Cynthia A. Janak
Mega churches - - Fleece or tend to the flock
By Cynthia A. Janak
Last night, while I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone, they told me about some Mega-churches that were not going to have a Christmas service. I could not believe what they were reading to me from their local newspaper.
I thought, "No way." How could a church not celebrate the birth of Christ in the tradition that I grew up with? Christmas is a birthday. When someone as important as Christ has a birthday, you have a party. To me that party is celebrating Christmas with other Christians and with family. It is showing our children of the importance of our faith on one of the holiest of days of the year. It is spiritual enlightenment.
When I was a little girl, I know some people do not believe I ever was one, the family got up early. We unwrapped our gifts, had breakfast and then we got ready for church. My parents made it an exciting day. To them it was not solely about materialistic wants. It was also about being with family and friends at church. It was about singing the Christmas Carols and praising God together in concert.
My parents have passed on but I remember my mother taking great care that my hair was fixed just so. She would put spongy rollers in my hair the night before so I would have curls. My dress was hanging on the closet door freshly pressed by my mother. Before we went to bed, she would tell us about what Christmas meant.
My mother would make sure that my father and brother would have a snowy white shirt, pressed a certain way and the pants had to be pressed with the crease just so. I remember her standing by the ironing board with a spray bottle and a white cloth pressing the pants. One time I asked her why she put the white cloth on the pants before ironing them. She told me that if she did not do that the iron would make the pants shiny and that was not acceptable. My mom did not want the pants to look worn.
My dad was funny. He was in charge of helping my brother get dressed for Christmas. My brother's shirt had to be tucked in a certain way and his tie had to be just so. If the tie did not look right the first time my father would redo it until he was satisfied. When all that was done my mother would comb my brother's hair and put stuff in it so it would stay in place. It was a special time and I look back on those memories fondly.
We did not have a lot of money but my mother and father made sure that on this special day, Christmas, we looked special. I can hear my mother now. "This is the day that Christ was born and we are going to His birthday party." It was wonderful. We belonged to the local Catholic Church. It was not a big church.
Now, we have some mega churches that do not want to have a birthday party for Christ. They want everyone to sit at home and do just the materialistic things.
They say it is about family spending time together. What about the family of God? Shouldn't they spend time together celebrating the birth of Jesus? I thought that bringing families and the believers closer on this day was as important as Easter. Why should we celebrate birth less than we celebrate death? I do not get it.
I had to research why they were doing this. I could not fathom what their reasoning was for this. The holiest of days for Christians was going to go un-noticed. When I heard this, I felt like the mega churches were trying to shut Christ out of our lives. That made me upset as it did my friend last night.
Here is what I found.
A Kentucky news source had this to say about the closing. http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/13323398.htm
The list of closed congregations on Christmas Sunday reads like a who's who of evangelical Protestantism: Willow Creek Community Church, the Chicago area's largest congregation; Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich.; North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga.; and Fellowship Church near Dallas.
"What's going on here is a redefinition of Christmas as a time of family celebration rather than as a time of community faithful celebrating the birth of the Savior," said Johnston, a professor of theology and culture. "There is a risk that we will lose one more of our Christian rituals, one that's at the heart of our faith."
Cindy Willison, of the Southland Christian Church said this. "Based on analysis of the number of people who attended in previous years and just a desire for us to emphasize family time on Christmas Day." Is what her church based its decision on.
"Studies would say the best opportunity to invite people is Christmas Eve. It's, for whatever reason, the least threatening service of the year to attend ... so what we do is really point all of our energy in that direction," Schneiders said. (Crossroads Pastor Glenn Schneiders)
"At a time when some corporations and government agencies are shying away from even using the word "Christmas," Henard said, "We want the world to know that it's okay to celebrate Christ."
At First United Methodist Church in Lexington, the pastor will perform a "blessing of the toys," and the congregation will sing Christmas carols, church spokeswoman Marsha Berry said.
"Even if there's a small group ... we'll be there to worship," she said. "What better day that Christmas to experience God?"
CNN.com had this to say about the church closures. http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/06/churches.closed.christmas.ap/index.html
Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day.
"This is a consumer mentality at work: 'Let's not impose the church on people. Let's not make church in any way inconvenient,' "said David Wells, professor of history and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Hamilton, Massachusetts.
