Leadership Network

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big
Weekends
brought to you by echurch powered by Pushpay
by Warren Bird, Ph.D.

12Stone, an Atlanta-area church with more than

15,000 weekly worshippers at nine locations, began
planning its Christmas and New Years Eve schedule in
May this year. They finished solidifying the overall plan
in early August.

Christmas and New Years Survey

Its such a big, complicated thing, says executive

pastor Dan Reiland.

1. Christmas weekend service times:

How do you think you will reconfigure your typical
pattern or weekend services? (Select all that apply)

That early start was necessary because Christmas Day

and New Years Day will fall on a Sunday this year.
That will create two weeks when the number of available volunteers, peoples attendance patterns, yearend giving, community outreach projects, and more
will have a different rhythm.
Many high-visibility churches have already developed
their plans for what they anticipate will be one of their
biggest weekends of the year.

Definite Change of Routine

This is definitely one of our Super Bowl weekends,
says Christina Lee, Media Director at Lake Pointe
Church in the Dallas area.

o Offer additional services on Saturday (perhaps

billed as Christmas Eve Service opportunities)
o Offer fewer-than-usual services on Sunday
(Christmas Day)
o Offer distinctly Christmas Services on
Sunday (Christmas Day)
o Offer several days of Christmas services,
perhaps starting on Wednesday, Thursday or
Friday.
As research for this report, we conducted a survey in
August of high-visibility churches, receiving responses
from 49 churches about their plans.

Lake Pointe is planning 7 Christmas Eve services on its original campus, and 22 services across their other 7
campuses. The church will offer no services on Christmas Day, but it is developing an online video resource
for families to use at home that day.

Most churches expect

their biggest crowds
to be on Saturday for
Christmas Eve.

Most churches expect their biggest crowds to be on Saturday for

Christmas Eve. Projections varied widely when estimating increased
or decreased attendance on the Christmas weekend. In Leadership
Networks survey of high-impact churches, churches guessed an
average attendance bump of 40% for the entire weekend, with only
about 10% projecting lower attendance than normal.

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

We have noticed a trend in the past several years

that Christmas Eve services have become our most
attended services of the year, even surpassing Easter attendance, according to Lake Pointes Christina Lee.
Leadership Networks survey found that the majority
of churches will offer additional services on Christmas Eve, but many will offer fewer than normal
services or even cancel services on Christmas Day.
For those who still plan to gather on Sunday, only a
small amount will offer a distinctly different service
than the ones held on Christmas Eve.
The kind of people were drawing would not
expect our weekend services to be cancelled,
says Dr. Marlinda Ireland, worship pastor at Christ
Church in Montclair, N.J. But well probably shape
Sunday morning to be very celebratoryincluding
more Christmassy music elements and a creative
retelling of Christs birth.

Tickets for Christmas Weekend?

Christ Church holds an annual free Christmas concert,

which in 2015 drew some 4,000 attendees. The concert is
specifically designed with evangelistic underpinnings so that
believers and the unchurched hear the message of salvation.

Most large churches we interviewed will not

offer tickets for weekend services, citing a number of different reasons, the most commonly cited were that
people take tickets and dont show up, or potential guests might fear that if they come without a ticket, they
might be turned away because the auditorium is full.
Lake Pointe Church doesnt issue tickets but they will have an online registration available. Registering will
be encouraged during announcements for at least three weekends prior to the Christmas Eve services. As attendees talk to their families and decide which service they will attend, they are encouraged to let the church
know by registering on the website.
On the website there is a real-time meter that shows how full each service time is based on pre-registrations.
The church shares with the congregation that the vision behind registering is to help the church balance out
how many people are in each service and to leave room for the unchurched who will be joining in the services. Lake Pointe adjusts the metrics of the meter so that it shows 10 percent more registrations than actually received to take into account the fact that not everyone who attends will have pre-registered. In addition,
the church looks at historical data and asks their members to avoid the services that have traditionally been
most attended in favor of attending a less crowded service.
Weve struggled to get our congregation to accept the idea of tickets, one pastor wrote. Even though
theyre free, the word tickets bothers our people.
However, two of the biggest churches in the survey were among the three that said they would use tickets.

Pinch Points in Auditorium and Parking Lot

Such a largely attended weekend obviously touches pinch pointsplaces where the extra crowds will put
pressure on church systems.

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

According to
our survey, the
two biggest
pinch points
churches have
to deal with on
a big weekend
are auditorium
seating and
parking, followed by concerns about volunteer
availability and the childrens/nursery area. Transition time between services, and the ability to offer
enough services, were also stated worries.

