Most churches experience a drop in summer attendance and giving. It’s no different at St. John Lutheran Church in Otoe, Neb. The drop is especially steep on the second Sunday in August. I had served as a parish ministry associate at St. John for two years before I realized why attendance was so low—“Fair Sunday.”
I’ve never attended the Otoe County Fair in Syracuse, Neb., because I live in a different county. But for many parishioners, fair attendance isn’t an option. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to come to church. Otoe is a rural community, so many adults and youth are involved with 4-H Club and other livestock projects.
A worship service wasn’t offered at the fair. With the approval of the St. John church council, I went to the Otoe County Fair Board. I proposed that St. John sponsor a service at the fair. Then I sent an invitation to all the churches in the county, asking them to announce the service in their bulletins and pray for the endeavor.
Members of St. John made posters and hung them around town and at the fairgrounds, especially in the livestock barns. Many people spend Sunday morning grooming their animals and preparing the pens.
Our altar parament for the Sunday school was a perfect fit for an 8-foot table and the lectern parament fit perfectly on a podium at the fair. We borrowed the cross and candles the Sunday school uses.
Instead of a dress show, we had a worship service. We sang loudly to drown out the noise of the hogs nearby. Eighty people attended. Summer attendance in our rural setting is usually 30, so we felt blessed. Many members of a nearby congregation also attended since they had no minister over the summer.
Last year we held the service again. The fair program book carried a notice about the service on the first page. A local newspaper ran a front-page story. Rainy weather and illness kept many away. The nearby congregation from which many attended the previous year had hired a new minister. But we didn’t let last year’s lower attendance deter us from planning this year’s service. Many members of St. John volunteered to help continue this innovative worship.
This week's front page features:
More than maintenance: Church's subterranean workshop calls men to ministry. (Photo at right.)
Discuss 60 years of the Lutheran World Federation with Kathy Magnus (right), regional officer for the LWF in North America.
Andrea Pohlmann (right) writes about the connection between religion and happiness.
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