"If our target and our mission is to reach the unchurched, basically the people who don't go to church, how likely is it that they'll be going to church on Christmas morning?" she said. (Cally Parkinson, Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois)
Cindy Willison, a spokeswoman for the evangelical southland Christian Church, said at least 500 volunteers are needed, along with staff, to run Sunday services for the estimated 8,000 people who usually attend.
She said many of the volunteers appreciate the chance to spend Christmas with their families instead of working, although she said a few church members complained.
Troy Page, a spokesman for Fellowship Church, said the congregation was hardly shirking its religious obligations.
Fellowship will hold 21 services in four locations in the days leading up to the holiday. Last year, more than 30,000 worshippers participated.
"Doing them early allows you to reach people who may be leaving town Friday," Page said.
Lastly, these quotes come from an article written by Christine Moyer of the Courier News. http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/top/3_1_EL12_A1CHURCHES_S1.htm
There is a clear message being sent by those mega churches canceling regular Sunday services on Dec. 25, because it falls on Christmas, according to assistant DePaul University Professor Scott Paeth.
"Basically what they seem to be saying is we give up. Christmas is no longer about Christ," Paeth said. "It's about opening gifts and spending the morning in pajamas with your family."
Evangelical Willow Creek Community church in South Barrington is supplying a DVD in lieu of a Christmas Day service.
And Christ Community Church in St. Charles will distribute packets detailing how to worship at home on Dec. 25.
Paeth described mega churches as being market driven.
"However, Parkinson disagrees. Christmas, ... is Willow Creek's Superbowl. There will be eight pre-Christmas services, beginning Dec. 20. And church leaders hope to lure more than 50,000 people to the pews."
This is what Paeth feels about the target audience of Willow Creek. Relatively affluent, middle-class residents who can afford a DVD player.
Let me tell you why these mega-churches are closing their doors simply.
The second reason stated was that the participation in the service would be down. What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? The service is supposed to be for the enrichment of the soul for those who come. It is not supposed to be on the volume. Did Christ only preach when He had a large crowd, like at the Sermon on the Mount, or did He preach at every opportunity?
My opinion is that even if a handful of believers show up, celebrating the story of the birth of Christ with them would make my heart soar.
Now to the third reason. Since when is spreading the Word of God working. I can bet that the missionaries do not consider what they are doing as work. If I could talk to a missionary today, I am sure that they would tell me that it was an enriching and fulfilling experience and that they did not consider it work. They make it sound like having a church service is drudgery or something.
My opinion is that if it is that hard then they should not be preaching the word of God because it does not come from the heart but because of duty.
The next reason they do not want to have a Christmas service is the difficulty. I just love this one. It goes hand in hand with the one about work. This should be a joyous occasion about the birth of Christ. If it is that difficult for that church then maybe they should scale back the services on Christmas Eve. That way it will not be so difficult for them.
It just gets better with this one. The non-church goers will not come. When I was little, some people did not go to church every single Sunday. They went to church on all the major church observances like Easter, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, etc. Are these people any less of a Christian because they do not participate all year?
With the last one, we get back to the staffing problem. I do not think that many of the staff would mind if they were needed to be there at church for the holiest of days for Christians. Most of the volunteers are there because of their deep commitment to God and Christ.
To sum it all up these mega-churches feel that they have a staffing problem, participation problem, work problem and too tired on Christmas problem. When did servicing the believers become such a problem?
My opinion is that some of the mega-churches have such an overhead that they have come to look at the bottom line instead of the believers. They are dealing with too many budgets and materialistic things that they have gotten away from what are important to the people. That is the Word of God.
Is not going to church supposed to be about the teachings of God? It should not be about what is in studies, analysis and whatever these churches are looking at. It should be about the birth of Christ and the Christian family. It should be about sharing and caring about one another. It should be about raising our voices up to God and singing our praises with Christmas carols.
The bottom line is that Christmas is about the whole family and about peace and goodwill to all. Not just for the ones who go to church every Sunday.
To end I want to quote assistant Senior Pastor Rick Donald who said, Harvest Bible leaders recognize the importance of celebrating Christmas with family. But that, he said, can be done at church as well as at home.
"It's Christmas, celebrating Christ's birth, ..." Donald said.
"Attendance could be down a little bit, but that's okay."
© Cynthia A. Janak
Last night, while I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone, they told me about some Mega-churches that were not going to have a Christmas service. I could not believe what they were reading to me from their local newspaper.
