Summer's over, folks. Get back to church.

In an effort to refocus the attention of parishioners and possibly attract newcomers and the disaffected, many churches borrow a page from universities and designate a Sunday in September as a "homecoming." Although the idea reaches back a couple of centuries for some parishes, it is taking on a more organized feel in the U.S. and Britain.

This year, the Christian communications organization Outreach Inc., based in Vista, Calif., started a campaign declaring Sunday (Sept. 13) as "Back to Church Sunday," and offering a free toolkit that includes a "campaign planning guide," promotional materials and a booklet entitled "Rethink Church."

According to Outreach's Web site, the campaign is "specifically designed to increase church attendance by empowering church members with the tools they need to welcome neighbors, friends, and loved ones back to church."

In an interview, Outreach founder and CEO Scott Evans said the campaign was sparked by a recent study by Southern Baptist-affiliated Lifeway Research, which found that "82 percent of people who don't go to church would be somewhat likely to go if invited, but that only 2 percent of people who do go to church had invited someone," he said. Outreach, Evans said, wanted to provide a focus on "equipping people to be inviters."

Eric Abel, the vice president of marketing for Outreach, said the organization works with about 17,000 churches; most of the interest in the back-to-church campaign is coming from evangelical or non-denominational churches.

According to Evans, there have been more than 1,000 requests for the tool kits. Outreach's Web site allows people to record how many people they've invited to church; so far, the count is up to nearly 700,000.