Posted on 12/06/2005 11:07:40 AM PST by Between the Lines
Central Kentucky's largest church will break with tradition and close its doors on Christmas Sunday so that staff and volunteers can spend more time with their families.
Southland Christian Church near Lexington, where more than 7,000 people worship each week, is one of several evangelical megachurches across the country that are opting to cancel services on one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar.
Supporters say the change is family-friendly. Opponents call it a regrettable bow to secular culture.
The list of closed congregations on Christmas Sunday reads like a who's who of evangelical Protestantism: Willow Creek Community Church, the Chicago area's largest congregation; Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich.; North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga.; and Fellowship Church near Dallas.
The churches, which rank among the largest congregations in America, will hold multiple Christmas Eve services instead.
Megachurch officials around the country consulted with each other before deciding to take the day off.
The decision makes sense in today's hectic world, said Willow Creek spokeswoman Cally Parkinson. "It's more than being family-friendly. It's being lifestyle-friendly for people who are just very, very busy," she said.
Many evangelical churches don't hold Christmas day services, except when the holiday falls on a Sunday.
For some evangelicals, it's the day of the week -- not the day of the year -- that's sacred. To them, closing the doors of the church on the Lord's Day is unthinkable.
Others, troubled by the holiday's increasingly secular tone, lament the change.
While admiring the emphasis on family, Fuller Theological Seminary professor Robert K. Johnston worries that another Christian tradition is fading. Fuller, in Pasadena, Calif., is one of the nation's premier evangelical schools.
"What's going on here is a redefinition of Christmas as a time of family celebration rather than as a time of the community faithful celebrating the birth of the savior," said Johnston, a professor of theology and culture. "There is a risk that we will lose one more of our Christian rituals, one that's at the heart of our faith."
At Southland, the decision hasn't generated much controversy. "We've probably had maybe half a dozen (complaints), which is understandable," said church spokeswoman Cindy Willison. Southland members are encouraged to attend one of three Christmas Eve services instead. A Dec. 23 service has also been added.
Willison says attendance dropped significantly the last time Christmas fell on a Sunday, in 1994. Her church's decision was made "based on analysis of the number of people who attended in previous years and just a desire for us to emphasize family time on Christmas Day," she said.
"It's not anything unique to us," she said.
At least one other major Lexington congregation, Crossroads Christian Church, will close for Christmas.
Crossroads Pastor Glenn Schneiders says Dec. 25 is no longer considered sacred by many Americans -- especially those who are not regular churchgoers. "It's viewed more as a holiday than a holy day," he said.
The unchurched are more reachable on Dec. 24, said Schneiders, who leads a church with average weekend attendance of 1,900 people.
"Studies would say the best opportunity to invite people is Christmas Eve. It's, for whatever reason, the least threatening service of the year to attend ... so what we do is really point all of our energy in that direction," Schneiders said. "We don't think we're compromising. We're actually reaching more people by doing that."
Lexington Theological Seminary professor Bill Turner says it's difficult for some congregations to hold multiple Christmas Eve services and then return the following day.
"You're talking about a lot of volunteers and a lot of logistics to make Sunday happen in a lot of those megachurches," he said. By the end of Saturday's services, "you're pretty well wrung out."
Some churches are scaling down their Sunday schedule on Christmas.
At Louisville's Southeast Christian Church, where 18,000 people worship each weekend, they'll have one service on Christmas in the fellowship hall. Fewer than 1,000 people are expected to attend.
Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, where 1,650 people typically worship, will also have one service on Christmas.
"We want to be here to worship Christ on his birthday," pastor Bill Henard said.
At a time when some corporations and government agencies are shying away from even using the word "Christmas," Henard said, "We want the world to know that it's okay to celebrate Christ."
Meanwhile, Roman Catholics will be as busy as ever, Lexington diocesan spokesman Tom Shaughnessy said. "It's a holy day of obligation, which means for the faithful, Mass attendance is required."
At First United Methodist Church in Lexington, the pastor will perform a "blessing of the toys," and the congregation will sing Christmas carols, church spokeswoman Marsha Berry said.
"Even if there's a small group ... we'll be there to worship," she said. "What better day than Christmas to experience God?"
