This topic was created to discuss how certain features of the Rotation Model can help address the negative effects of the increase in irregular Sunday School attendance.

This trend of redefining "regular" was identified in the early 2000's by numerous church researchers. The trend picked up steam post-pandemic as more church-goers redefined what "regular" meant to them.  

For this reason alone, we at Rotation.org believe the Workshop Rotation Model should be seriously considered as A REMEDY for MAKING SURE student are getting MAJOR BIBLE STORIES taught to them when they DO attend.

In short, if your traditional curriculum has you teaching a lesson next Sunday to your irregular attenders about Aaron and the Golden Calf -- and half your kids MISSED the week before when you taught about Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, then you have the wrong curriculum and model for today's needs.

To put it in Rotation Model parlance,

"if they don't know the majors,

the minors don't matter."

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How the Workshop Rotation Model Addresses the Problem of "Irregular Attendance"

Problem 1: Irregular is not as good as regular. We have to win back more regular attendance.

Solution 1: Create a more attractive Sunday School, and Adult Ed offerings (kids don't drive themselves).  Learn more about the attractive power of the Rotation Model.

Problem 2: If you use a traditional curriculum that changes the Bible story every week, then you're irregular kids could attend a lesson about Aaron and the Golden Calf -- and completely miss the lesson about the Ten Commandments.

In other words, not all Bible stories are created equal.

Solution 2: Teach the same "major" Bible story for several weeks in a row and skip the minors. The way to do this is with the Workshop Rotation Model. The Rotation.org Model offers a completely different learning experience/lesson each week without changing the important story.  See how the Model pulls that off!

The following Workshop Rotation Schedule shows a schedule for 2 groups rotating through 4 workshops -- each of those workshops covering the exact same story for the entire four weeks, in this case, The Prodigal Son, with a 5th bonus week if desired. Of course, if you have more grade groups and want different types of workshops, you can change the schedule.

or...

How to Handle Low or Fluctuating Attendance

...especially in small Sunday Schools where such fluctuations can ruin what you had planned, force groups together on an unprepared teacher, or leave you with an empty or 1 person class.

In 2021, Rotation.org created the following animated presentation to explain how the Rotation Model can help Sunday Schools experiencing lower and fluctuating attendance made worse by the effects of low/irregular pandemic and post-pandemic attendance. It shows how to arrange your Workshop schedule each week so that you can FLEX your offerings EACH WEEK depending on actual attendance.

The rest of this article and topic expands on the presentation.

"Using the Rotation Model to Flex with Low or Irregular Attendance in a Post-Pandemic Sunday School"

Need to learn the full description of the Rotation Model? Then check out this presentation first, then come back to watch the following...

Right-click the video to "save as" to your computer. This will download it so you can share it with others. It's a 45 MB MP4 video that can play on almost any device.

Below is a key graphic from the presentation showing how to schedule your workshops AS THE KIDS ARRIVE so that if needed, you can immediately combine two groups into one on any given Sunday if attendance is unexpectedly low, OR split into two identical workshops on any given Sunday if attendance is unexpectedly high and you want to split younger from older students.

Moving forward, the Workshop Rotation Model is uniquely suited to address the following realities:

1. The trend is moving toward "less regular" regular attendance—i.e., families are redefining "regular" attendance as once or twice a month, instead of three or four.
Because in using the Rotation model, we stay on the same story for four or five weeks in a row, your less regular attendees will not miss enjoying creative lessons on the MAJOR stories of the Bible.

2. The need is to have our "best foot forward" every single week.
Mediocrity does not lead to renewal or success. The creativity of Rotation Model lessons gives us a competitive edge with kids and is a selling point to parents.

3. Volunteers have less preparation time available, not more.
In the Rotation Model, teachers teach the workshop medium that they are comfortable with and repeat their lesson for another group each week.

4. Avoid abandoned classrooms. Attendance shrinkage that leads to broadly graded groups also leads to abandoned classrooms. Rather than turning empty classrooms into storage space, "workshops" can be set up in formerly used classrooms for broadly graded groups to rotate into. (An appealing workshops make a difference to the kids.)

  Learn more about the Workshop Rotation Model