Which churches take summers off?

[poppy]

The few Unitarian churches I've been to give the ministers the summers off.  There are usually lay-led programs on Sunday mornings.

 

I know many churches do not take a summer break.  I grew up Catholic and the summers off thing is odd to me. But in Unitarianism, there isn't a spiritual obligation to attend weekly services anyway.  And obviously,  no Eucharist. 

 

Wondering which other denominations, if any, have summer breaks.

[Laurie4b]

None that I know of do it routinely. There might be special circumstances such as a church whose members are all or nearly all college students, for instance, but other than that, I've not heard of it. In Europe, some churches close because most of the population takes a vacation of several weeks each summer and no one is around. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I'm Confessional Lutheran, and our churches would never take summers off; however, campus parishes might cut back on midweek services like Matins (but not on Sunday Divine Service) during the summer and other school holidays.

 

We believe that we are fed spiritually by Word and Sacrament, and that the commandment 'Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy' means that people should gather to attend church weekly, though not necessarily on Sundays, for this nourishment.  It was the practice of the early Church to meet on Sundays, which were actually work days, before work.  Sundays were picked as the normal day of worship because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, so each Sunday service is technically a 'little Easter' celebration.  But worship does not have to be on Sundays; rather it has to be regular and more or less weekly.

[Guest]

... I've never heard of that before.

 

If our pastors wanted a vacation or sabbatical then the associate pastor or an elder teaches, and summers at our previous church we didn't have Sunday school during the summer. But just taking the whole summer off church is something I'm not familiar with in my own church experience.

 

I've attended non-denominational evangelical, southern baptist, and anglican churches.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Farrar]

UU churches do all - as far as I know - do something different in the summer.

 

I've heard of a number of individual churches that do - for example, grand-mil's church used to do a combined nondemon. service in the summers with two other churches - but I've never heard of a whole denomination doing it other than the UU's. Most churches dwindle a little in the summer though.

[Heatherwith4]

Our church doesn't do Wednesday night classes during summer. I love that. We are a Baptist church.

I had never heard of summer break for Sunday services.

However, our pastor has taken a sabbatical during the time we've been there. We just had other ministers and guest speakers preach during that time.

[poppy]

I'm Confessional Lutheran, and our churches would never take summers off; however, campus parishes might cut back on midweek services like Matins (but not on Sunday Divine Service) during the summer and other school holidays.

 

We believe that we are fed spiritually by Word and Sacrament, and that the commandment 'Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy' means that people should gather to attend church weekly, though not necessarily on Sundays, for this nourishment.  It was the practice of the early Church to meet on Sundays, which were actually work days, before work.  Sundays were picked as the normal day of worship because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, so each Sunday service is technically a 'little Easter' celebration.  But worship does not have to be on Sundays; rather it has to be regular and more or less weekly.

 

This is lovely.

I want to note, Unitarian is not a Christian church and do not have a sacrament related to the Sabbath. 

I was wondering if any Christians (or non-Christians) take summers off, or if it's a UU thing.

[Bluegoat]

I've never seen that either.  I'm Anglican, and priests do get time off - many take a holiday after Christmas and Easter, and some in the summer.  They usually get someone to fill in, or otherwise we do a Morning Prayer service that is lay led.

 

We do have a break for the choir in the summer, though, which tends to make services simpler and shorter. 

[gardenmom5]

Never heard of such. The only time I could see that would be a college dependent congregation.

We attended a uu when I was growing up. They still met in the summer, though kids were more likely to be ignored.

[DawnM]

Um, none that I know of.

[Southern Ivy]

I have never heard of that. We have a lead pastor and 2 associate pastors, so one steps in when one is on vacation. 

[carriede]

In most (maybe all?) Catholic churches I've been a member of, the priest will take a month long vacation sometime in the summer, but a retired, visiting, or another local priest will still say Mass on the weekends, even if nothing goes on during the week.

[ksr5377]

Our church doesn't take the summer off, but things really do slow down.  There's no Sunday School, no activities on Wednesday nights and instead of 3 services each Sunday there is only 1 at 10:00am.  I think it's nice for our pastor to have a more relaxing summer but also takes into account that a lot of people are traveling during the summer so turnout is way down.

