Sorrento experiences summer surge

When summer temperatures run hot, most church treasurers’ blood runs cold, as regular members spend weekends away and many pastors are on vacation. Churches know July and August mean lower attendance and lower giving. It’s just a slower time.

But for churches located in resort areas, it’s very different.

“I love summer,” says pastor Reuben Pauls of Sorrento, B.C. His church, River of Life Community, is in the centre of a busy Shuswap Lake community, which draws thousands of visitors from Alberta and coastal British Columbia every year.

River of Life’s typical attendance for summer services is 30 percent higher than the rest of the year.

After a decade of meeting in a rented hall, the Sorrento congregation has seen significant growth to its current size of 150. It’s part of the community – through all four seasons, but especially in summer. River of Life offers a daily vacation Bible school that’s full to overflowing. Tourists often fall in love with Shuswap country and purchase property on the lake, so they become a regular part of the summer congregation and treat River of Life as their second “home” church. Many even become regular givers, adding to the church’s ability to offer community programs.

“Every summer, you wonder who God will send and who will end up staying,” says Pauls. Some who come to the church are transitory adherents, some are seasonal “regulars,” and some are part of the year-round congregation.

Reuben Pauls loves it, and so do church members. Says Pauls, “I’m the most fortunate pastor in all of B.C.”

—Barrie McMaster