It takes more than prayer to run a beach congregation

The stage is set for another booming season at the Delmarva beaches.

Restaurants are hiring, the boardwalk boards are in place and church and synagogue doors are propped open — welcoming a rush of worshippers weekend after weekend.

It takes more than prayer for Delmarva's houses of worship to strategize for the millions that visit the shores each summer. Not all who travel carve out time to practice their faith between waterslides, golf courses and lounging on the shore, but the clergy are still plenty busy.

Most have it down to a science in their own way — increase the number of services, take advantage of extra locations or outreach opportunities, staff the deacons, rabbis and other clergy, and understand that sometimes the traffic will slow even the most devout worshipper.

Others noted little change from June through August despite the summer rush.

Programs don't always target the visitors, and they're not always worship services. Some churches offer services closer to residences so members and visitors don't have to fight beach traffic. Others reach out through food, making sure Jewish families have kosher food or summer workers trying to save money have access to healthy meals.

But all agree it's the year-rounders that make the congregation thrive.

"It's kind of an interesting dynamic," said Bob Krebs, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. "Because in our instance, it's how do we prepare for the season? In the offseason, it's business as usual for our year-round parishioners, but it's between Memorial Day and Labor Day that we have the influx of hundreds of thousands of visitors that come to our diocese for vacation on any given weekend."

When the summer tourist season ends, many stores, restaurants and nightclubs in the beach communities reduce their hours and staff or shut down completely.

But unlike beach businesses,Delmarva's houses of worship are dependent on their year-round congregations, not the vacationers who cause the population to explode in summer.

Most of their income from tithes and offerings is from their permanent members, not tourists who have allegiances elsewhere.

Pack them in, send them home 

Some clergy see the rush as an opportunity when visitors return year after year and become "summer regulars."

"We do get regulars, people who come here for maybe two weeks out of the year, but when they're here, they always show up," said Gregg Knepp, senior pastor at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Ocean City. "So you get these regular returning folks who consider this their 'vacation church.' "

Many summer regulars eventually retire to the area and make St. Peter's their full-time church, Knepp said. St. Peter's gets on average 50 new year-round members each year, about half of whom are already known from vacationing there.

For most churches, handling the numbers is a challenge, Krebs said. But aside from additional Masses during the season, local Catholic churches don't provide additional programs just because there are more people.

"These folks are generally interested in coming to Mass and then heading back to the beach or the golf course or whatever their activities happen to be," he said. "Usually a parish in the summer season won't do anything special because they know it's going to be difficult for their parishioners to travel because of the traffic, and if you're a year-round resident and not retired, then you're working in the tourism sector somehow. Any kind of parish activities are put on hold until after Labor Day."

Catholic churches sometimes deal with the increased number of worshippers by offering Mass in locations other than the church.

St. Edmond in Rehoboth Beach doubles the number of Masses held there, but they also offer additional Masses in the church hall, at a local elementary school, and they used to offer one at a restaurant on Route 1, Krebs said.

Others have followed suit.

St. Mary Star of the Sea in Ocean City offers an additional Saturday night service at Bethany United Methodist Church in West Ocean City so that Catholics staying at campgrounds on Route 611 don't have to drive into town, an excursion that could take two hours in the summer, Krebs said.

To staff the additional Masses and locations, retired priests who live nearby and vacationing priests often make themselves available to help, Krebs said. In fact, Bishop W. Francis Malooly, of the Wilmington diocese, used to help out in Ocean City as a young priest when his family was there on vacation.

St. Peter's offers a fourth worship service in the summer at the Ocean Pines Community Center so attendees living there don't have to fight the traffic on Sunday morning, Knepp said. Nevertheless, attendance at St. Peter's doubles during the season to an average of 300 worshippers each Sunday.

Ocean City Baptist Church used to see attendance numbers swing between seasons, but no more.

"Far more people are moving to this area, so it's not as drastic," said Pastor Sean Davis.

Their year-round Sunday attendance is around 250 to 300, which can expand to 300 to 350 in the summer months, Davis said. Ocean City Baptist also adds a third Sunday service in the summer, but it's less about addressing overflow and about accommodating locals who work late Saturday night and tourists leaving Sunday.

