It happens on Sunday morning twice each year, and it may affect your church attendance. Need fresh ideas to plan ahead and capitalize on Daylight Savings Time?
Losing an hour on the spring Daylight Savings Sunday may negatively affect attendance, so plan ahead!
Print reminders of the upcoming time change in bulletins, newsletters and on the website. Send a mass e-mail note on Saturday. Use a “phone tree” recording to automatically call members on Saturday to remind them to adjust clocks. Consider offering “free wakeup calls.”
One time-change Sunday morning, our church’s 5th graders gave friendly wakeup calls to their classmates and had an all-time high attendance. With prior planning, you could ask members to register for a “free” Sunday wakeup call.
One year we asked our church members to postpone changing clocks until the end of Sunday’s worship service. At the end of the service, everyone changed their watches at the same time. Sadly, one gentleman missed his airplane in all that confusion!
And it’s inevitable that a few stragglers will arrive just before worship is over, embarrassed that they forgot the time change. Ushers should rope off rear pews and be readily available to seat them unobtrusively.
That extra hour of sleep for the fall time-change makes it an ideal day for a high-attendance emphasis such as “No Excuse Sunday,” “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder,” or “Really High Attendance Sunday. “
The exterior church sign could read, “After your extra hour of sleep this Sunday, come to church!” This would be an excellent week to place an ad in your local paper to invite newcomers to church.
Earlybirds who forget to change their clocks will arrive an hour early. A large sign near entrances could read, “Glad you came early today!” and offer some upbeat options.
Open the church library. Play background music in the worship center and encourage individual early morning prayer. Serve coffee and doughnuts in the foyer alongside a dish of gummy worms with a fun sign, “The early bird gets the worm!” Some who don’t usually attend Bible classes may accidentally arrive early, so greeters must be prepared to escort them to a quality class.
Yes, Daylight Savings Time can be somewhat inconvenient on the Lord’s Day, but with planning, it may even positively affect your church. After all, every hour belongs to Him.