Just as a good restaurant boasts a balanced menu, with a wide variety of appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts, at Fellowship Church we strategically plan both the themes and the placement of our sermon series.
We offer a wide range of practical themes: family, relationships, singles’ issues, character, marriage, our vision and core values, and a relevant concentration on a biblical book or figure. A typical year might include a message series on each of these areas.
We place these at strategic points during the year, based on the specific audience in attendance. Therefore, I plan my preaching schedule around our church attendance patterns.
From day one, I asked our staff to count every person who comes to our worship services. We don’t count people to pat ourselves on the back about our growth. We count people to build data on church attendance.
There is a definite ebb and flow to the life of Fellowship Church. Knowing the attendance patterns helps to prepare for expected growth, message series, big events, and (last but not least) my vacation time.
Ebb and flow
Since many of our regular attendees are still on vacation the first weekend of January, I begin a new series the second weekend. This series will be one of the three most important series of the year (the others are Easter and the beginning of school in the fall).
Each series is usually four to six weeks, although I have gone for as long as ten weeks (with “First and Ten,” a series on the Ten Commandments) and as short as two (with a series called “Got Stress?”).
In the Dallas/Fort Worth area, three weekends of March are impacted by spring break. This is a great time to focus on singles. They are often still around the church while many of the families are away.
One year, I preached a March series on dating that attracted large numbers of singles. Our singles ministry strategically chose that time to promote their activities.
The planning and preparation for Easter, the biggest Sunday of the year, starts early. Leading up to April, we begin a community-wide outreach appeal for Easter weekend. This is also an opportune time to redesign the worship guide (bulletin) so we can showcase the ministries of our church on Easter Weekend.
For many years, I have started a new series on Easter weekend. I try to choose a series that will have the most impact on unchurched people because many come only at Easter and Christmas.
For example, I may begin a series on marriage or parenting with a hook to get those people back the next weekend. The series I start on Easter will usually go through Mother’s Day.
After Mother’s Day, people in Dallas/Fort Worth enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Attendance flattens. I usually do a short series between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day weekend, then take vacation Memorial Day weekend because it is one of the lowest attended weekends of the year.
During the first two months of summer, I plan special one-time weekend events. Because I am gone often, either attending our student camps or on vacation, I don’t want to worry about studying for a series. During this time, we often celebrate a weekend baptismal or a weekend where we highlight life-change stories of people in the congregation. We might also plan a student weekend to highlight our camps.
August, we discovered, is a huge growth time for us-especially the weekends between the start of school and Labor Day weekend. The series I begin the second weekend of August is one of the most important of the year. In our experience, people associate renewed vision and strategic planning with the beginning of the school year. These are great times to communicate the future plans of our church.
In the early fall, children are back in school, families are settling in after the summer, and church attendance is up. We planned a series in 2000 called “Get in the Game” to kickoff the fall season and get families more involved in the ministry of the church.
After Labor Day weekend, just like after Memorial Day, attendance flattens. Again I try to work in one or two short series before people’s minds begin moving toward the next season.
Occasionally there is a short (one- or two-week) break between specifically planned series. I might use that space for an evangelistic appeal, like a message I did called “Lifelines,” where I handed out Lifesavers candy as a reminder to reach out to people who are lost.
Leading up to Christmas, I plan a short, often three-week seasonal series. Then, on Christmas Eve, we have multiple worship services. It’s a community event that we promote heavily because people love to come to church on Christmas Eve. In fact, that night is second only to Easter in attendance.
We try hard to remain culturally relevant, to meet people where they are, discuss things they can connect to, and draw out related biblical truths.
Whether it’s the time of year or the people I refer to, I desire to plug in to what the congregation is already thinking about. The most important question in a teaching environment is, “So, what?” When we answer that question, we teach people to apply the Bible to their daily lives.
—Ed Young is pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas.
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