Wednesday, December 07, 2005

"Some Megachurches Closing For Christmas."

Does anybody else's stomach sort of drop when they read this?
Cally Parkinson, a spokeswoman for Willow Creek Community Church in South
Barrington, Ill., said church leaders decided that organizing services on a
Christmas Sunday would not be the most effective use of staff and volunteer
resources. The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was 1994, and only a small
number of people showed up to pray, she said.

"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.

Personally, I can't think of any place I'd rather be on Christmas morning than celebrating the incarnation of our Savior with the fellowship of the redeemed!

UPDATE: Anne at PalmTree Pundit has some good words about this ...

2 comments:

Melodee said...

That is seriously depressing.

Kimberly Cangelosi said...

Willow Creek is doing 17 Christmas services for 50,000 visitors between the 20th and 24th and they are sending home a dvd to help families create a worship experience at home on Christmas.

I don't find it depressing.

In fact, I'm glad that my sister and her husband (both Willow Creek staff members) will be able to spend Christmas with their 14 month old baby instead of working.