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Megachurches won't hold Sunday services December 25
While Christian groups are warring to make sure that business and government workers say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays," one place you won't hear either greeting this December 25 is at many of the largest churches in the country.

That's because, the Lexington Herald-Leader and Chicago Tribune report, the churches won't be open that day. Now, in most years, that wouldn't be terribly surprising: Protestant church offices have closed Christmas day since the time of the Puritans (who closed churches that day both to distinguish themselves from Roman Catholics and in protest of the bacchanal that Christmas celebrations had become in the early 18th century).

But this year, Christmas falls on a Sunday, the day when most churches (excepting those of Sabbatarians and a few others) hold services. Not this year.

Willow Creek Community Church (near Chicago), Southland Christian Church (near Lexington, Ky.), Mars Hill Bible Church (near Grand Rapids, Michigan), North Point Community Church (in Alpharetta, Ga.), and Fellowship Church (near Dallas) are among the churches hanging up a "closed" sign after their many Christmas Eve services. The five churches have a combined weekly attendance of more than 64,500.

And, yes, it's a conspiracy. "Megachurch officials around the country consulted with each other before deciding to take the day off," reports the Herald-Leader.

The reason?

"It's more than being family-friendly," Willow Creek spokeswoman Cally Parkinson told the Herald-Leader. It's being lifestyle-friendly for people who are just very, very busy."

Not offering services on a day that almost everyone has off is lifestyle-friendly how? They're so busy trying to fit in church that the solution is to cancel church? Parkinson explained further to the Chicago Tribune: "Christmas tends to be the one time of year when lots of those unchurched people show up at Willow; why not give them a gift?"

"So hang on," says the Chicagoist blog (not a Christian blog): "You reward people for coming to church by … not making them come to church?"

Let's try another Willow spokesperson.

"At first glance it does sound contrarian," Willow Creek senior pastor Gene Appel told the Tribune. "We don't see it as not having church on Christmas. We see it as decentralizing the church on Christmas—hundreds of thousands of experiences going on around Christmas trees. The best way to honor the birth of Jesus is for families to have a more personal experience on that day."

But if that holds true for Christmas, doesn't it hold true for every other Sunday? Why not decentralize the church every week by telling families "to have a more personal experience on that day"?

Folks at Willow Creek and Southland aren't upset, say the papers. But others sure are.

"What's going on here is a redefinition of Christmas as a time of family celebration rather than as a time of the community faithful celebrating the birth of the Savior," Fuller Theological Seminary theologian Robert K. Johnston told the Herald-Leader. "There is a risk that we will lose one more of our Christian rituals, one that's at the heart of our faith."

"It's a sign of how totally identified with the culture [evangelicals have] become," Calvin College historian James Bratt told the Tribune. "The church has subordinated to cultural icons, and family is one of them. … The logic of that is you should celebrate the holiday in its true sanctuary, which is the home."

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December (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49