The Top 10 Lowest-Attended Sundays: Does Your Church Follow the Pattern?

Most pastors, staff, and active church members have a good idea when attendance will drop on a given Sunday. Churches develop a discernible pattern of the lowest attended Sundays that is repeated each year. And poor attendance can lead to different problems.

We asked over 400 people, mostly church leaders, to identify their lowest attended Sundays on a recurring basis. Though our study was not scientific (comments and likes on two social media channels plus our Church Answers community,) the large number of responses developed into a clear pattern. 

To be clear, every church is different, and every community is different. Different contexts give different responses. For example: 

• A congregation with a lower median age will likely have a lower Mother’s Day attendance than a church with older congregants. The younger church members travel to their mother’s home.
• Hunting and fishing season can adversely affect church attendance. Deer season was mentioned most frequently.
• Travel and Sunday sports can be a killer to church attendance. Sunday sports for kids and youth have become the newest god to worship.
• Geographic location is important. For example, a church in a warm destination may have an influx of “snowbirds” in the winter, and then a decline when they leave.
• The weather of the day is an important factor too. If it’s raining, attendance will be down. If it’s sunny and warm, attendance will be down. In the South, if a snow flurry is forecast for Sunday, the grocery stores are packed on Saturday, and the churches are nearly empty as the people contend with 1/16th inch of snow on the ground.