7 Ways to Prepare Your Church’s Small Groups for Summer

Don’t lose sight of the fact that your groups need to prepare for the summer months when attendance typically declines for a bit.

By Ken Braddy

When spring arrives, churches get busy. Mother’s Day, graduation, student and kids summer camp signups, VBS promotion, and an impending summer mission trip compete for the attention of members and guests. In the midst of this busyness, don’t lose sight of the fact that your groups need to prepare for the summer months when attendance typically declines for a bit.

As summer approaches and the days get longer, now is the time for savvy groups and their leaders to cut through late-spring distractions and prepare for a different season of group ministry. Now is the time to maximize the potential June, July, and August bring.

1. Share the teaching responsibilities

Summer is a great time for recruiting people to teach single sessions (or perhaps even a month-long series of studies). With many group members away on vacation throughout the summer, attendance drops as people’s attendance patterns become increasingly non-linear. That becomes a perfect time for people to spread their wings and teach during a time when it feels safer to them (attendance usually declines through August, then rebounds in September).

A group with smaller attendance doesn’t feel as intimidating to teach as a larger one does. Group leaders can include others in a teaching rotation, giving the group leader some rest and helping people discover they are more capable than they think when it comes to leading a Bible study group.

“In the summer, group leaders can include others in a teaching rotation, giving the group leader some rest and helping people discover they are more capable than they think.” — @KenBraddy Share on X

2. Plan several fun fellowships

Summer movies, barbecues, baseball games, golf outings, a day at the lake, and day trips to places in your area can be fun diversions and occasions to gather members and potential members. Summer has a fun, relaxed feel and is the perfect time to get creative.

Don’t wait for a single occasion when everyone can get together. Instead, schedule multiple events, knowing that events may not be as well-attended as you’d like, but over the course of the summer they will give people options and will maximize participation overall. Having multiple opportunities for fellowship will ensure that at least one or two of the events fits the schedules of your group members. Encourage your group’s fellowship leader or someone in the group to present a list of summer activities, including dates and locations of events, sometime in mid-May.

3. Contact chronic absentees

Every group has them—people who are absent more than they are present. Summer months can be spent contacting people you haven’t seen in a while. One thing that sets apart a healthy Sunday School or small group ministry from a struggling one is a commitment to care for every person.

Summer is a good time to make porch visits because of the hours of additional daylight. It’s also a good time to call and check on people who have gone AWOL. If you’re a group leader, this isn’t something to do alone. Instead, divide up absentee’s contact information among willing group members and allow others to play a part in a summer reclamation ministry.

“One thing that sets apart a healthy Sunday School or small group ministry from a struggling one is a commitment to care for every person.” — @KenBraddy Share on X

4. Enlist an apprentice teacher

Summer months are the perfect time to recruit a member of your group to become the group’s apprentice leader. By late August and early September, family vacations will be over, and people settle into their post-Labor Day routines. Churches often provide training and encouragement in August around back-to-school time. When a potential apprentice knows he can expect support and training, it’s a lot easier for him to say yes to the opportunity to co-lead the group.

5. Clean up your meeting space

Why not use the summer months to do some belated spring cleaning? Most on-campus classrooms tend to accumulate items that aren’t needed, and truth be told, too many classrooms have become more cluttered than they should be. Take down charts, maps, and other posters that have been on the walls for a while. Throw away unused items and clean up tabletops and cabinets that collected all sorts of items over the course of the year.

You may not think your space looks junky, but your guests do. A fresh coat of paint or some carpet cleaning could make all the difference. Work with your pastor or staff leader to discover how the church might be able to help.

6. Establish a summer of local mission projects

While your church probably has a mission project of some kind, many people can’t go out of state or overseas. If you prepare now, your Bible study group could make a real difference in your community by scheduling a local mission project each month.

Would your group serve at a crisis pregnancy center, or perhaps at a food pantry ministry? Would your people be excited to adopt a school close to your church’s campus and paint the playground, trim bushes, or spread new mulch in their flowerbeds? The sky’s the limit. Get creative, but get going. The time to prepare for this is right now.

7. Encourage group members to leave your group

What? Leave your group? The simple answer is yes. Summer is when church staff are searching for new group leaders in all age groups. Remember that the goal of your Bible teaching ministry isn’t to have the largest group on the church campus, or for your group members to grow old together. The real goal is to help your church in its mission of making disciples.

“If you’re not careful, summer will come and go and you’ll have missed an opportunity to prepare your group for greater things.” — @KenBraddy Share on X

The preschool, children, student, and adult ministries of your church will need new group leaders to serve all kinds of members in your congregation. Perhaps you could even start new groups to reach underserved people groups inside and outside your church. Encouraging people in your group to leave and serve others as group leaders themselves is a game-changer in most congregations. If you’re a group leader, have a “catch and release” mentality when it comes to people, and if you must hold onto them, please do so with a loose grip.

If you’re not careful, summer will come and go and you’ll have missed an opportunity to prepare your group for greater things. Don’t head into summer with a business-as-usual mindset. Instead, see the potential that summer months present to groups, and take full advantage of them.

For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.