Receive Free Monthly TeachingQuestion:
Holiday Schedule
How does your church operate through the holidays? What kind of special events, services, or outreaches do you have? Do you typically eliminate certain services to give families more time together? What do you and your family do on a personal level to make the season special and to keep yourself rested?
Responses:
Pastor Brad Allen – San Mateo, CA
Our December holiday schedule includes outreach and activities. People can get lonely in December so where we can, we schedule get-together fellowship events like craft making, Monday night football, etc.
Our outreach is based on using the Candy Cane story with our church information on tracts stapled to candy canes. We give them out dressed as Santa and his helpers. We're in an area that is not very Christian, but we get mobbed at shopping areas when we hand out candy cane tracts as Santa! It's really fun.
Personally, we go away at Christmas. That is when our family has a standard vacation to Florida every year. We always have done it and maybe we always will. You have to take a vacation at some point. With kids out of school, this time works for us. I know some people will think that's the wrong time for the pastor to be absent. But that's when we go. It keeps us sane, and we have a good staff.
We've kept our regular church schedule the same through the holidays.
Pastor Sam Smucker – Lancaster, PA
For the holidays, we have a Christmas Service the weekend before Christmas. It usually consists of singing Christmas Carols, sometimes a drama or a message about the virgin birth, etc. Our services are shorter to give families time to get to their family gatherings. We have three Christmas Eve Services – 5:00 PM, 7:00 PM, and 11:00 PM – where we have singing, candlelighting, the reading of the Christmas story, something for the children, etc. (one hour in length). We have refreshments before and after the services like hot apple cider and cookies. In our Christmas Eve services we receive a special offering for the homeless shelters in our area.
As far as our personal family, we have family gatherings like everyone else and eat a lot of food and give gifts etc. Sometimes we will all go see a movie on Christmas Day.
Pastor Doug Foutty – Parkersburg, WV
Our midweek service is actually Thursday night, so on Thanksgiving, we do cancel the service. Before Thanksgiving we have some kind of fellowship meal where everyone brings a covered dish and we encourage them to invite friends to the meal.
We don’t cancel services if Christmas falls on a Sunday. Jesus’ birth is celebrated and we usually dismiss a little earlier than normal.
In years past we have had outreaches during the Christmas season. We have given out lots of toys and food during this time of year. This is one of my favorites that isn’t really understood until you stop and think about it. Lots of children in our area need to take advantage of the free breakfast and lunch program that the county offers in our schools. This obviously helps the families of the less fortunate. When the children are home for two weeks during Christmas break, this causes an extra burden in the ‘in-home’ grocery department. They are used to their children being fed at school and they may not be able to afford more groceries, especially at Christmas. We put an advertisement out saying “Need a Little Help during Christmas Break?” or something to that effect. Then we explained that if they called us they could come by for a few bags of groceries to help get them through while the kids were home. God is good. His wisdom surpasses all of our thoughts. This needs to be done all over the country. It is an opportunity to share the love of Christ in a tangible way.
This year we are sponsoring an event in the downtown area called The Amazing (G)race. It is a scavenger hunt that makes groups of teens stop at 10-12 different churches for clues, etc., and the churches have snacks and drinks etc., to bless the teams with. Every team member has to bring a toy which will go to a needy child. The teams can win a cash prize that has been donated by several individuals. It will have a Christmas theme.
As far as personally, our family will celebrate Christmas at our house. The morning always starts with singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I am 47 and cannot remember a Christmas morning that I didn’t do that. It reminds us why it is a holy day (holiday). I hope this helps a little.
Pastor Loren Hirschy – Dubuque, IA
A few years ago I changed our approach to Christmas, and instead of viewing tradition as something dead and to be avoided, I began to lead us to develop, embrace, and enjoy the wonderful things traditionally associated with this time of year. Each year, we minister a series of messages leading up to celebrating Christ’s birth. This year, our series will be called Angels—Myths and Majesty. As message texts, we will use accounts of angelic appearances and ministry surrounding the announcement, conception, and birth of Jesus. The series will cover the nature and ministry of, and misconceptions concerning angels, while we build expectations for the celebration of Christmas. Each week we’ll also have some of our children involved with some sort of skit, song, reading, etc. On Christmas Eve we’ll have a candlelight service ending at midnight. It will be a warm and wonderful family season of inspiration and celebration.
Our Bible School students will have no classes after mid-December to free them to focus their schedules and minds on their families and the season.
Encouraging successful families is one of our church’s stated core values. So it will be accepted and celebrated as staff activities are adjusted around this holiday time. Some of our three children, their spouses, eight grandchildren and other family will be staying at our house—so we’ll lighten our appointment load, and shorten our office schedule to make margin for these blessings from the Lord.
The church office will be officially closed for the year mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, and staff will work only on a “must-be-done basis.” The office will reopen at the normal time the first Monday of January. All staff are paid as though working during this break (as well as Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after.)
Pastor Bill Anzevino – Industry, PA
For Thanksgiving we change our Wednesday mid-week service to Tuesday and have a special Holy Communion Service. We understand that many families are preparing Wednesday for Thanksgiving Day gatherings and this gives them more time to prepare. Also, they can enjoy the service without being distracted by thinking about other things they could or should be doing.
For Christmas we have a Christmas Pageant and invite family and friends of our youth and children to attend. We use this as an outreach to speak to the hearts of those who may not otherwise attend church. We also have a Christmas Eve communion service and celebration. We usually cancel the Wednesday mid-week service between Christmas and New Years to give families more time to be together and entertain family and friends who may have traveled a great distance to be together. Unless of course if Christmas Eve falls on a Wednesday.
For New Years Eve, we have a church dinner followed by a service emphasizing our need to be thankful for another year of life and to take spiritual inventory of ourselves to be certain we are continuing to grow spiritually.
January is a time of prayer and fasting for the entire church to seek God's face and set the tone for the entire year.