[3 ladybugs]

I go to a LCMS Lutheran church and we don't take summers off, but there is no Sunday school and services are just at 9:00 am and not at 8 and 10:30. We typically have a summer picnic during the summer though so it isn't completely "off". We have been to 2 lutheran churches and they both behaved this way. I would call it less formal. 

[Katy]

Never heard of it.  Was driving past a Unity church (not Christian, not UU) once during a tree hugging service one Spring.  I think maybe they took summers off too, and held a tree honoring service before their break.  At least that's what the people at my church said.  It was across the street.

 

ETA: I didn't realize they meant the whole summer when they said break.  I figured it was a short vacation or something.  But now that I think about the traffic there, there was hardly ever anyone there when school was out.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Katy

[MercyA]

My church doesn't have Sunday School in the summer. We're an independent Bible church.

[Matryoshka]

This is lovely.

I want to note, Unitarian is not a Christian church and do not have a sacrament related to the Sabbath. 

I was wondering if any Christians (or non-Christians) take summers off, or if it's a UU thing.

 

Both the UCC and UUA do, and I heard a rumor it's actually tied the fact that folks from the Harvard Divinity School (which was the go-to place for both these New England congregations) used to decamp to the Cape for the summer - or something like that.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Matryoshka

[vonfirmath]

Our church doesn't do Wednesday night classes during summer. I love that. We are a Baptist church.

I had never heard of summer break for Sunday services.

However, our pastor has taken a sabbatical during the time we've been there. We just had other ministers and guest speakers preach during that time.

 

our church doesn't do AWANAs, children's choir, etc. during the summer. And often Sunday school classes have different teachers. But they have special programs, camps, VBS, and other activities that run during the summer

[marbel]

We just take the summer off from Sunday School and I think the small groups and bible studies shut down.  Pastors may or may not take vacation in the summer.

 

We do see a drop in attendance, as we have a lot of college students, maybe 75% or so of the congregation (? never worked it out) and Sunday evenings can be very sparsely-attended, but Sunday worship morning and evening go on.   

 

Orthodox Presbyterian here.

 

[poppy]

Both the UCC and UUA do, and I heard a rumor it's actually tied the fact that folks from the Harvard Divinity School (which was the go-to place for both these New England congregations) used to decamp to the Cape for the summer - or something like that.

Congregationalists ! Of course Congregationalists .

[raptor_dad]

Congregationalists ! Of course Congregationalists .

 

Maybe some UCC/Congregationalists do but I've never heard of it.

 

DW's childhood UCC church on campus at a Congregationalist founded Ivy goes through the summer with reduced activities. We've attended UCC churches in the south, rust belt, west coast and upper midwest and they all go through the summer. Our current church is pretty typical... It drops Sunday School before church in the summer and moves the service earlier so people can get on with their day. Attendance is lower but church goes on.

[Matryoshka]

Maybe some UCC/Congregationalists do but I've never heard of it.

 

DW's childhood UCC church on campus at a Congregationalist founded Ivy goes through the summer with reduced activities. We've attended UCC churches in the south, rust belt, west coast and upper midwest and they all go through the summer. Our current church is pretty typical... It drops Sunday School before church in the summer and moves the service earlier so people can get on with their day. Attendance is lower but church goes on.

Maybe once they migrated out of New England they acclimated. ;)

 

But actually, what you describe I think is what the OP is talking about. Our church (UCC and UUA both) has no RE/Sunday school in the summer, and does have earlier services, but they are mostly lay-led and very sparsely attended; the minister has a summer vacation.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Matryoshka

[MEmama]

A lot of churches in our area are ONLY open in the summers, for the benefit of summer tourists and summer people.

 

Of course, this is one of the most secular states in the country, in a generally secular corner at that. :)

[Kathryn]

Both the UCC and UUA do, and I heard a rumor it's actually tied the fact that folks from the Harvard Divinity School (which was the go-to place for both these New England congregations) used to decamp to the Cape for the summer - or something like that.

My grandfather was UCC from Harvard Divinity and stayed in the Boston area. He sent his wife and kids to the coast for the summer, but he only visited. They definitely didn't stop services for the summer.

[Chris in VA]

Episcopal--We don't stop services but do slow down.

 

Clergy (we have a Rector and an Assistant, both priests) take a 1 month vacation. I know other congregations that don't have two (or more) priests still give a vacation, but they have "supply" come in--usually retired priests or other part-timers.

