Why don’t people make time for church? This is a question I have often read about, discussed with others or heard talks examining the reasons.
Some of the causes people give are:
- Modern family lifestyles mean more families value weekends as family time or time spent with a separated parent
- Technological advances give people choice, the ability to travel and more leisure time
- Many different activities compete for time on Sundays
- There is a lack of church facilities and provision for children in a child-centred culture.
When we tinker with the practicalities like changing the time we meet, it can make a temporary difference, but I’ve been searching for practical ideas to tackle the underlying issue – why is it people will make time for other non-compulsory activities like sport, tutoring or recreation but not make time for church?
Could it be that people don’t know what it’s about any more? Do parents or carers not see why it would be worthwhile for their child to go to church? At a small group for 9- to 10-year-olds, two churched children shared how their friends thought that ‘church was for babies’ and ‘there were more important things to do’. Churches have become much better at making our communities aware that we exist, but are we as good at telling them what we exist for? What would a child gain from coming to church?
Here are four principles to get us started:
Publicity with a purpose
We should state in everyday language the real, unique reason people why should come to your group. The church offers true hope, values, purpose, acceptance and forgiveness through faith in Jesus but this is overlooked in publicity which mentions food, fun and friends. If Christians downplay our main strength, we will lose our appeal.
The Alpha course slogan, ‘Explore the meaning of life’ is a positive example – it conveys the group’s real purpose in a relevant and attractive way. What might one for a children’s group say?
Prioritise people over programmes
Take stock regularly of who is missing and how children are growing in faith. Take a personal approach to welcoming newcomers and following up absenteeism. Make sure you have sufficient help to get to know the children and families well and to invest in them spiritually.
For example, have a routine where every week your team briefing asks ‘who’ questions and you check and pray through the register.
Partner with parents
They have the most influence on their children and the final say in whether they send their children to church. Communicate what you are teaching to the children, equip parents to grow faith at home, help parents to see how their child is growing in faith and how valuable that is.
Send home a summary of what you’ve learnt each week with some recommendations for resources to try at home and practical ways to live it out. Make time to talk with parents about the changes you are seeing in their children.
Preach with a passion
We need to show we’re excited about being Christians. Our message is what makes us distinctive. It’s what we exist for. Everything we run should communicate a Christian message and there are many ways to do this.
Ask a Christian parent to share a testimony of why faith is important to their family. Theme a Fun Day or family event around a Bible story. Give out booklets/DVDs. Have a team of people whose role is to speak with people positively about church and why they love being a part of it.
The more proud we can be of the Christian message by making it more central to what we do, the more we can begin to counter the voice of our culture that says Christianity is a waste of time. Let’s give our teams, and our church families, confidence in God’s good news and help make it front and centre of what we do.