Reply #24: It depends upon the congregation. Many UU congregations... [View All]

alter their programming for the summer months because of a variety of concerns. Lower attendance, ministerial sabbaticals and practical matters.

My church does not change its worship service schedule for the summer, but we do take a break in the religious education programming for children. The children have supervised play rather than structured classes during the summer. Instead of having scheduled topics/speakers for our adult forum series we have open discussion.

One church I attended in New Jersey held summer services in the social hall rather than the larger sanctuary because they had lower attendance and the sanctuary did not have air conditioning like the social hall.

Full-time fellowshipped ministers often have summer sabbaticals written into their contracts. Our annual General Assembly is at the end of June and this enables them to attend as well as get a much needed vacation, writing projects, academic pursuits, etc.

Most UU churches have some programming during the summer. Very few close up shop completely. My guess is these congregations may be small ones that do not have the resources or infrastructure to maintain a worship service schedule with a greatly reduced attendance. Or they are so reliant on ministers they do not feel capable of structuring lay lead services.