Services on Christmas Day?

We're looking for your feedback! As many of you know, there are a lot of differing views on whether or not churches should hold services on Christmas Day.  At Fellowship, we are doing 21 services throughout our 4 campuses prior to Christmas Day.  On Christmas Day we chose not to hold services.  What are you doing at your church? Post a quick comment below and let us know!

Comments

[Gary]

Nada. Nothing. Zilch on Christmas Day.

[Jim]

This year it so happened that Christmas Day fell on a Sunday. Some churches made a choice whether or not to have services on that day. Simply a choice; Not right or wrong; Not mandated by scripture. A decision based on how we might best serve our church community and those outside our church...

Read more http://inside.growthtrac.com/

[Noel]

We normally have 2 Saturday Services and 3 Sunday Services. We decided to go with 3 Christmas Eve services and no Christmas Day services.

The reason we are having only 3 services is that about a third of our church members are college students who will be home with their families. Three will be packed, but sometimes packed is fun.

We chose not to meet on Sunday because we want people to spend time with their families that day.

In case anyone cares, I talk about this more on my Dec 8 podcast, which you can find at http://www.dailyjeezit.com/

Oh, and our church site is at http://www.eriv.net

[Rachel]

I whole-heartedly stand behind churches who've chosen not to hold services on Christmas morning. If a church is to be strong long-term, it must build a foundation of strong families. To my mind, giving up a morning in church for the sake of family time is an investment into that which really matters.

[Rob]

We decided to combine our two services into ONE unified service for Christmas and New Year's Day. Each church/ministry must decide in their own setting what is best to minister to those in their community and their congregation. We don't think having a service hurts a family because the family can choose to not come. We do believe that the service may be used to reach the friends and family of those that are part of our church. As for my personal opinion: I think it's cool for believers to come together on the Sunday that we celebrate the birth of Christ to praise him and to bring others to him. Cheers.

[Darrell Jordan]

Our church normally holds 1 Saturday night service and three Sunday morning services. We are going with one Friday night service and three Saturday night services. Our pastor has had a rough week last week. It's been a rough week for him.
dj

[J.C. Jennings]

We're having a Children's musical on Friday night and a Christmas Eve service on Saturday night. We're leaving Sunday morning for our folks to spend with the family. We will be having service on New Year's day but expect the attendance to be low.

[Jim Woods]

What about the apparent double standard a child sees? We tell Junior that Jesus is the reason we have an eternal hope and why we have Christmas. Yet, when presented with the opportunity to attend church on Jesus' b-day (traditionally speaking), we justify not coming together for a time of corporate worship, because the familial disrobing of gifts and overindulgence of victuals eclipses a time of adoration at His advent.

[David Ramsey]

We will have 3 Christmas Eve services. Instead of a Sunday morning (Christmas Day) services, we have created a DVD with carols, Scripture reading and a 15 minute message/talk. We call it CHRISTMAS @ HOME. And we distribute them free to every family at the Christmas Eve service. I've coached our core families to invite friends, family, neighbors and co-workers to experience CHRISTMAS @ HOME with them...or to gather their Small Group together. We feel it gives our volunteers a much-needed time to rest, spend time with their family, reduce the noise and really focus on celebrating Jesus' birthday.

[Carl Ingersol]

Dear Pastor,
I find it appalling that you do not have or encourage attendance at worship on the Lord's Day simply because the birthday of the Savior is being observed on that day this year. You need to do a serious evaluation of your priorities. This another case of bowing to the secular culture values of our times. Sunday worship has become optional, as well as the sacredness of the day has been ignored.

Carl Ingersol

[Brian Burgi]

We have also decided not to hold services on Christmas day - However, instead of leaving people to fend for themselves, we are creating CD's which include a short Christmas message, a bible reading and a selection of songs so people can worship on Christmas morning along with their families.

We are also holding a Christmas Eve service.

God bless.

[Chris Ashe]

The battle of traditional vs. contemporary Christian life style is fascinating. At 38 years old, I'm glad to be a part of a people God is raising who see their Christian life as a spiritual journey and realize they can worship Christ without having to congregate at the church. I am in no way suggesting that one should "forsake assembling with the saints". Convening for service is a vital experience in our life in Christ. However, it should not define or represent our Christian walk.

[Chip]

I think it all comes down to what you think of church. I am in an unusal position where I attend Fellowship Church, but my dad is the minister of a small church in Oregon. People of the "small church mind" can't believe that a church wouldn't have service on Sunday. But from a logistical stand point, doing 11 "Christmas Eve" services, and then doing one or two Christmas day services is a tough pull (as Fellowship would have to do). They also need to think about the faithful volunteers, they can become easily burned out after 11 services Wednesday - Saturday, it would be difficult for them to ask them to come to another two more when they would rather be with their family.
Just two different ways to look at it...

[Tim Wallace]

We are having a Chrismtas Eve Service and no services on Christmas. If we were not having a Christmas Eve service we would have a Sunday morning service. I told our people that our Worship Service is on Saturday instead of Sunday this week so enjoy Christmas Day with your family.

[Stephen]

We will have a Christmas Day service at 1pm until 2pm. I resist not having a Sunday service as it seems to demonstrate that there are things more important than worship in the Lord's house on the Lord's day. We feel that adjusting the time accomodates the family traditions but also gives expression to the priority of worship.

[Bob Cappelle]

We are a rural church in a smaller town. We are doing a Christmas Eve Service but not a Sunday service. On Christmas day we are joining another church in our community for a joint service. We felt that since the numbers would be down in both churches it would be more encouraging to worship together. The "value-added benefit" is that it helps to break down the denominational walls and plant seeds for a future day when we hope to combine and become one church.