Time for Change?

A group of educators met last week in Cascade and one of the topics we discussed was participation. How do we get children and adults to come to church and be part of the education programs? Molli told a story that got me thinking. She mentioned that in their church’s GEMS group only 4 girls out of the 9 girls who could participate came to the meetings. One of the leaders asked “Do we do this for only this small number of girls? What should we do differently so the other girls will participate?” Molli’s response was “Why do the girls who don’t come control the agenda?”

I thought that was a good question. Do the people who choose to stay home have the ability to control programs? Should we change to get more people to come out or should we ask the people who come what they want to do? We often focus on the people who don’t come. Sometimes their lack of participation has nothing to do with our programs – they’re too busy with other things or they have family obligations that conflict, for example. There are lots of things that might keep them away. And what if they just don’t like the programs? Should we change it from something that some people DO like just to try to get a bigger crowd?

So… when do you change the program? Isn’t attendance a clear indicator that it is time for a change? Is there a time when low attendance is not used as an indication of a time to change the program?

I’d love to see some comments.