Many fathers, she says, are looking for something special to do on Father’s Day, and are less likely to attend a normal church service. Having a special event, however, gives them a break from the routine and can be a great way to draw them in.

Many churches invest a great deal of time and money into special holiday events that are designed to draw people into their services, but statistics show that Father’s Day is one holiday in which church attendance is typically less than impressive. So is it a waste of time, money and energy for churches to host big Father’s Day events?

In the week leading up to Mother’s Day, Lifeway Research released the results of a survey in which they asked 1,000 Protestant pastors across the U.S. to indicate which three Sundays their church attendance is highest each year.

While Mother’s Day (59 percent) ranked third on the list behind only Christmas (84 percent) and Easter (93 percent), Father’s Day was ranked last. With just four percent of pastors saying it was one of their highest attendance Sundays, Father’s Day was ranked below the Fourth of July (four percent), Friend Day (14 percent), Homecoming (16 percent) and “Other” (26 percent).

“The attendance difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is telling. Either churches are less effective in affirming fathers, or families believe Christian fathers don’t value their participation in worship services,” Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research, said in a statement.

Many pastors believe there is a natural ebb and flow to church attendance throughout the year, and there are seasons in which growth and decline have become somewhat predictable. Naturally these pastors try to gather people during the peak seasons – like Easter, Christmas and during back to school time in the fall – but what about the off-seasons when no one seems to want to go to church?

Rich Barrett, lead pastor of Access Church in Jacksonville, Fla., says June is typically his church’s lowest attendance month, but he isn’t about to let Father’s Day pass by without trying to reach out to men.

Read More