 

Sunday School (kids) follows the school calendar, so they stop in June and restart in Sept.

 

Sunday School (adults) has two, 4-week classes

 

Sunday services go from 3 to 2.

 

Individuals sing instead of the main choir, and children's choir takes a break.

 

We do still have Tues service at the local retirement community, a Weds night service, a men's meeting every Saturday (Brotherhood of St. Andrew) and a women's retreat. We also have a parish retreat in June at a beautiful center about 2 hours from here.

 

I like slowing down, but I've never heard of basically shutting down the church in the summer! I'd sure miss worshipping, and seeing everyone!

Edited February 4, 2016 by Chris in VA

[Matryoshka]

I like slowing down, but I've never heard of basically shutting down the church in the summer! I'd sure miss worshipping, and seeing everyone!

But that's not what the OP was even asking about. She specifically asked if there were any other denominations that gave the *ministers* the summer off, and said that her church did have lay-led programs in the summer.

 

I've also never heard of a church actually shutting down for the summe.

[Chris in VA]

Ah, I see I should have read more carefully. THank you, Matryoshka.

I was thrown by the last line of her post.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Chris in VA

[poppy]

I guess I meant the staff has the summer off. Not that the doors are locked.

[PeachyDoodle]

our church doesn't do AWANAs, children's choir, etc. during the summer. And often Sunday school classes have different teachers. But they have special programs, camps, VBS, and other activities that run during the summer

 

Our church is similar -- A lot of the "regular" programs (Wednesday nights, choir rehearsals) take a break, but services and Sunday school continue, and we add a bunch of programs, mostly geared for kids, like VBS, summer worship arts camp, weekly day trips to local sites, etc. It's a United Methodist church.

 

The Episcopal parish where I was on staff for a long time definitely geared down in the summer. One of the clergy members always went on sabbatical for three months (they rotated years). Other priests would come in to help with preaching and celebrating the service. Often these were priests not assigned to parishes, like the chaplain from the local Episcopal school. There was no Sunday school, and some years two services instead of three. Attendance was definitely down. But they did have a big breakfast each week during the Sunday school hour, which I thought was nice. A good way to fellowship and meet folks not in your service or classes.

[redsquirrel]

Yes, in  a lot of UU churches the minister gets the summer off but the services are lay led. However, those services only happen if the congregation wants them to happen.  The UU church I grew up in did/does shut down for the summer. It was just too small, it only had a part time minister anyway. It was just easier to close up shop.

 

The UU church I belong to now does have lay led summer services, and there is child care but no religious education program for the kids. But, I never go. It seems to only be the senior citizens who attend those summer services. We have a big end of the year picnic and say goodbye to our graduating high schoolers in May. Most people don't go back until September. There is usually just too much going on in the summer and it's nice to have Sundays to sleep in.

 

I've never run into anyone from any other religion who can can count on summers off, lol. We like to joke that its' because we are so darn good that god trusts us enough to give us summers off.

[catz]

Our UU goes from 3 services to one lay led/guest speaker service and the kid's programming tends to be gardening related.  We practice sleeping in as a spiritual practice as well as hiking and enjoying the weather.  I enjoy the change of pace!  :)

 

Our UU does offer several weeks of kids camps for 1-6th graders with older kids serving as "counselors".

Edited February 5, 2016 by WoolySocks

[OhanaBee]

PCUSA here.  Our church doesn't take summers off, but the Sunday School classes are more streamlined and the kids SS classes [1-5th grades] are one big program, instead of breaking up to different age levels. Middle High and Senior High classes are not held during summer months.  The choir gets a four week break, so our Traditional Service is a bit shorter because of that.  Our First Service Praise Team does not take a break at all, though many go on vacations throughout the summer.  I sing in the choir, but last summer ended up joining the Praise Team as their soprano was at music camp from June through August.

 

I've never been in a church where it didn't meet during the summer months, though I have been in a smaller church that went down to one combined service for all of July and half of August.

 

However, I will admit that, with the exception of last summer, when the choir has a Sunday off, I generally enjoy it at home. :blush:

 

ETA - Ah. I see that it wasn't so much the church shutting down as the pastors/leaders taking a vacation.  Our pastors do tend to take vacations throughout the summer as all have young children and want to enjoy time with them when school is out.  We have guest pastors during that time.

Edited February 5, 2016 by OhanaBee