I thought, "No way." How could a church not celebrate the birth of Christ in the tradition that I grew up with? Christmas is a birthday. When someone as important as Christ has a birthday, you have a party. To me that party is celebrating Christmas with other Christians and with family. It is showing our children of the importance of our faith on one of the holiest of days of the year. It is spiritual enlightenment.
When I was a little girl, I know some people do not believe I ever was one, the family got up early. We unwrapped our gifts, had breakfast and then we got ready for church. My parents made it an exciting day. To them it was not solely about materialistic wants. It was also about being with family and friends at church. It was about singing the Christmas Carols and praising God together in concert.
My parents have passed on but I remember my mother taking great care that my hair was fixed just so. She would put spongy rollers in my hair the night before so I would have curls. My dress was hanging on the closet door freshly pressed by my mother. Before we went to bed, she would tell us about what Christmas meant.
My mother would make sure that my father and brother would have a snowy white shirt, pressed a certain way and the pants had to be pressed with the crease just so. I remember her standing by the ironing board with a spray bottle and a white cloth pressing the pants. One time I asked her why she put the white cloth on the pants before ironing them. She told me that if she did not do that the iron would make the pants shiny and that was not acceptable. My mom did not want the pants to look worn.
My dad was funny. He was in charge of helping my brother get dressed for Christmas. My brother's shirt had to be tucked in a certain way and his tie had to be just so. If the tie did not look right the first time my father would redo it until he was satisfied. When all that was done my mother would comb my brother's hair and put stuff in it so it would stay in place. It was a special time and I look back on those memories fondly.
We did not have a lot of money but my mother and father made sure that on this special day, Christmas, we looked special. I can hear my mother now. "This is the day that Christ was born and we are going to His birthday party." It was wonderful. We belonged to the local Catholic Church. It was not a big church.
Now, we have some mega churches that do not want to have a birthday party for Christ. They want everyone to sit at home and do just the materialistic things.
They say it is about family spending time together. What about the family of God? Shouldn't they spend time together celebrating the birth of Jesus? I thought that bringing families and the believers closer on this day was as important as Easter. Why should we celebrate birth less than we celebrate death? I do not get it.
I had to research why they were doing this. I could not fathom what their reasoning was for this. The holiest of days for Christians was going to go un-noticed. When I heard this, I felt like the mega churches were trying to shut Christ out of our lives. That made me upset as it did my friend last night.
Here is what I found.
A Kentucky news source had this to say about the closing. http://www.kentucky.com/
The list of closed congregations on Christmas Sunday reads like a who's who of evangelical Protestantism: Willow Creek Community Church, the Chicago area's largest congregation; Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich.; North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga.; and Fellowship Church near Dallas.
"What's going on here is a redefinition of Christmas as a time of family celebration rather than as a time of community faithful celebrating the birth of the Savior," said Johnston, a professor of theology and culture. "There is a risk that we will lose one more of our Christian rituals, one that's at the heart of our faith."
Cindy Willison, of the Southland Christian Church said this. "Based on analysis of the number of people who attended in previous years and just a desire for us to emphasize family time on Christmas Day." Is what her church based its decision on.
"Studies would say the best opportunity to invite people is Christmas Eve. It's, for whatever reason, the least threatening service of the year to attend ... so what we do is really point all of our energy in that direction," Schneiders said. (Crossroads Pastor Glenn Schneiders)
"At a time when some corporations and government agencies are shying away from even using the word "Christmas," Henard said, "We want the world to know that it's okay to celebrate Christ."
At First United Methodist Church in Lexington, the pastor will perform a "blessing of the toys," and the congregation will sing Christmas carols, church spokeswoman Marsha Berry said.
"Even if there's a small group ... we'll be there to worship," she said. "What better day that Christmas to experience God?"
CNN.com had this to say about the church closures. http://www.cnn.com/
Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day.
"This is a consumer mentality at work: 'Let's not impose the church on people. Let's not make church in any way inconvenient,' "said David Wells, professor of history and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Hamilton, Massachusetts.
"If our target and our mission is to reach the unchurched, basically the people who don't go to church, how likely is it that they'll be going to church on Christmas morning?" she said. (Cally Parkinson, Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois)
Cindy Willison, a spokeswoman for the evangelical southland Christian Church, said at least 500 volunteers are needed, along with staff, to run Sunday services for the estimated 8,000 people who usually attend.
