On New Year's Eve we had an end of 2008 event. Let's just say I wouldn't consider it to be our best event. We had a considerable drop off in attendance. We expected a certain amount of drop off, but not quite like what we experienced. So....that causes me to wonder.
For all you fellow Pastors and Student Pastors, what dates of the year do you choose to relegate or even cancel regular programming? Are there times where less is more for you as a church or ministry; when having a service or event is more detrimental to your ministry, team, momentum or overall goals than it is to continue to meet?
Please respond. Let's help each other out here.
We break 5 times a year for our mid-week experience. Weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, July 4th and during our Breakaway.
We have found that it is best not to fight the numbers game and risk losing momentum. Taking the last 2 weeks off of the year is also a huge boost for your volunteers who can come back rockin and ready to go in January.
If you run into a situation where you don't want to cancel or leadership won't allow it, choose intimacy over wow-production. Be creative with prayer or worship experiences that won't require a huge crowd but will still give you the excellence I know you demand.
Just some thoughts from an old guy.
Posted by: Sean Rheaume | January 04, 2009 at 07:51 AM
the EDGE only met during the school year and during the summer we went to once per month (like 722 did) for June, July & August. That was to make sure the band would all be there when we met. I gave them the dates in May and the planned their family vacations other weeks. It also gave us weeks for camps, mission trips, etc..
Also, we were definitely off during Christmas, all events. I didn't even ever try to compete with Christmas or New Years (not even a ski trip) or the Super Bowl (its just not worth the pain)
Posted by: phud | January 05, 2009 at 01:09 AM
Phillip,
You are right on that there are times you need to take off. We break during holiday seasons to give our people time with their families. We took off Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve this year. We also give our people a break on Mother's Day for our pm services as well as July 4th Sunday. Our Student Pastors also taught the last two sundays of the year to give our youth workers a break. I hope this is encouraging.
Posted by: Joe Fennell | January 06, 2009 at 02:26 PM