The two biggest

[anticipated]
pinch points ...
are auditorium
seating and parking.

On the topic of volunteer availability, most large

churches are planning for some regular crews to
be unavailable for the Christmas weekend, but
those churches plan to recruit early and often to
fill the empty slots.
Our Christmas Eve services typically rely more on
volunteers than the normal Sunday, says Communications Director Lauren Bercarich of Liquid
Church in Morristown, NJ.

Fewer Available Volunteers

Last year, Liquid Church produced a themed Cosmic

Christmas, and volunteers wore Star Wars costumes
to tie into the just-released movie.

Some churches are adopting an all-hands-ondeck mentality because of the outreach potential of the holidaysasking staff, deacons and others to put in
extra time, both signing up regular volunteers and recruiting new ones. Other churches plan to reduce the
need for volunteers, especially on Christmas Day, by limiting or waiving childrens ministries that day, or scaling down worship bands to fewer musicians and singers or simpler worship music.
Christmas Sunday does not typically draw larger than usual attendance for our church, as some of our
members are traveling to visit friends and family. However, the holiday will impact our volunteer base, says
Christ Churchs Marlinda Ireland. Im sure well adjust our approach to scheduling volunteers that weekend.

Year-End Giving?
Weekly offerings plans will also take some maneuvering because many churches present special opportunities for holiday or year-end giving. One church utilizes year-end gifts to fund all of its community giving for
the next year. Others are in the middle of capital campaigns, where they will direct holiday gifts.
Some churches plan to tap into national programs such as Angel Tree and Advent Conspiracy to engage their
attendees in holiday giving. Some give to local charities or local families in need, while others focus year-end
giving on international missions.
Compassion Christian Church in Savannah, GA, sets up a nativity scene in its auditorium, and encourages
families to come together and give their holiday gifts.
Its become a tradition for us that people really look forward to, says Associate Worship Pastor Sean Ihrig.
People are giving presents to everyone else, so why not bring a gift to Jesus to honor Him?

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

Digital Giving Makes a Big Difference

Regardless of their Christmas service plans, churches will keep their online digital giving options active
through the holidays and year-end. Some will also have extended office hours during the week between the
holidays to accept year-end gifts in person and via postal mail.
Churches with smartphone giving options, such as Text-to-Give, anticipate steady giving through the holidays, matching their experience last Christmas. We already use Text-to-Give, wrote one church leader. We
will add a code that people can use to designate a gift to our special Christmas Eve project.

Because of digital
giving channels,
most churches
dont expect a major
drop-off in regular
giving.

Digital giving channels are larger this year than last year because of the
growth of major players like echurch powered by Pushpay. Companies like
this are ensuring most churches no longer see a major drop-off in regular
giving. Instead, many anticipate that the offering from larger crowds could
offset smaller Christmas Day attendance or even no service that day.
Our online giving is strong so we do not expect too much of a financial
impact, one pastor wrote. By having big Christmas Eve services, it will
balance out and maybe even be larger than normal.

Regardless of their approach to the Christmas and New Years holidays being on Sunday this year, most
churches realize this is a prime time for putting their best foot forward.
This is one of our two big services, with Easter being the other, says Lake Pointes Christina Lee. People
love joining us for those services, and our members are willing to modify their holiday plans to attend earlier
services to leave space during the prime service hours for those in our community who will visit us.

5 Great Ideas to Consider

Great Idea #1: Do Christmas Events the Weeks Before the Christmas Services
Staff and volunteers at Compassion Christian Church in Savannah will breathe a sigh of relief
by the time Christmas weekend services roll around.
Thats because 1,000 volunteers will have already pulled off a two-week, indoor/outdoor mega
Christmas event, The Journey, that includes a Roman guards walk through a Bethlehem
village with a blacksmith shop and brick-oven bakery, massive live nativity scene and full-production musicalwith 20,000 to 30,000 guests who visit.
Other churches around the country focus their December energy on concerts, pageants, live
nativities and other events that take priority over Christmas weekend.
Sean Ihrig, Compassion Churchs Associate Worship Pastor says, In our culture, Christmas has
expanded to the whole month of December. The entire country is looking for ways to celebrate all month. Thats why it works for us to start the first two weeks of December. It is also
fair to say that The Journey is our big push for the whole Christmas season.

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

Over 1,000 volunteers at Compassion Christian Church in Savannah come together every
December to create The Journey, an authentic re-creation of Bethlehem village at the time
of Christs birth.