Davis augments his year-round core of full-time and part-time staffers with a few additional paid summer ministers and a lot of volunteers. He also receives four or five college students from Baptist-affiliated schools in the deep south and Maryland, usually kids who want to go into the ministry. They help with outreach programs and gain some mentoring.

"They help us reach a city of over 250,000 that in the offseason is only 10,000," Davis said.

Faith, food and outreach 

The summer crush brings new opportunities for outreach.

This might take the form of teaching or fellowship programs, but it could also involve food.

Chabad Lubavitch Center is the only Orthodox synagogue on the Eastern Shore, said Rabbi Noam Cohen. Orthodox Jews need to find a synagogue when traveling, he said. In the summer, Cohen might see anywhere from 100 to 150 more worshippers.

"The main thing Orthodox Jews are looking for is worship services and Kosher food," Cohen said.

He provides food from New York and Baltimore to help visitors meet the strict dietary laws, supported by donations from visitors.

"Some are more generous than others," Cohen said. "But it levels out to where we're able to continue services without interruptions."

Other houses of worship also have a focus on food for visitors.

St. Peter's offers a free luncheon program on Wednesdays year-round. Atlantic UMC operates a soup pantry on Fridays. In the offseason, this is mostly for the benefit of the homeless. But both churches see a dramatic increase in attendance due to international student workers eating there.

For Patty Frick, pastor of Atlantic United Methodist in Ocean City, the year-round average of 50 per day can balloon to 200 in summer. That's the biggest difference she sees from winter to summer tourist.

Frick said many Ocean City churches have similar programs, and the students are welcomed.

"They can pretty much find a meal somewhere," she said. "It's open to anyone."

One of Atlantic's ministries offers free English classes to the visiting students.

Son'Spot Ministries is not a traditional church, but a missionary outreach organization. The organization consists mostly of part-time volunteers in the winter, founder Gary Steger said. During the season, the numbers are augmented by five or six full-time missionaries who live at the mission. Youth and adult groups from elsewhere stay a week or so to help fill out the 15 needed to run everything.

The ministry offers an outreach dinner on Thursdays in winter, but adds breakfast four days a week in summer. Steger said many students take advantage of it because they don't make much money.

"Almost every day they can go somewhere," he said. "And it can become like a home for them, with the camaraderie among them and us being there to be friends or parents with them."

Catholic churches don't stage events for visitors, but they may do special collections or fundraisers, or welcome missionaries who know that attendance is higher and visitors can be generous, Krebs said.

Connecting with the community 

Many of the places of worship on Delmarva have partners in the community that they connect with in the summer to reach out to tourists and locals.

Endless Summer Surf Shop on the corner of 38th Street in Ocean City has partnered with OC Baptist in the summer. On Wednesdays, a Surf Camp is sponsored and up to 50 student surfers get instruction along with Christian fellowship.

Atlantic UMC holds a summer Boardwalk service at Shenanigan's on 4th Street, Frick said. The location confuses some people, but sometimes they gain new summer regulars who didn't know they were looking for a church.

"You'd be surprised how many people are out walking on the boardwalk at 8:30 in the morning," said parishioner Dan Geary.

Frick said they usually see a nice crowd and it's a different way to worship outside of the church walls.

Many come for brunch and end up hanging out, she said.

"People come in looking for mimosas and brunch, and they get a bulletin and we're singing Jesus songs," she said.

Geary said many people stop and visit, and some stay for the entire service.

Parishioner Debbie Collins likes heading outside of the walls of the church, too. She thinks it's a less threatening atmosphere that leads to new followers.

"Because it's a church without walls, I think it attracts those with curiosity or who have maybe an inward draw," Collins said.

No matter the denomination, all leaders agreed that it's a balancing act. The summer provides them the opportunity to reach and help a larger number of worshippers, making it worth the extra effort.

It's the winter when they can focus on their neighbors who live on Delmarva year-round.

It's not just about the numbers on Sunday, either.

"Churches get caught up in the number of people who turn up on a Sunday," Geary said. "If you aren't impacting the community in some way, you're not making a difference."

dferrar@delmarvanow.com