Why Football Season Tears Into Your Church Attendance and What We Can Learn From It

2. They’re going for the community. There’s something incredibly reassuring being surrounded by thousands of people in a football stadium that share your passions and choice in a football team. In fact the stadium itself is one big circle. You get the overwhelming sense on game day that for better or for worse, you’re in this together. You get an incredible glimpse of community when you walk into a stadium full of other like-minded people. And yet for many churches, community is not celebrated or valued. People come occasionally to a Sunday service, they sit in pockets by themselves, don’t interact with others and leave when they’re finished. For them, church is an individual experience rather than a communal one. People crave community. Is your church providing it for them? Do your people sit in circles or rows?

3. They’re going for the experience. I remember being in the football stadium at Texas A&M the first college football game after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Already a patriotic school with a very active ROTC, the experience is one I still haven’t forgotten 15 years later. Everyone wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves. You can easily experience that at a football stadium. The gospel of redemption and God’s activity in this world are easily something much bigger than ourselves, but many times churches fail to draw their people up into the greater mission of God. Too many church experiences are numbingly routine and predictable. There is no anticipation of the church service. Are they experiencing something bigger than themselves when they come to your church? Is there clear evidence of the Spirit moving in your midst?