Short Answer? In a Big Way.
Had a nice call with a print reporter on “How Mega Churches
Celebrate Christmas” last week. Before I brief you on what I said, let me just
say how much I appreciate print journalists that still cover religion. This has
been a hard year for newspaper and magazines and I appreciate those that do the
due diligence on a story.
It’s a tough job because I give them 20 minutes of
background and of course they can use at most, one small partial sentence. I am
often unclear why they chose that sentence instead of others but they are
trying to do their job.
On with the story. The reporter was primarily interested in
the differences between “normal” churches and megachurches in their approach.
In his community, “normal” means a “First” Church of an old-line denomination. His own community is dominated by Large Catholic Parishes and large, evangelical churches are in the real minority.
I had several areas of emphasis and they all don’t apply to
all mega churches but here is what I think he would find:
a. Context and Community dictate – Just as the “normal”
church follows a tradition for their worshipping community, the context and
community of a megachurch follows. So, for example, in broad generalities, if a
megachurch is in a newer community with lots of young families that tend to
“travel home” for Christmas, their schedules will look different from
communities where lots of people “stay home” for Christmas. Normally, communities
with lots of new housing, new elementary schools and new kids is a “travel home”
community vs a settled community which is a “stay home” community.
b. Likewise the aim of the church is also important. Again
in broad generalities here and not being critical of either “normal” or “mega”.
“Normal churches” tend to design Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services
around those that are already believers. It is surely a high holy worship day
for believers and that is a logical and fruitful path.
Megachurches tend to design Christmas Season and Christmas
Eve services for those who have yet to believe. That is also a logical and
fruitful path. True, most of those that attend these services are already
followers of Jesus BUT the intent is to give an opportunity for those that
follow to invite those that don’t follow.
In other words, Megachurches tend to make this a strong
season for reaching out to non believers and that influences a lot of the other
things below.
c. LOTS of services – For “normal churches” the pattern
seems to be perhaps one extra service on Christmas Eve and perhaps one on Christmas
Day (though I am seeing less of that these days.)
For Megachurches it seems like double or triple the number
of special services during the season. I noted that many started this past
weekend and will also have multiple services on the 23rd and 24th
this year. A few of these have specialized services targeting children but most
use an identical format for all these special services.
All of these services have a Christmas/Advent theme, clear
message, lots of music and are designed for those that may only attend a church
service a few times a year. I will say that they rarely if ever acknowledge
verbally though that they know you are only here once a year.
For “normal” churches the services may have a nod toward the
“once a year” crowd, and often make a comment that way, but the service is
designed more for the regular worshipping community that gathers on a regular
basis at the church.
I can see value in both approaches.
A shorthand way of saying it is that many megachurches make
this a season focused on reaching the ungathered in the community and “normal”
churches focus on gathering the community of faith.
d. Outreach to the Poor – I see many more megachurches emphasizing
outreach to the poor during this season. Normal churches do the same.
Megachurches tend to have big, high profile projects that match their scale. In
some cases due to their scale and profile, megachurches attract local business
and community support that a “normal” size church does not.
I think “normal” churches also do a good job in customizing
care, concern and outreach to the poor and give it a greater emphasis during
this season.
In the case of some megachurches, this outreach to the poor
is often the central celebration of the season.
e. The Anti Consumerist Christmas – the growing trend,
helped along by the Advent
Conspiracy folks and others, is the move to de emphasize the consumerist
binging at Christmas. I have seen lots of churches picking up on these themes
and at the same time adopting projects, both local and global, that serve the
poor in specific, tangible ways.
“Let’s give the kids small gifts and give big gifts to the
world.”
This is similar to “normal” churches special financial
offerings for missions and local benevolence funds during this season. I think
the difference is in specificity and targeting for these offerings. The
difference is in the anti consumerist messages.
These projects are being adopted by churches of all sizes but you hear about them more from megachurches, again due to scale.
f. “We shut down for Christmas” – This was the story that
made lots of ruckus and news a few years ago when Christmas actually fell on a
Sunday. A minority of prominent mega churches did not hold services that day.
They became the subject of great ridicule in many quarters.
I actually believe that TOTAL attendance across all
Christian congregations in the US
reached a record that year for the week before through Christmas Day. It is
clearly an educated guess but I had figures from the same churches being
criticized on the overwhelming numbers of people attending the weekends before
and the special Christmas Eve services. I had strong reports as well from
churches that had Christmas Day services. Plus we had record mild weather over
most of the US
that December meaning that people could go to church without hindrance during
that month. (Unlike the Blizzard this weekend in the mid atlantic states). We are going to have the same story again in a few years.
The other factor is a growing number of megachurches that
tend to have extensive Children’s ministries that either don’t have services
the weekend after Christmas or on Christmas Day due to the scramble to have
enough workers that day. Instead of creating a sub standard experience for the
children, they choose to “give workers a weekend off” and as a back up, some
have special family services that weekend or none at all.
I note that this year, with Christmas on a Friday, that many
larger churches are having abbreviated schedules on Sunday the 27th and
many cancelling their Saturday night services the 26th.
Another group is not having services at all after Christmas
Eve.
Again, see letter (a) above for community and context. This
tends to be the pattern based on “travel home” or “stay home.”
I have a few more Christmas Season posts to share later in
the week. Another thing I have noticed this week is that many of my emails to
pastors are bouncing back as “out of office” as preparations for the Christmas
Eve, and Christmas Eve Eve services are in full prep.
So if you are one of the few still working this week, please
comment and share what you are seeing in your community. Who knows? Maybe the
reporter will call you next time.
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