Churches Prepare for This Year’s Sunday Christmas
With Christmas and New Year’s Day both falling on a Sunday this year, churches are anticipating big challenges: will fewer volunteers be available? how to maximize attendance possibilities? how best to do outreach? how to manage year-end giving in light of two holiday weekends?
Here are the two most significant trends:
• Most churches expect their biggest crowds to come on Saturday for Christmas Eve.
• Even though Christmas Day services tend to be smaller, most churches do not expect a major drop-off in financial contributions, thanks largely to the growth of digital giving channels.
Research director Warren Bird, Ph.D., found that most large churches have already developed plans for what they anticipate will still be one of their biggest weekends of the year. Bird shares his findings in a free download, released in conjunction with echurch, powered by Pushpay (echurch.com): “Open for Christmas on Sunday…Mostly! Larger Churches Gear Up for Big Weekends.”
The report walks through the major issues churches raised, using specific examples from churches such as 12Stone in Lawrenceville, GA, Lake Pointe in Dallas, TX, and Liquid Church in Mountainside, NJ.
The report is geared to church leaders looking for intelligence on what to anticipate, what other churches are doing, and what creative approaches to consider. It also includes a helpful section that outlines the following practical “Five Great Ideas:”
• Do Christmas events the weeks before the Christmas services
• Receive a Christmas offering that impacts the community for an entire year
• Offer resources for a stay-at-home Christmas
• Invite guests to return in January
• Prepare special help with volunteer roles
The free report is available at leadnet.org/Christmas
ABOUT LEADERSHIP NETWORK
Leadership Network, www.leadnet.org, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to fostering innovation movements that activate the whole church to greater impact.
ABOUT ECHURCH AND PUSHPAY
echurch is a trusted resource for church growth and engagement, and the premier provider of Pushpay, www.pushpay.com.
(Source: Christian Newswire)
