Typically summer is a slow down period for churches. The reasoning goes something like this: everyone’s in and out on vacation so it’s hard to get much done over the summer. At VALLEY Christian Church, we have looked to maximize summer time over the years, especially when it comes to leadership. Here are 5 reasons to maximize summer:

1. Summer can be used as a season of preparation before the big fall kick-off of the school year when schedules become set in stone.

2. Summer affords greater flexibility for meetings since there are no “school nights”. This always makes things like “child care” issues easier. We meet on Sunday nights which would be really tough during the school year.

3. Summer is a “light hearted” time of the year (especially in the northeast). This makes for a great leadership development environment. People learn more in a positive environment (this is also one of the reasons some churches grow and others don’t).

4. Summer revs up social events for many, so utilize the social aspects of summer to build your leadership team into a more cohesive unit.

5. Summer sets the table for the next nine months. We’ve found that the leadership development we engage in over the summer equips our whole leadership team (about 50 strong) for all of the challenges for the rest of the year.

This summer will mark the fifth year we are maximizing summer for leadership training and development. Now, we have people planning their vacation time around much of our leadership meetings because they don’t want to miss all the summer fun and future planning. Maybe it’s time to maximize your summer too!