Post Covid-19 Church Attendance

[Cow Poke]

We considered that for Christmas if we couldn't get everybody in who wanted to attend, but we managed to shoehorn everyone in by creative manipulation of the worship space (turns out to not be very feasible weekly). A priest can only do one liturgy per day, so we can't really do multiple services (Christmas would have worked because there is supposed to be a liturgy Christmas Eve followed by one Christmas Day, though most parishes only do one of them).

Interesting. I hope one day to visit your church.

[Thoughtful Monk]

That's what's interesting --- most of the new people are "families" - with children and/or teenagers. That's a demographic that had been pretty lacking.
Most of our "pre-Covid" congregation was older.

Heck, when I first came to this Church, my wife and I were the YOUTH group! (And we were in our early 60's then)

The thing I keep reminding our Church --- when this is all over (if it ever is over) it's going to be interesting when the Church all gets back together.
Because the "new people" are going to think that the old people coming back to church are "new".

Some of the "new people" are taking over responsibilities (much appreciated) that some of the folks who have not been coming to Church used to do.

I'm reminding our "older folks" that this is GOOD --- that it's healthy and needs to be embraced.
I'm reminding our "newer folks" that it's always possible that our "older folks" might feel resentment, so let's keep an eye on that, and be sure to mitigate it where possible.

I supposed it's like managing a "blended family" (your kids, my kids and our kids) and making it work.

So far - it's going GREAT!

That's good news. I don't like seeing churches age to death. Glad your on top of the integrate new members issue. Too many churches just bring new members in and hope that they find a spot.

[Cow Poke]

That's good news. I don't like seeing churches age to death. Glad your on top of the integrate new members issue. Too many churches just bring new members in and hope that they find a spot.

I try always to have a "why are you here" conversation with new people.

Seriously, asking if they're looking to serve, to be ministered to, to "hide out"..... in a much more diplomatic manner, of course.

[Thoughtful Monk]

I see I started this thread in June 2020. Now that it's a year later and this time we are most post-Covid, how is your church attendance doing?

One church I know of has started transitioning from a full-time pastor to a part-time pastor.

[Cow Poke]

We are probably double in Sunday Morning attendance what we were before Covid. We're seeing indicators, however, that another wave is coming.

Since we already have experience in this area, we'll keep an eye on the situation, but still "be the Church".

[One Bad Pig]

I see I started this thread in June 2020. Now that it's a year later and this time we are most post-Covid, how is your church attendance doing?

One church I know of has started transitioning from a full-time pastor to a part-time pastor.

Our wave of new people has intensified a bit, and old faces are returning.