Summer is around the corner, and while it's often a more laid-back time, it's also a challenge with communicating with your church members.

Many members are going to be away for vacation, sports tournaments, or family reunions, while others are going to be very busy with your church involved in VBS, Summer outreaches, and helping out on worship team, welcome team, or kids ministry to cover other volunteers' spots here and there.

Before everyone is fully into summer mode, here are 3 things we would recommend to help you stay in touch with your church over this season, and keep them engaged in preparation for the fall.

1) Update Contact Information

It's a great time to be sure you have current contact information for everyone in your church. Ask your members to update a connect card (not just new visitors) so you can update your church records and be sure your email or text message database is up to date to help keep everyone engaged over the summer.

Do this for a few weeks in a row to be sure you've reached all of your members who may have missed a Sunday during the process.

2) Schedule Out Regular Email or Text Communication

Regular communication could be once a week or multiple times per week. It could be an all-church email on Sunday morning with the link to your live broadcast, and a text message midweek to your student ministry families to remind them about youth midweek. 

It could be an email on Saturdays with a link to last week's sermon or podcast to catch someone up who may have missed attending the week before.

You might send out an email on Mondays with a digital copy of your bulletin to remind everyone of upcoming events and event registration links or volunteer opportunities.

Start this regular communication as soon as possible to get your members used to hearing from you so it becomes part of their weekly rhythm through the summer.

3) Communicate Your Church's Vision

Through all of your forms of communication, continue to remind your church of WHY you're putting effort and resources into particular initiatives and events.

An easy format: [Reminder of what we value. What we're doing about it. How you can help.]

• "We value friendship, so we're having a church picnic. Invite a neighbor and sign up to bring a dessert."

• "We want to reach the single parents in our community, so VBS programs are free for single-parent families. Who will you invite?"

• We want to introduce more people to Jesus, so we're moving to two services in the fall. Please confirm your availability with your team leader."

You can have plenty of parking lot signage, great worship, and a powerful message, but if your members aren't involved and aware of what's going on, they'll be less likely to invite friends and engage with new visitors.