She said many of the volunteers appreciate the chance to spend Christmas with their families instead of working, although she said a few church members complained.
Troy Page, a spokesman for Fellowship Church, said the congregation was hardly shirking its religious obligations.
Fellowship will hold 21 services in four locations in the days leading up to the holiday. Last year, more than 30,000 worshippers participated.
"Doing them early allows you to reach people who may be leaving town Friday," Page said.
Lastly, these quotes come from an article written by Christine Moyer of the Courier News. http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/
There is a clear message being sent by those mega churches canceling regular Sunday services on Dec. 25, because it falls on Christmas, according to assistant DePaul University Professor Scott Paeth.
"Basically what they seem to be saying is we give up. Christmas is no longer about Christ," Paeth said. "It's about opening gifts and spending the morning in pajamas with your family."
Evangelical Willow Creek Community church in South Barrington is supplying a DVD in lieu of a Christmas Day service.
And Christ Community Church in St. Charles will distribute packets detailing how to worship at home on Dec. 25.
Paeth described mega churches as being market driven.
"However, Parkinson disagrees. Christmas, ... is Willow Creek's Superbowl. There will be eight pre-Christmas services, beginning Dec. 20. And church leaders hope to lure more than 50,000 people to the pews."
This is what Paeth feels about the target audience of Willow Creek. Relatively affluent, middle-class residents who can afford a DVD player.
Let me tell you why these mega-churches are closing their doors simply.
- Staff and volunteers can spend more time with family.
- Participation in the service is down.
- Spend time with family instead of working.
- Difficulty in having Christmas Eve services and then returning the next day for Christmas Day services.
- Non-church goers will not come to church on Christmas.
- Too much staff needed to host services on Christmas.
The second reason stated was that the participation in the service would be down. What does this have to do with the price of tea in China? The service is supposed to be for the enrichment of the soul for those who come. It is not supposed to be on the volume. Did Christ only preach when He had a large crowd, like at the Sermon on the Mount, or did He preach at every opportunity?
My opinion is that even if a handful of believers show up, celebrating the story of the birth of Christ with them would make my heart soar.
Now to the third reason. Since when is spreading the Word of God working. I can bet that the missionaries do not consider what they are doing as work. If I could talk to a missionary today, I am sure that they would tell me that it was an enriching and fulfilling experience and that they did not consider it work. They make it sound like having a church service is drudgery or something.
My opinion is that if it is that hard then they should not be preaching the word of God because it does not come from the heart but because of duty.
The next reason they do not want to have a Christmas service is the difficulty. I just love this one. It goes hand in hand with the one about work. This should be a joyous occasion about the birth of Christ. If it is that difficult for that church then maybe they should scale back the services on Christmas Eve. That way it will not be so difficult for them.
It just gets better with this one. The non-church goers will not come. When I was little, some people did not go to church every single Sunday. They went to church on all the major church observances like Easter, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, etc. Are these people any less of a Christian because they do not participate all year?
With the last one, we get back to the staffing problem. I do not think that many of the staff would mind if they were needed to be there at church for the holiest of days for Christians. Most of the volunteers are there because of their deep commitment to God and Christ.
To sum it all up these mega-churches feel that they have a staffing problem, participation problem, work problem and too tired on Christmas problem. When did servicing the believers become such a problem?
My opinion is that some of the mega-churches have such an overhead that they have come to look at the bottom line instead of the believers. They are dealing with too many budgets and materialistic things that they have gotten away from what are important to the people. That is the Word of God.
Is not going to church supposed to be about the teachings of God? It should not be about what is in studies, analysis and whatever these churches are looking at. It should be about the birth of Christ and the Christian family. It should be about sharing and caring about one another. It should be about raising our voices up to God and singing our praises with Christmas carols.
The bottom line is that Christmas is about the whole family and about peace and goodwill to all. Not just for the ones who go to church every Sunday.
To end I want to quote assistant Senior Pastor Rick Donald who said, Harvest Bible leaders recognize the importance of celebrating Christmas with family. But that, he said, can be done at church as well as at home.
"It's Christmas, celebrating Christ's birth, ..." Donald said.
"Attendance could be down a little bit, but that's okay."
© Cynthia A. Janak
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
