Summer slow down, or shift? - Rector's Rambling for July 19, 2026

 Fr. Ben DeHart of St. John’s Park Slope (Brooklyn, New York) recently posted this on Facebook.

 "Not sure if this is a city thing, but over the past few years I’ve noticed St. John's gets as many or more newcomers on Sundays during the summer than we do in the fall, winter, or spring. Someone told me today it’s because so many people move in the summer. Have you noticed the same?  Clergy definitely need seasons to slow down, recharge, and get away. But this pattern has changed how I think about summer. Instead of turning everything off, we slow things down while still offering fun, low-key ways to connect. The goal is to stay “sticky” for newcomers, and to keep enough going so that our regulars don’t face a yearly “decision” about whether to come back in the fall.

 We have seen a similar pattern here at St. John’s in Detroit.  The choir goes down to quartets, Sunday School goes on hiatus, and the organizations don’t have their regular meetings  during the summer.  But  not only does Sunday and weekday worship continue (weekdays being dependent on whether I might be at the St. Michael’s Conference or away a few days). but we continue to have guests and visitors on a regular basis.

Some of this is because we are a city parish.  Being here in the middle of the entertainment district we have visiitors to worship and the open building at other times attracts people walking but or going to events in the neighborhood.  More people are discovering they can come her to worship on Sunday and then walk over to the baseball game or a matinee show across the street at the Fox theatre.  And I meet guests who are in Detroit for business meetings or conventions and look us up on line to join us for worship while here.  And we even find tourists who wander their way into the building because the building is open.

I think Fr. DeHart is spot on when he talks about having summer ways to stay connected in addition to worship, which we have done with special events like our Outreach Sunday,  DOK new member institution, Independence Day Celebration, lunches/enhanced coffee hour, and next week’s Founders Day and Ice Cream Social.

Although many of our members are away for periods of time for the summer, we have had several people from other parishes and denominaitions in the last few weeks stop by to worship with us to experience for themselves what they have heard about St. John’s from others, or discovered through our social media sources.

Your being here to welcome the visitor and newcomer is a blessing to the parish, and I am grateful for the gracious way that so many introduce themselves to visitors and encourage their returning to be with us again.