Too Soon?
As crazy as it sounds, Christmas is only 80 days away. For some of you, that means it’s time to break out the Christmas decorations now. For others, it means you have 79 days before you have to frantically run around Walmart looking for a gift. But for church leaders around the country it means it’s past time to start planning Christmas services. It could be the social circles I run in, but I have seen a lot of back and forth on what church’s are doing, or should be doing, on Christmas Day.
This is the first time in 6 years that Christmas falls on a Sunday (it will be 11 years before it happens again by the way). One of my pastor friends said this, “If your church does not worship together at all that day because it is Christmas then I would humbly suggest you find a different church.” Believe it or not, that is one of the nicer comments I’ve seen from church leaders who are are confused why any church would choose not to have a worship service on Christmas Day this year.
Before you start to get too antsy, our church staff met earlier this month and we are planning on having Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. However, before we all jump on the “churches who don’t worship on Christmas Day have their priorities wrong” bandwagon, I want to share why those churches might have not be so bad after all. For starters, according to a recent survey, a little less than 2/3s of churches are still having service on Christmas morning. Some of those, like Navarre UMC, will be combining or simplifying their services and others are moving it to the afternoon.
Like I said, it’s been 6 years since this last happened, and only a few things have happened in that time. Not only did COVID cause a widespread drop in church attendance, but churches also developed the technology and ability to enable families to worship at home. Over a third of the churches who are not having a Christmas Day service are already working on a prerecorded service so families can worship at home at a time that works best for them. The rest of the churches are spending their time and efforts on Christmas Eve services.
And that brings me to the number one reason why I empathize with those churches who choose not to meet for worship on Christmas Day this year. Burnout. December is one of the busiest months in church life, and between the events our church does each year (Breakfast with Santa, Christmas Concert, and Christmas Eve) we ask our staff and volunteers to put in an extra 1200+ man-hours in a three week span. Unfortunately, it is these same people that we are asking to come back 14 hours after one of the longest and most intense worship days to do a Christmas Day service. Those 1200 man-hours don’t just affect the volunteers. It also affects their family who lose 1200 hours with their fathers, mothers, or children during the holiday season because they are serving.
So yes, some churches might choose to focus on Christmas Eve services and let their volunteers celebrate Christmas in their own way with their own family. It’s not because they have their priorities mixed up. It’s because there is more than one way to celebrate the birth of our Savior. If the king of kings can be born in a stable and celebrated by angels in a field, I think people are capable of celebrating and worshiping that same God outside of a corporate worship service.
As for our church, we are blessed with people who love to serve and have the time to serve, even on Christmas Day. Our service might look a little different, but we want to offer the opportunity for you to worship at home with your family or to come together and worship Jesus in a church service.
I suppose this is also a good time to mention, if you would like to join one of our ministry teams such as ushers, hospitality, greeters, sound, video, or worship team, please contact the church office. We’d love to get you plugged in.