High Attendance Days Made Simple
By David Frasure
When I was a pastor in the local church, I learned the value of high attendance days in Sunday School.  Not all high attendance days have to look just alike.  You may not even have a specific attendance goal posted.  But the special emphasis on getting people to Bible Study and Worship has proved valuable to many growing congregations.

 Benefits:

• High attendance days help you reactivate your Sunday School enrollment.  People who are not usually contacted will be contacted and reminded that they are missed.

• Special days also motivate your active people to work absentees and prospects.  It renews their vision to reach and disciple these people.  It helps them get out of a rut and see the potential.

• The result of the special effort can indeed effect eternity as people are exposed to the Gospel and are eventually won to Christ.  You will likely have new visitors in your Sunday School and Worship, helping you to obey the Great Commission.

 Great Special Days:

• Easter—Normally Easter is already our best Sunday of the year.  The benefit of making it a high attendance day is that people are thinking about going to church anyway!  Your people will have little trouble inviting friends and relatives to the Easter service.

• Time Change Sunday (Last Sunday of October)—This Sunday is an awesome high attendance day.  Your new Sunday School organization is in place and it is a great opportunity to challenge and motivate your new teachers.  It is fairly easy to come up with a theme around the idea of “redeeming the time” or “making time for Bible study.”

• Mother’s Day—With a little promotion, Mother’s Day can be a great attendance day, and much of the promotion can be done through the mail with a simple invitation and a fresh mailing list of the adult children of the mothers in your congregation.  Add a Parent/Child dedication service and the children’s choir and you will be filling most every seat.

• Any Day that Wal-Mart Celebrates—Department stores often create big events around various holidays.  The church can do the same thing.  Patriotic days are the easiest and you can tie them into special music or drama for the Sunday morning worship.

• We Can Grow with Two in a Row—You can choose any two Sundays in a row and emphasize the need to develop consistency in attendance.  This concept helps those in your congregation who like to throw cold water on high attendance days.  They see the value of having two in a row to help develop a pattern of attendance.

• Three of Four or Seven of Nine—The thought here is to get people to commit to three of four Sundays in a given month or seven of the eight or nine Sundays in a two month period.  A certificate can be awarded to those who complete the requirements. 

• March Gladness—This emphasis became a popular annual event in one church I served in.  We divided the Sunday School roll into two brackets like the famous NCAA basketball tournament.  Each class came up with a silly name for their team (class).  As various teams “competed” each week, the winning team would then assimilate the losing team.  The losing team would then take on the name of the winning team.  On the final day you should have two teams competing.  We usually ran this four or five Sundays.  It was fun and effective in raising attendance.  Using attendance as the method of scoring, you can actually put three teams against each other if need be.

Steps to Effective High Attendance Days:

• Pray—Names of prospects and absentees can be placed on prayer cards to be used in each Wednesday prayer meeting (or other prayer meetings).  If you include addresses and phone numbers, the pray-er can also make a contact.  A day of prayer could also be recognized for the special event.  The Pastor and Sunday School Director could also covenant to have a day of fasting and prayer.

• Set Goals—Goals are optional, depending on the nature of your special day, but they do motivate people.  I like to set a goal for each class to make the goal more personal to each class.  You can use the class’s best Sunday as a goal for your special day, or take their best day and add one or two or raise each “best day” by a percentage.  Goals can also be made for enrollment or baptisms or giving.  The goals should be reachable, yet stretch the people and help them reach for something really big.  The Sunday School Director and the Pastor need to be on the same page here.  Sometimes it is helpful to have three goals such as an “Amen Goal,” a “Hallelujah Goal” and a “Praise the Lord Goal.”

• Create Publicity—Communicating the vision is a key for success.  I recommend posters for each class that have a place for the class name, attendance goal(s), and a sign-up line for the people who make a commitment to come.  Posters need to be all over the church and something large and visible in the Worship Center is helpful as well.

• Kick-Off Banquet for Sunday School Teachers and Leaders—The banquet needs to occur six to eight weeks before the special day.  The banquet can be simple or as elaborate as you wish.  The banquet will be a great motivation for your Sunday School leaders.  It should include a time when the Pastor and/or Sunday School Director outline the sequence of events prior to the big day.  Teachers will need a printed outline that will be followed in the weeks to come.  Nothing could be worse than having a high attendance emphasis and the teachers feel they are in the dark about what is going on.  The teachers need to know exactly what you are planning to do and this is a great way to let them know.  The banquet is a great time to pass out posters as well.

• Plan to Make Contacts—If we just announce that we are having a special day, it is unlikely that there will be any real change in attendance.  Bulletin and Newsletter announcements are good, but we also need a special emphasis on making the contacts.  A flyer blitz would be great in the surrounding areas.  A Saturday morning Breakfast and Visitation Blitz is most helpful—just make quick, at-the-door visits asking families if you can sign them up for the special day.  A special postcard mail out can be effective as well.  Make sure each teacher has the latest copy of enrollees and prospects with names addresses and phone numbers for his or her class.  Pass the special day through the prayer chain as a prayer request the day before.  Use a Sunday School button or sticker to give to everyone who agrees to come on the special day.

• Preach on Outreach and Evangelism—A four-week emphasis on reaching out to the multitudes with the Gospel would be most helpful.  Drop the special Sunday in as an illustration of one way we can reach out into our community.

• Be Enthusiastic and Passionate about Reaching People—The people of your church will not get behind the special day unless they sense that the leaders of the church really believe in it.  Demonstrate genuine enthusiasm.

• Follow Up—Be sure you register every visitor and send a thank you note to them, while you promote the ongoing ministries of your church.  Send thank you notes and/or certificates to each teacher—especially those that saw significant increase.  Encourage teachers to follow-up on those who visited their class.  A Sunday School Director should make contact with each teacher expressing gratitude for the work that was done.  If they know you are grateful, they are more likely to help again with the next big event.  Have a victory article in your newsletter and bulletin to rejoice over the special things that happened.  Be sure to phone or visit each new prospect.