Why do churches close on Sunday? (MegaChruches reduce Holy Day to holiday)

HERALD-LEADER ^ | Dec. 04, 2005 | Frank E. Lockwood

[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?"

[wideawake]

Thanks. I'm familiar with both arguments.

(1) Your source concurs that the identification of Succoth as the day of Christ's birth is simply a theory based on a number of suppositions and inferences. Your source makes as good an argument as can be made, but it remains a theory without enough Scriptural data to make it definite.

(2) Your source knows almost nothing about classical Roman antiquity. Not only was the Babylonian calendar different from the Roman calendar - but Constantine and his family were never involved in the Babylonian cult.

His family was Greek with possible Brythonic and/or Dacian ancestry and their paganism was of the traditional Roman sort, perhaps admixed with then-fashionable Persian Mithraism.

[wideawake]

When two or more are gathered in His name, He is there.

[Uri’el-2012]

Your source knows almost nothing about classical Roman antiquity

I do not know your credentials for making that statement
but the authors of the article have a depth which I fully respect.

b'shem Y'shua

[wideawake]

The feast usually referred to as the pagan precursor of Christmas was the Saturnalia, but the Saturnalia was usually celebrated after the Ides of December but before the winter solstice - a date that coincides generally with December 17-18.

Saturnalia probably never fell on the 25th.

[PetroniusMaximus]

I have studied the Bible and theology for a while and I have to say that I learn more serious Biblical truth from Messianic Jews than from any other Christian body.

Sometimes I wish I was a Jew just so I could be a Messianic Jew!

Bless you and keep 'em coming!

[Mr. Brightside]

I guess I am not that legalistic.

[Mr. Brightside]

Correct. No matter what building you are in.

[Uri’el-2012]

I am not a Jew
But I do attend a Messianic congregation.
I have studied and find that it satisfies my soul
to worship at http://www.roehisrael.org/

b'shem Y'shua

[Knitting A Conundrum]

What normally happens, though, is no home worship time, but a family get-together with presents opening, too much to eat, TV, catching up, and dinner, The only memory of Christ in a lot of people's experiences will be if they say grace. And maybe play some Christmas songs.

I'm not saying this will be your experience, but it will be many families who forgo Church, or what happens to those whose church forgoes them!

Just another step down the post-Christian road...

[Between the Lines]

His name is Y'shua

Yes, so you have said several times.

I can only presume that since your posts here have had nothing to do with the subject of the article, that your intention is to be disruptive.

[Uri’el-2012]

His name is Y'shua

Yes, so you have said several times.

I can only presume that since your posts here have had nothing to do with the
subject of the article, that your intention is to be disruptive.

I offer it to you in case you were not familiar with the Name of the Messiah.

Son of YHvH the most high G-d

You may think of Him as Jesus but
His Name is Y'shua

Praise the Holy Name of G-d !

Y'shua haMashiach

[suzyjaruki]

but Sunday is Sunday

Amen

I think that worship is the best possible way to spend time with your family.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Jésus
Jesús
Jezi
Jesu
The name at which ever knee will bend, spelled and pronounced in part:

Jesus
Isusa
Jézus
Gesú
Ihu
Jezus
Isus
Ježiša
Yesu
Yeshua
The Lord is Salvation
God Saves!

[Uri’el-2012]

The Lord is Salvation

I especially like Psalm 118-14

Y'shua's Name means "YHvH is my Salvation"

b'shem Y'shua

[Between the Lines]

Disruption breeds disruption.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Being polite, and having a Jewish grandfather, out of respect I do not use the Lord's name that way.

I know exactly what it means.

[caseinpoint]

I agree that Sunday is best being observed as the Sabbath. Our church is having services but an abbreviated one. Instead of a worship service, then doctrinal classes while the youth and kids are in their own classes, then more doctrinal classes, we are having just the worship service portion for an hour and a half with the families staying together for the whole service.

I understand how others feel about changing church for Christmas but, frankly, I wonder how worshipful a service can be if it is filled with cranky, tired kids and exasperated parents trying to control them. Christmas is a high for kids and anyone with little ones can attest how difficult it is to feel spiritual while dealing with kids whose normal routines have been disrupted. There probably ought to be a worship service for adults only but if Sunday and Christmas are for families, then some adjustment may have to be made for the reality of Christmas and kids. Hence, our shorter but intense 90-minute worship service over the normal three-hour schedule.

We have maybe two hundred fifty congregants and it can be quite noisy sometimes with the little ones, even on regular Sabbaths. I can only imagine what the mega-churches might have to deal with on Christmas morning. I don't agree with cancelling the service altogether but I do understand the need for some adjustment.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

For centuries, people went to church on Christmas whenever it fell on a Sunday. This is not new! This is not the first time! What makes this year different?

[suzyjaruki]

I'm trying to picture all the churches where on Christmas morning exasperated parents, with cranky kids, are trying to sing "Joy to the World." It's not pretty.

[Alex Murphy]

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....

....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....

Gamecock: Wasn't there a thread about this very subject last year? ;-)

Anyone remember my killed-in-three-hours thread last winter, taken from the Holy Observer's spoof article Willow Creek Closes It's Doors for the Summer? People took great offense that anyone would dare suggest Willow Creek would do such a thing. And now we hear that it wasn't so far from the truth after all. From that spoof article:

The church leadership took a look at where attendance and giving were last summer, and when you look at the numbers, the case for closing shop just makes a lot of sense," said Willow Creek Senior Pastor Bill Hybels. "For years we've been trying to justify the expense of operating throughout the summer when schools are closed and people are on vacation. We just couldn't do it any more. If people are going to put their spiritual growth on hold until September anyway, why should the church fight it?"

Truth is stranger than fiction.