The Great Attention Shift

By Martijn van Tilborgh

According to research, even the most committed families in today's churches now show up only 1.8 times per month.

That’s really sucks when you preach your "six week sermon series" and your people only catch "episode" two. And if you're lucky, perhaps they can sneak in "episode" six as well.

As a consultant, pastors often ask me how to get people back in the pews every week.

There are plenty of gimmicky and manipulative tactics that can pressure people into showing up. Shame works. Guilt works. At least for a while.

But is that really the path we want to take?

Before we try to fix the problem, we need to understand it.

What we are experiencing is what I call the Great Attention Shift.

This is not unique to the church. Attention shifts happen constantly in every industry.

When attention shifts, old distribution models collapse.

We used to buy toys in stores. Now we buy them online.

We used to go to restaurants for convenience. Now we order from delivery only kitchens through an app.

We used to shop at K-Mart, call taxis, and rent movies at Blockbuster.

But the attention of the market shifted.

And when attention shifts, everything changes.

The church is not exempt from this.

Instead of blaming people for not showing up, maybe we should ask a harder question.

What value are we offering in exchange for their time?

Every week we are asking people to trade something incredibly valuable.

Their attention.

Their time.

Their presence.

And right now, the market is speaking clearly.

According to the people we are trying to serve, what we are offering is worth about 1.8 Sundays per month.

Yet many churches continue building systems around the assumption that the model of the last fifty years will carry us into the future.

Buildings.

Budgets.

Programs.

Sermon series.

All designed for a distribution model that may no longer exist.

Don’t be fooled.

The issue is not declining commitment.

The issue is shifting attention.

Instead of blaming our congregations, perhaps it is time for some honest reflection.

Let’s take the log out of our own eyes.

Let’s understand the attention shift.

And then let’s reimagine how we serve the people we claim to care about.