Chapter and verse?
Our mega church is doing 3 Christmas eve and 2 Christmas day services. We did cancel the 8:00 am service. Of course, we haven't bought into the "purpose driven" system and we don't have a rock band.
I do expect a really light turnout on New Years Day.
Thought you all might be interested in the Apostle Paul's opinion on this subject.
Colossians 2
16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
it seems to me the sheep will be the ones who show up on the Sabbath/Christmas and be most hungry for the word and to worship the Triune God, while the goats will stay home and gorge themselves on the fruits of the secular spoils of the day.
I'll bet the churches listed in the story are aghast that the word Christmas has been removed from the public square, but collectively have no interest in giving God the worship we owe him.
I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but these Broadway style productions are not religious services, just song-and-dance-with-a-bit-of-shouting-and-bad-acting
A true religious service is a Mass
***The churches, which rank among the largest congregations in America, will hold multiple Christmas Eve services instead.
Yes, they are.***
Well, that should make all of the Sabbatharians on FR happy!
What we are complaining about is not that they've done a cost/benefit analysis, and God lost.
Churchlite. God made small.
Rephrase that. They did a cost/benefit analysis and God lost.
Willison says attendance dropped significantly the last time Christmas fell on a Sunday, in 1994. Her church's decision was made "based on analysis of the number of people who attended in previous years and just a desire for us to emphasize family time on Christmas Day," she said.
That's the problem right there. We forget church is to worship God and not for our selfish desires. If we are truly worshipping God our needs will be met.
Exactly.
Read on.
"God is not there just when its convenient to you"
Wrong. God's hours are 24/7, 365/eternity.
No, that's Paul's opinion on those who worshipped Saturday as per Jewish custom and Sunday, which is what a lot of the earliest Jewish Christians seem to have done. It has nothing to do with sanctioning the non-worship of God cause it would cost the church involved too much money or because they thought it to be more fun to stay home and play Christmas.
Sunday. The Lord's Day. Ask John:
9: I John, your brother, who share with you in Jesus the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
11: saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Per'gamum and to Thyati'ra and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to La-odice'a.
It might be wise for the leaders of such churches to reread what the Lord said to the seven churches....
Yes God is there 24/7 unto eternity (praise the Lord),
but the onus is:
Are we there for God? a lot of us won't give him an hour a week.
And when churches encourage this behavior, we have the danger of being like the church at Sardis:
2: Awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God.
3: Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent. If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.
4: Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
5: He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
or worse, being like the church at Laodicea:
14: "And to the angel of the church in La-odice'a write: `The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
15: "`I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
16: So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17: For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
It is truly a scandal when a church decides that Sunday is inconvenient.
So you need to be in an "approved building" to "get in the Spirit on the Lord's day"?
No, the building doesn't matter. The worship matters. Jesus is the reason for Christmas, but he is the reason for Sunday, too. Every Sunday is the memorial of his ressurection, the celebration of Easter.
The Didache, a work which is very, very early as a record of what the church did dated somewhere around 80-100 AD, so overlaps the Apostles' era (not calling it scripture, just a witness of Christian practice) notes this:
"On the Lord's Day come together and break bread. And give thanks, after confessing your sins that your sacrifice may be pure."
This is what Christians do. We come together on the Lord's Day. The fact that a church would say, no, don't bother is scandalous.
If the churches told their people, "Don't bother to worship God on Christmas Sunday morning," you would have a point.
However, I doubt that is what they will be instructed to do. I imagine they will be told to worship God with their family and friends, which would be acceptable.
You also quote the Didach stating: "On the Lord's Day come together and break bread."
Do YOU "break bread" EVERY Lord's Day, or does your church practice it only when it is convenient? If so, are you also ready to condemn every church that does not "break bread" on a weekly basis?
**Do YOU "break bread" EVERY Lord's Day, or does your church practice it only when it is convenient? If so, are you also ready to condemn every church that does not "break bread" on a weekly basis? **
"Breaking bread" translates to consecrating the bread and the wine into the Blessed Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. This is done daily in the Catholic Church! (Not just on Sundays!!!!!!!)
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