5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Cancel Church After Christmas
The Christmas season is notoriously busy for Churches. Adding Christmas Eve services along with special advent services, staff Christmas parties, guest speaking engagements, and a multiplicity of holiday dinners can stretch Church leadership to the breaking point.
In response to this, some churches have begun closing their doors the Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s. The rationale is simple: church attendance is ordinarily low after Christmas and ministry workers could use the weekend to rest with their families. Instead, everyone can take a break and come back refreshed after the New Year.
The logic makes sense. And I can see some benefits to this approach. But I believe there are five compelling reasons that churches should reject this trend. The disservice done to those who call our church “home” far outweighs whatever benefits we may think we’re providing.
We Take Community Away from Those Who Need It
One of the taglines used by churches who cancel church is “Spend time worshiping at home with your family.”
This sounds good in principle, but it’s actually cruel to those who don’t have the privilege of a Christian family.
What of those who are alone for Christmas, separated from their families or altogether without one? What of those who come from families that don’t recognize Jesus and have no interest in worshipping? What of those who are struggling with depression and anxiety who need the Body of Christ for encouragement and a compelling reason not to spend the day in bed? What of those who look forward to the Church doors being open so they can see their friends, not feel alone, and enjoy the fellowship of the saints? Are we really willing to take all of this away so that a portion of our congregation can “worship at home with their family”?
Such a statement may expose some of the blinders of our church. Do we think everyone comes from functional nuclear families? Do we assume that Christmas is a time of joy for everyone, and not a season that can bring up pain and loneliness? Are we only seeing the part of our congregation that looks like us?
We Withhold the Ordinary Means of Grace
It is true, people can listen to a sermon online through websites and podcasts. I praise God for the gift of technology that connects us with preaching from around the world.
But preaching isn’t a spectator sport. It isn’t something that we simply watch. Preaching is something we participate in from the pews.
As Christopher Ash said a few years ago, “Listening to sermons is not a ‘me and God’ thing; it’s a “God shaping us together’ thing.” Receiving the preaching of God’s Word is designed to be a communal experience. Sure, you can watch a sermon online. You receive a sermon among the community of believers.
This is why, in the Reformed tradition, we understand the preaching of the Word to be a “means of grace.” We get this idea from one of our confessional documents, the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Question 88 reads, “What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?”
The answer: “The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption (grace) are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all of which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.” (emphasis and interjection mine)
The preaching of the Word is how the gathered people of God receive grace to live the Christian life and grow in our sanctification. To close the church on a Sunday morning with the caveat that we could listen to the sermon online is an adventure in missing the point. We’re not just listening to a sermon. We’re receiving grace from the hand of God. If we close our churches the weekend after Christmas, we’re withholding the ordinary means of grace from our people.
We Communicate a Self-Sufficient Gospel
One of the biggest problems in our society is individualism. Instead of relying on community, we strike out on our own. “I don’t need anyone but me” is an American creed that churches are continually forced to confront and repudiate.
I don’t believe churches are intentionally communicating this, but unspoken communication is sometimes louder than what we say with words. By closing our church doors, are we agreeing with the world? Are we saying that “me and Jesus” time is just as valuable as the time we have with our brothers and sisters in the presence of God?
If I don’t need church this weekend, do I need it any weekend? Or should I just focus on my own spiritual life and the spiritual life of my family?
How will our members exercise their spiritual gifts if they’re not in worship? What acts of service for my fellow saints can be practiced when I’m told to stay home?
By closing for the weekend, we’re communicating that we can be self-sufficient in our relationship with Jesus. At least for a week, we don’t need each other. It’s a message that will be heard loud and clear, a message that we may not want to teach our flocks.
We Make Church About “The Leadership”
One pastor said on Twitter last year something to this effect, “All these pastors mad at churches closing won’t even be in their pulpits this weekend. They’ll have the youth pastor preach.”
It’s true that many pastors take the weekend after Christmas as a vacation weekend. This is normally owing to what our friends have noted: pastors are tired after the busy-ness of the advent season.
But it’s not about the person preaching. It’s not about the leadership of the church. It’s about Jesus. It’s about the Word being proclaimed. It’s about the worship of the gathered saints.
Many pastors took Labor Day weekend off. And vacations will happen throughout the summer. Should the churches close their doors? Absolutely not! Because church isn’t about the leadership, it’s about bringing Glory to God.
So yes, maybe your youth pastor or one of your elders will preach. And the sermon might not be “as good” as when your every-week teaching pastor is there. But if church isn’t about performance and it’s not about hearing from your particular leader but is rather about communing together in the presence of God, then maybe the Pastor’s vacation doesn’t mean everyone should stay home.
