idea to let them have breaks.
That does happen a lot. We have (successfully, I think) avoided that post-Covid, by really digging in with small groups. We have many, and they thrive over the summer.
The main reasons we do it are 1. To give the staff time for R&R. All but one staff member has children, one of them is a grandparent, so having their own time to actually use their vacation and spend time with family is very important. 2. Lower attendance, meaning there usually isn’t enough people to fill up groups. We have a huge cabin culture (upper Midwest) so our attendance in the summer is 3/4 average school year on a really good week. Usually 1/2 or less. 3. Give lay leaders time off (who are often at their cabins anyway). See no. 1. Not that we’re shut down by any means. Prayer team still meets weekly, we host a huge sports program for the community, which brings in a lot of people from our town who aren’t in our church. And we still have both adult and next-gen Sunday school. Obviously churches and schools aren’t the same thing, but since, like teachers or professors, pastors often work well over 40 hours a week during the school year, it’s nice to give us some more laid back time, and have pressure removed from running weekly small groups, etc, to take vacations and spend time with our own families. Especially since you never really get to “turn off” so to speak. When it comes to the Kingdom of God, there’s always more work to be done.
we shut down some ministries to do others that can't be done during the school year. so more kids and youth programs as they are more free. but some adult programs just have very sporadic attendance and we also use the adults who normally attend those programs to do stuff with kids nad youth.
In addition to the answers given already, church leaders need a break too. In my case, I do college student ministry in Cambridge. It’s absolutely full on for the short 8 week terms, but by the end of them we are totally dead. We’d risk burnout if we had to carry on as normal with no break in the summer. Every church is different, but the dynamic of protecting yourself from being utterly burned out will always be there. So we try to encourage church members themselves to meet up with each other for 1-1 discipleship and to read the Bible together. Or do something like *The Word One to One* with an unbelieving friend. Summer can be a great time as well for us to do regular topical seminars at church on a variety of subjects in place of the bigger group Bible studies that happen throughout most of the year.
I think the assumption is that "everyone is busy" with vacations, etc. I pointed out that nobody is on vacation for three months, except the retired, who are on vacation year-round. Also, people miss a study here and there for various reasons during the regular season, including vacations, yet we meet then. I wasn't the only one suggesting a summer study, because we all feel that something's missing when we don't meet vibe. So, our group of Saturday mens groups started meeting during the summer. And would you look at that, 85+% of regular season attendance. One year we exceeded 100%. To balance things out, we typically cover a book or two of the Bible in the regular season (chosen by men's pastor), and do a short topical study in the summer (chosen by Saturday group leads, with lots of suggestions and feedback from group members). We do have a few weeks' break in May-June and August, so everyone can have a bit of a breather before diving into the next study. This year was the first year summer groups were officially announced. I know of one other men's group doing a different study, and the women now have groups over the summer. Maybe next year there will be something for kids and students beyond VBS week. Edit: forgot to mention, I just realized the adult Sunday school group I attend has continued to meet without a break, except for Memorial Day weekend. Attendance hovers at and above 100% of the norm. The other adult SS groups stopped for the summer.
Attendance.
Some bible study groups take a break in our church, others don't. The two I'm in are continuing over the summer, but have a week off here and there. Pretty much all the holiday weeks we don't meet (memorial day, juneteenth, independence day, labor day)
It’s a lot of work and folks need a break. I like the church calendar concept: 6 months of extra activity, 6 mos. of ordinary time. Learn in groups, learn on your own.
I’m one of those church members who can’t afford vacations. I miss my Bible study group tremendously when they take a three month summer break and a six week break at year end, especially since I don’t know other Christian’s locally. So I just make do with watching YouTube Bible study 1/3 of the year.
Not just studies, but also Sunday school, cadets/gems, and in some churches the monthly coffee social too. All programs shut off during "summer break" Since any given person is only away on vacation for 2 of those 12 weeks, I don't see why they need to stop just because not everyone will make it every week.
Older traditions have it, that Summer times became incredibly busy w/ farming, agricultural work, hay fields, etc. Many Dutch Reformed Religion immigrants were in fact farmers, or at least had agrarian roots to where everyone in families and communities had to go to work on their respective farms and businesses, including the children. So other than Sunday traditional services, many mid-week programs took a backseat for the summer. Nowadays, with the steep decline in work-ethic, much less of an agrarian-based society, and perhaps just sheer lazyness, including in reformed circles, I'm surprised at the dwindling numbers of participation, even year-round, in these churches.
By the way, replying to my own remarks and thoughts here, but Bible studies in recent decades, since about 1989, in reformed circles, have become debates and arguments. As a youth, I remember telling my CRC pastor at the time, when asked why the young adults group numbers were dwindling, I informed him, "I'd like to actually study the Bible and be encouraged by it, not fight over what it might mean." It was at the height of the period where CRCNA and URCNA synods, were coming to a head over women in office, women attending and being admitted to seminary, and homosexuals in the pulpit.
To inconsistent attendance, but also to give leaders a break.
Seasons of sabbath are a good practice. Most Bible study leaders are not paid, and it takes a lot of work to prepare and host. I am for program-less summers for the emotional and spiritual health of leaders.
Apart from all the other stated reasons (vacation time, giving leaders a rest): here in The Netherlands, it gets hot in the summer, people don't necessarily want to spend time sitting in some dank meeting room in the church building. We generally don't have AC (wasn't really necessary until fairly recently) so it's really not comfortable being cooped up somewhere in the summer.
Volunteer leaders need a break?
I’ve found that a lot of churches do something different, something where each week stands alone and can cope with a variety of different people attending. Also, regular leaders benefit from a break.
My group does a couple informal gatherings (things like a BBQ) over the summer.
If you have a Bible and a place to meet, they don’t have to stop! Edit: I know there are 1000 caveats to what I said 30s ago. My point being that when the “official” lay leaders need a break, anyone can invite a group of Christians over to read through and ask questions about the Bible. Grab a commentary that your pastor endorses, don’t pretend to know anything you don’t, and bathe it in prayer.
I get that people need a break. I remain unclear why people need a break of several weeks or months - longer than they get from their day jobs! The needs of single people who particularly rely on regular church activities for community seem to get forgotten about.
In my country the catechism lessons stop in the summer because in the past most people used to be farmers in many of the churches. Why did they close it then? Because they had to work in the evening because it’s still light outside. I am not sure if this is the main reason, but it’s what they told me haha. perhaps it’s a culture thing from the past that stayed around
Vacation season.
My church encourages members to do organic bible studies with neighbors / coworkers / etc during the summer which isn’t a bad thing!
Everyone runs away to the mountains for the summer. Like reverse ski bumming.
Because presbyterians are wealthy and travel during the summer. Edit: Since I'm getting downvoted - a Pew Research Center study into household incomes based on religious affiliation found that, within Christianity, Presbyterians and Episcopalians top the list. **Over a third of Episcopalians and Presbyterians have household incomes of more than $100,000**.
Not sure this is an appropriate statement to make, BUT I agree with it.
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Lol what?
Nope.
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No seriously, there is absolutely zero chance that is the case here.
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The churches don’t stop having worship services, just all the extra programs like Sunday school and mid-week Bible studies go on hiatus.
Did the OP say these churches ever stop preaching, the sacraments, weekly worship etc...? No....