Back to Church Sunday Is Coming: Here Are 2 Ways to Be Ready

Have you heard of “Back to Church Sunday”? I want to encourage everyone to be familiar with it—and to grapple with two different reasons why it matters.

This year, Back to Church Sunday is September 20, 2026. It gives us an intentional opportunity to invite friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members to church. Those who may have once attended church and just got out of the habit may welcome a friend inviting them back.

But as I’ve been thinking about Back to Church Sunday, I’ve realized there may be another invitation some of us need to consider.

Maybe we need to come back to church, too. Maybe during the pandemic we got used to watching a service from our living room, in our pajamas, with our favorite coffee mug in hand…and just never got back into the habit of attending in person. Or maybe we have settled into a rhythm of some Sundays in person, some Sundays at home—simply because it is just so much easier to sleep in and watch the service online.

A recent Barna Research report may burst the bubble of anyone who thinks of themselves as a “regular church attender.” When we add it up, the average churchgoing adult—specifically Christians who identify as regular churchgoers—actually only attends church 1.6 times per month. And guess what? The average Gen Z Christian is one-third more likely to attend church than the average baby-boomer Christian! Sit with that for a moment.

So as we approach Back to Church Sunday, let’s honestly consider two questions: First, is it time for you to come back to church? And second, how can you help someone else feel welcome when they come back to church?

1. Maybe it’s time for you to come back.

There’s something incredibly convenient about online church. You don’t have to get everyone dressed and out the door (which might as well be considered an Olympic sport with little kids!). You don’t have to make small talk when you’ve had a long week. And you can listen to a great message when it works for your schedule.

I’ll be honest with you. There have been Sundays when Jeff and I have watched church online, not because we had to, but because we were tired, were late getting up, and just… didn’t go. So I totally get it.

But church was never intended to be something we simply consume, as if we were watching a 90-minute Netflix special. God did not make gathering with other believers an optional exercise. He created our faith and life to flourish in in-person church community (check out Hebrews 10:24-25).

Now, of course, for those who are homebound, traveling, sick, or otherwise unable to attend in person, online church can be an incredible gift. But for many of us, it has primarily become an incredible convenience.

And there’s something else we may not realize: when we aren’t at church, it doesn’t just affect us. It also affects the people who are walking through those doors for the first time or for the first time in a long time. They don’t just need a service to attend. They need community. They need people to welcome them, notice them, and help them find a place to belong.

Scripture describes us as the body of Christ. We worship together. We encourage one another. We carry one another’s burdens. And we pray for each other in celebration and in struggle. Those things are much more difficult to do from a distance.

I totally get that coming back to church can feel uncomfortable, especially if you’ve been away for a long time. Maybe you’re worried someone will ask you where you’ve been and you won’t know how to respond. Maybe you’re dreading getting your family back into the rhythm of attending. Or maybe watching online simply feels easier, and easy sounds enticing with so many hard things going on in your life right now.

We have to have some compassion for ourselves and for one another. But we also have to ask ourselves this question: Has something that was intended to keep you connected to your church actually begun keeping you at a distance from it?

If so, maybe Back to Church Sunday isn’t primarily about who you’re going to invite. Maybe the invitation is for you.

2. Help someone else want to come back.

And there’s a second challenge, especially for those who are already attending church at least semi-regularly:

Look around.

Back to Church Sunday on September 20 means there are going to be people walking through your church doors who haven’t been there in years. There may be others who are trying church for the very first time. And walking into an unfamiliar church can be intimidating.

We’ve all been there, right?  Everyone else seems to know where to go, where to sit, what happens next, and who everyone is.

But you and I can make that experience completely different for someone new.

A pastor once told me that, in his experience, when someone visited his church but didn’t form some type of connection with another person within three visits, they usually moved on and tried another church. That has always stuck with me.

Think about what that means. The sermon, the worship, the children’s ministry—yes, they all matter. But sometimes, the determining factor of whether someone comes back to church next Sunday can be something as simple as you learning their name.

So this Sunday, make a point to introduce yourself to the person you don’t recognize. Invite the new couple to sit with you. Help the confused parent figure out where to check in their children. And then, perhaps most importantly, look for them again next Sunday.

Welcoming people isn’t simply the job of the greeters, pastors, or church staff members. It’s ours.

And sometimes that welcome will go deeper than helping someone find the sanctuary. As I wrote about in When Hurting People Come to Church, many people walk through our church doors carrying struggles we may know nothing about. Grief. Anxiety. Loneliness. A child who’s going through something incredibly difficult.

As the body of Christ, we don’t have to feel the pressure to solve all those problems. But we can take responsibility for noticing the people who carry them.

This Back to Church Sunday, let’s all come back.

So if you’ve gotten comfortable watching church from home when you could be there in person, would you consider this your invitation to come back? Not to check the “church attendance” box—but because you were created to be part of a body. And that body isn’t quite the same without you there.

And if you’re already in the rhythm of attending church on Sundays, then be intentional about looking for the person who’s either new or just now coming back.

Say hello. Learn their name. Introduce them to someone else. And then look for them again next week.

You may never know how much of a difference that small act of kindness makes.

What a missed opportunity it would be to invite thousands of people back to church this week, only for them to walk through our doors and feel like no one noticed them.

Friends, let’s step up!

If you are interested in having Shaunti bring research-based strategies, practical wisdom and biblical principles to your next event, please contact Amy Masaschi at [email protected]/.

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