We Neglect Worship
Finally, when we close our church doors we are taking away the opportunity for worship. Yes, you can worship on your own. But it’s not the same as when you’re gathered with the saints. It’s not the same as seeing that saint who’s had a hard week raise her hands in praise. It’s not the same as sitting next to someone new and learning a name. It’s not the same as asking to talk with someone after the sermon because something didn’t sit quite right with you. It’s not the same as feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit and coming forward for prayer.
As I meet and speak with global workers, I’m struck by some of the stories they tell me. I’m especially amazed by the faithfulness of those who follow Jesus in countries that persecute believers. Many of us have heard the stories of house churches in China and small bands of believers in Iran. They worship in secret, meeting together at risk of imprisonment or worse. Yet they come.
We in the United States have the ability to worship every weekend without fear of government reprisal. Would we give this up because some of us are tired? Would we give this up so that a handful of people can have a “weekend off”?
Being tired is real. And people need breaks. We need to make sure we raise up enough people to serve so that the weight of the church isn’t only on a couple of shoulders. We should come to the Lord in prayer for more workers in our field so that we don’t have to do it alone. Perhaps we even think creatively, encouraging our flock to join a neighboring church (and then — leaders — go with them!) one year and then in our church building the next.
Whatever you decide, I implore you, brothers and sisters, don’t cancel church. Don’t take away the ordinary means of grace. Don’t close the one place that many of our spiritual family members need to get through the week. Don’t neglect the worship of our Savior and King.
Don’t cancel church after Christmas.
As I read your message about not cancelling church after Christmas I am struck by how different the message supporting it is from any other evangelical minister I have ever heard, any of whom could have used the same headline. The communal aspect of a congregation is to provide mutual support in a common belief. Asking for and receiving Grace is an individual act. Please at least wait for the establishment of the police state socialist regime to be installed before pushing this social gospel variant of biblical understanding. Using terms like reformed and evangelical is nothing less than hijacking our language. It sounds more like something a cooperating metropolitan might do after the Bolsheviks seized power in soviet Russia or a ambitious Panchen Lama might say after the Dalai Lama was forced to leave the country.
Individualism, in the sense of requiring normal, healthy adults to put themselves in a position of being able to help others by not unnecessarily being a burden on his neighbors, is fundamental to the success of the USA. It is a bedrock idea that is part of the social compact along with the understanding that our form of government is called a federal republic. This means that the only direct democracy we get is at the local level. Phrases like ““I don’t need anyone but me” is a straw man supported by equally tendentious language about unspoken communication. It sounds like a dog whistle claim that might be said by someone on the payroll of the democratic national committee.
I will conclude with a less than optimistic thought that the inability or unwillingness of people with differing points of view to respect what their opponents have to say is leading inexorably to civil war in the is country.
The irony in Irv Cohen’s last sentence is palpable.
Great article Marcos, thank you! I’ve thought that doing a stripped-down service is better than none at all. If you’re megachurch, do what you can to change logistics to give as many staff as possible the day off, but there’s no need to cancel service altogether. Yes, people need breaks, but if the people of God have forgotten how to gather for worship without professionals mediating everything, what does that say about the American church?
There is no irony if you accept the remark in the context of what came before. If you think you are going to convert our country into a national socialist state because you win a national election with a “popular” majority, civil war is inevitable. Most people who use terms like evangelical are satisfied to accomplish their goals by soliciting volunteers. There are some religious adherents, however, who pick and choose only the “other directed” commandments who are willing to enlist the power of the police to do it. This is counterfeit and must be rejected.
Amen. And amen. As loneliness and grief peak, worship and fellowship sustain life.
I have lived in the US for 40 years. What has always amazed me in a sad way about Christian Churches in the US is how they are all closed on Christmas Day. Why? I grew up in a country where all the Christians went to Church on Christmas eve, Christmas day, and the Sunday after Christmas. Even if it was three days in a row. And we also went to Church on New Year’s day to celebrate the New Year. I find that churches overseas make Christmas a much bigger deal than it is here. In the US, presents and spending time with family sadly seems to be the most important part of Christmas.
I agree wholely with the author’s comments. But may I add one more important reason from an Anglican perspective: the sacrament of the Table. Communion should be done weekly and it is communal by definition. I realize that most reformed churches don’t do this today, but it was once a weekly practice and Calvin himself called for weekly observance of communion. Word and sacrament was the common phrase. REstoring that will be a means of overcoming this individualizing of the faith.