Saving Daylight Savings Sunday
Last week was Daylight Savings Sunday. And as happens every year, attendance was down, volunteers called out, and momentum seemed to stall overnight. I get it. At my church, the Sunday before was my highest-attended Sunday of the year. Daylight Savings Sunday? Right back to where we started.
I was frustrated, but when I looked back at my numbers, I realized the exact same thing had happened the year before. The curves were almost identical.
Notice how both lines are almost identical. The blue line is 2025 and the red one is 2026. The peak is the Sunday before Daylight Savings Sunday.
Over the years I've tried everything to fix it. Funny videos. Social media posts. Giving my volunteers plenty of advance notice and asking them to tell me early if they couldn't make it. And still, same story every year.
There is one thing, however, that has actually helped get my volunteers out of bed and into church on Time Change Sunday. That's what I want to share in this post.
1. Make It a Special Day
The core problem with Daylight Saving Sunday is that it's just another regular Sunday. There's nothing to distinguish it from the week before or the week after. So you need to give your people a reason to get out of bed. Honestly, sometimes worshipping Jesus isn't enough of a draw on a morning when everyone lost an hour of sleep. Sometimes you have to sweeten the deal.
Here's a recent example. This past Sunday I held my second Growth Track class. I personally invited 44 people. Three showed up. That stings, but it's the reality. After church, though, we held a Cake Auction with free lunch, plenty of cake, and fundraising for kids to go to camp. For the first time with this group of people, it was a huge success.
The class alone wasn't enough. Starting at 8:30 a.m. didn't help either. But the free lunch and the party atmosphere? That brought people in.
The key is creating something your people actually want to come to. Something that rewards them just for showing up. Which leads to the next point.
2. Host a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast
One of the questions I get most often is, "How do you show appreciation to your volunteers?" It's one of my most-read posts. And while I'm still a firm believer in personalized thank-you cards, there's something about free food that speaks a universal language.
On Daylight Savings Sunday, offer a really good Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast before service. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Store-bought pastries and muffins work fine. If you have a home cook in your volunteer base willing to whip up a classic breakfast staple, even better, especially if you're working with a tight budget.
Since this happens before service, I wouldn't try to pull off a full sit-down meal. Keep it grab-and-go or at least something that can be eaten quickly. Use the time wisely. Share wins from the ministry, cast vision for what's ahead, and get your team fired up. No matter when you're reading this, Easter is coming, and your volunteers need to be ready and energized for it.
Yes, this takes more time, money, and planning. You'll need extra help to pull it off. But in my experience, it's the single most effective thing I've done to boost volunteer attendance on what would otherwise be a low-turnout Sunday.
3. Add a Giveaway
Free food goes a long way. There have been Sundays where I've had all three meals provided by the church and people loved it. But sometimes even food isn't enough. That's where giveaways come in.
One of my favorite things is giving volunteers a t-shirt to identify them while serving. And since you want your team looking sharp heading into Easter, Daylight Savings Sunday is a great time to hand those out.
I told my volunteers that if they showed up on Time Change Sunday, they'd get a free breakfast and first pick of the shirts. I always ordered one style, and because I never took pre-orders, I'd inevitably run short on certain sizes. This post can help you avoid that headache.
The following Sunday, the volunteers who missed would ask how to get their shirt. There was genuine FOMO in the room. I think that’s a good thing in this case.
If shirts aren't in the budget, find something else your volunteers will actually use. Nobody needs another coffee mug. But a church-branded lanyard with their name on it? That works. I know one church that created special metal pins for lanyards that were only available on specific Sundays. You could only earn them by showing up. People loved it.
My philosophy is always to give something that every volunteer receives rather than one big prize that makes one person happy and leaves everyone else empty-handed. Instead of spending $500 on a grill for a raffle, spread that money across the team. A thoughtful gift that everyone gets does more for your culture than a single flashy prize ever will.
Daylight Savings Sunday doesn't have to be the low point of your ministry calendar. With the right approach, you can turn it into one of the most anticipated and successful Sundays of the year. The more consistently you do it, the more your volunteers will look forward to it each spring.
One caveat: I tried running this same event on Fall Back Sunday instead of Spring Forward. It didn't land the same way. There may be other factors at play, but that's been my experience.
Whatever you do, don't let this Sunday defeat you. Do something fun. Do something that shows your team how much they matter. Take a Sunday that used to feel like a loss and turn it into a win.