Great Idea #2: Receive a Christmas Offering that Impacts the Community for an
Entire Year
For more than 25 years, Lake Pointe Church has found the perfect place to put its biggest
offering of the year.
The Dallas congregation gives it awayfunding 100% of its community giving for the entire next year from that one offering.
In one service alone, the church with 14 locations has raised enough to cover a job training initiative and the electric bills of many needy families.
Other creative outlays for Christmas offerings include the entire Christmas Eve offering
going to retired ministers and missionaries and their widowed spouses, or to the unchurched family of a local high-schooler who was paralyzed by a sports injury.
Because of that one offering, were able to say Yes to every legitimate need that comes
from our community for a whole year, says Lake Pointe Media Director Christina Lee.

Great Idea #3: Offer Resources for Stay-at-Home Christmas

Some churches are telling attendees to sleep in on Christmas Day this yeareven though
its on a Sundaybecause they can have church at home.
Some congregations are cancelling services that day, but are also providing resources for
at-home worship services with pre-recorded music, Bible readings, and a short sermon.
Another church will cancel New Years Day services (also on a Sunday) and offer an online
home worship resource.

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

Back when the holiday fell on a Sunday in 2011, one church offered DVDs that featured an athome Christmas family worship service. All 2,000 DVDs were distributed, and 2016 promises
to be even better.
Since its online this time, we can track how many people actually download it and use it,
says a church leader.

Great Idea #4: Invite Guests to Return in January

As church leaders make plans for the Christmas season, they know their work doesnt stop
there.
Along with thinking through how to plan for Christmas and New Years Day landing on Sundays this year, church leaders are also giving early thought to bringing guests back to church
after ringing in the new year.
One church is debuting a free magazine that will present highlights of 2017 programming.
Another church is giving a free gift to visitors with an invitation to a practical, high-interest
sermon series for the new year. Another congregation will show a promotional video for the
upcoming January series at all Christmas services.
Thats our big unresolved strategy issue to work out next, one pastor says. How are we going to invite our Christmas season guests back for whatever well offer for January 2017?

Great Idea #5: Prepare Special Help with Volunteer Roles

Volunteer availability is a concern for churches as they plan Christmas and New Years weekends this year since the main holidays are both on a Sunday. Leaders are getting creative
about how to take care of their volunteer workforce and ensure all the vital functions are
covered for those weekends.
One church plans to hire childrens workers on Christmas Day to replace the normal team.
Another is setting up a special hospitality room for Christmas weekend volunteers. Another
church plans to add volunteers that are only for Christmas weekend, with heavy vision-casting
and recruiting from the platform.
One congregation will send out special emails to all childrens workers who are background-checked asking them for extra service. Some are relying on deacons or paid staff to
log some extra time.
The leaders of our volunteers are phenomenal at identifying and scheduling additional team
members for these types of services, says one staff member.

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

About Leadership Network

Leadership Networks role is to foster innovation movements that activate the church to greater impact for
the glory of Gods name. The nonprofit founded in 1984 now serves over 200,000 leaders all over the world.
See leadnet.org.

About the Author

Warren Bird, Ph.D. serves as Director of Research and Intellectual Capital Development at Leadership Network. An ordained minister with background as both a pastor
and seminary professor, he is an award-winning author or co-author of 29 books for
ministry leaders including God Dreams: 12 Vision Templates for Finding and Focusing
Your Churchs Future with Will Mancini and Next: Pastoral Succession that Works with
William Vanderbloemen. Other recent titles are Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work with Jim Tomberlin, and Wisdom from Lyle E. Schaller. Some of Warrens
recent online reports include Leadership Network/Generis Multisite Church Scorecard, The Heartbeat of Rising Influence Churches and Pastors Who Are Shaping the
Future. He is widely recognized as one of the nations leading researchers of megachurches, multisite churches, large church compensation and high-visibility pastoral
succession. Follow him on Twitter @warrenbird.

Credits
Andy Williams contributed to the interviews and writing of this article.

About the Sponsor

echurch is a trusted resource for church growth and engagement and the premier provider of Pushpay to the
church community. Their purpose is to always create an opportunity for generosity, to open a connection
between the church and the people it serves, and to engage and inform each local church community with
a custom-tailored experience to make peoples lives better, easier and more convenient.

Additional Resources from Leadership Network

Want to find more resources like this one? For the most current listing of free and purchasable resources,
including books, papers, videos, and podcasts, go to leadnet.org/downloads/. Also for a free subscription to
Leadership Network Advance, our free email digest of ideas, trends and resources from growing, often larger
churches, go to leadnet.org/advance/.

2015 Leadership Network www.leadnet.org

Open for Christmas on Sunday...Mostly!

Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends

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