by Don Chapman
Growing up in church, one of the big highlights
of the year was the Christmas cantata. The
choir would begin working on the latest musical
from Word Music or some other publisher in
early September and have a special December
Sunday evening performance of the work. It
was quite a production - with drama and even
live animals. As the event grew bigger and
bigger year after year we'd do the performance
on several nights. Since 99% of energy was
spent on the big show, there wasn't much
creativity left over for December Sunday
services.
Does this paradigm work today? If it's still
working for you, great - but many churches
are changing their strategy. Brookwood Church
used to spend lots of time and money on a
big Christmas show but found that, when all
was said and done, visitors simply came to
the program and didn't come back for weekly
services. I know of another major church
who does a yearly renowned "singing
Christmas tree" (complete with dancing
gingerbread men) and even charges admission
to help cover massive costs - but the church
is steadily declining in attendance even
though the shows are still well attended.
Here's my philosophy: if the average non-churched person is ever
going to darken the door of a church, it'll
probably be at Christmas and Easter. So instead
of putting all your creative eggs in a one-night-Christmas-pageant-basket
with deacons wearing bathrobes, why not spread
those creative eggs throughout the month
of December? Let every Sunday in December
have a little something special. And if you
do want to have an evening event - why not
have it on Christmas Eve, and make it a holy
moment instead of an entertaining extravaganza.
If a visitor has some sort of spiritual awakening
in one of your Christmas services, I suspect
they'll be back (read about a visitor who came to our Easter
service in this past issue
of the WorshipIdeas
newsletter.)
We will never have the
budgets, time or talent
to match Hollywood on production,
so let's
concentrate on what we
CAN do better than
anyone else: create a spiritual
experience
that will draw people closer
to God.
I believe the two specific dates a non-churched
person will attempt to go to church are Easter
Sunday and Christmas Eve, so I've always
tried to concentrate on those times. A few
years ago when I had left my previous church
music director job and was in my church-visiting
mode, I found the pickings to be slim on
Christmas Eve. Here's a time when I really
wanted to reflect on the Christmas message
and the only services available were liturgical
(and incredibly boring and poorly done.)
What I had hoped to find was something almost
magical - a service with excitement in the
air, but not something secular. I wanted
to sing favorite carols, hear a choir, a
solo or two, some strings (in tune), a short,
touching message, smell burning candles and
get a lump in my throat somewhere in the
middle of it all.
So last year at Brookwood I wanted to make
Christmas Eve all of the above, and one of
the most incredible, special evenings of
the year. Read about it here and watch a video. If somebody was out looking for a way to
connect with God that night, like I was a
few years before, I hope they found what
they were looking for at Brookwood last December
24. Here are some guidelines for a knockout
Christmas Eve:
Put your best foot forward. This is not the time to let Aunt Bessie
sing her off-pitch solo. Since people are
especially busy on Christmas Eve, share your
vision and ask your talented musicians way
in advance to set aside this important time.
Have audience participation. The unchurched will have heard "Rudolph"
in every department store all month, now
give them a chance to sing the true meaning
of Christmas with some popular carols like
"Silent Night," "Hark the
Herald" and "The First Noel."
Stick with the favorites - if you want to
include obscure Christmas songs, use them
as special numbers.
Seeker sermon. Discuss with your pastor a way to present
the Gospel message in a friendly way.
Pray. Ask God to send people to your service who
need to experience the message of hope.
The best compliment on Christmas Eve I received
was by a man who came up after the service,
exasperated and irritated: "Why didn't
you let us know in advance this would be
so good? I would have invited my neighbors!"
Our Christmas Eve certainly took some work,
but didn't require the enormous undertaking
of a cantata or full fledged production.
And lest you think this is beyond your church, remember this: the Christmas Eve at Brookwood
with almost 10,000 in attendance was nearly
identical to the Christmas Eve I planned
a few years ago in my church of 300. Sure,
I had a few more bells, whistles and talent
to work with at Brookwood, but both services
were essentially the same, and both had the
exact same effect of quieting hearts distracted
by the hubub of the secular season.
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