July doesn't quite seem like the right time to start thinking about Christmas, but it's going to be coming very quickly. Here's this years dilemma: Christmas is on a Sunday.
Now, some may say, "What's the dilemma? Christmas should always be on Sunday!". Well, try telling that to my family! There are traditions within families that you just DON"T break. And the biggest tradition in our family is to gather Christmas morning, open gifts, eat a big breakfast and spend time together. Now if we have church on Sunday, December 25, we will have to break that tradition. Don't get me wrong, I know life will be fine if we skip this tradition for one year, but I know if it's an issue for my family, then it has to be an issue for many others.
The other aspect to consider is how to reach the surrounding community. Christmas is one of THE biggest days of the year for unchurched folks to attend a church. I wonder if those unchurched folks would feel compelled to get up early Christmas morning, disregarding their yearly traditions, in order to come sit at a church for an hour to hear a stranger tell them about the birth of Christ and to hear a praise team that will probably be missing a few of it's key members due to the holiday. This is the dilemma.
So here's what I'm wondering...
- Should we use Sunday, December 25 as our big outreach day? Or should we consider using the Sunday before as our Christmas service?
- Should we actually...take a deep breath...cancel our weekend service on December 25?
- If in the event we chose to cancel Sunday, December 25, should we explore the idea of having a Friday night Christmas service on December 23?
- Should we consider a Christmas eve service?
Anybody out there thought about this yet? If so and your church has a solution, please drop a comment and let me know what your church is considering. I'd also like feedback from you Gracers out there. Thanks!
Oh yeah, and I haven't even mentioned that New Year's day is the following Sunday!
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