{"id":20161,"date":"2002-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2002\/10\/01\/make-more-of-holidays\/"},"modified":"2002-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"make-more-of-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Make More of the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Special services give guests reason to return.<\/h2>\n

We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that will help them celebrate the season and make them want to come back to church after January 1; and (2) make the events much like our regular weekend services so visitors will have an accurate feel for our church. We don’t want them to be shocked by an “ordinary” Sunday on a later visit.<\/p>\n

During the holidays, we maintain our order of service, with worship and preaching and liturgy. But we also want our visitors to experience the sense of community and involvement that comes from year-round participation in the body. So we include opportunities for visitors to be blessed by being involved.<\/p>\n

Our high-touch services start at Thanksgiving. We invite people to bring to the front of the sanctuary cards listing their blessings for the previous year. A prayer team collects the cards and offers prayers of praise and thanks during the following weeks.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Eve, the highlight of our six services are the two “Blessing of the Family” services. Pairs of trained prayer leaders stand at points around the sanctuary, and we invite family groups to go to a prayer station, one family at a time, to be blessed in prayer. The families may share requests, then the leaders pray specifically that Jesus will make himself known in the family this season and bring harmony to their time together.<\/p>\n

Many people leave in tears of joy and wonder.<\/p>\n

And many times, they come back.<\/p>\n

Carolyn Kranz, director of celebration artsHosanna! Lutheran Church,Lakeville, Minnesota<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving prayer vigil draws families.<\/h2>\n

O<\/strong>n the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we ask people to come to the church to pray. We provide a printed prayer guide, requests from cards we’ve collected the weeks before, and a page from the church directory. Everyone in the church is prayed for by name. Pray-ers are encouraged to stay half an hour.<\/p>\n

We see lots of parents and children coming together to express their gratitude for God’s blessing. For many, the vigil is an introduction to a deeper prayer life.<\/p>\n

Leslie Oliver, prayer directorUnited Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kansas<\/p>\n\n

\n

We discovered the small, individual candles we pass out at the Candlelight service had melted into a clump in an overheated storage closet, and it was too late to order replacements. So we asked everyone to bring a candle from home. The result was an especially warm Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n

The church had a beautiful nativity set, so I used it to tell the story of the birth of Jesus in a way I’d seen another pastor do using live, costumed people. I set the wooden stable on a large table on the platform. Then, telling how each one came to be in Bethlehem that night, I placed the shepherds, angels, Joseph, and Mary in their places. (The wise men were on a separate table some distance away, so as not to arrive too soon.) Then, with appropriate Scriptures read, I placed Jesus in the manger and lit a large candle.<\/p>\n

Finally, I invited the congregation to take their places at the manger. They came, lit their candles from the Christ candle, and placed them all around the creche. It was an odd assortment\u2014scores of candles, all sizes and colors, some elegant, others bent. One couple brought three large candles that spelled JOY.<\/p>\n

It was an emotional moment as we saw depicted the worship of Christ by all kinds of people and realized it was just like our congregation.<\/p>\n

\n

Our Accidental Candlelit Creche<\/h2>
\n\n\n\n\n

Eric Reed Wheaton, Illinois<\/p>

\n<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today\/Leadership<\/em> Journal.\nClick here<\/a> for reprint information on Leadership<\/em> Journal.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that will help them celebrate the season and make them want to come back to church after January 1; and (2) make the events much like our regular weekend services so Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[678,679,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3600,3646],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-20161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_publications-2002-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_2002-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-community-life"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nMake More of the Holidays - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make More of the Holidays - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"CMS Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3\"},\"headline\":\"Make More of the Holidays\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\"},\"wordCount\":630,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\",\"name\":\"Make More of the Holidays - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Make More of the Holidays\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3\",\"name\":\"CMS Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CMS Admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Make More of the Holidays - CT Pastors","description":"Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Make More of the Holidays - CT Pastors","og_description":"Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","og_site_name":"CT Pastors","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","article_published_time":"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CTpastors","twitter_site":"@CTpastors","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/"},"author":{"name":"CMS Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3"},"headline":"Make More of the Holidays","datePublished":"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/"},"wordCount":630,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","name":"Make More of the Holidays - CT Pastors","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2002-10-01T00:00:00+00:00","description":"Special services give guests reason to return. We have two aims as we plan our holiday services: (1) give visitors a high-touch worship experience that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Make More of the Holidays"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","name":"CT Pastors","description":"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization","name":"Christianity Today","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg","caption":"Christianity Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors","https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/85018388509706870f1ad6829069e1a3","name":"CMS Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7b746e0581dc75423e361301b595167f5234d819bbff5b0a82621db777cbfeb9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CMS Admin"}}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Make More of the Holidays","url":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/make-more-of-holidays\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"CMS Admin"}],"creator":["CMS Admin"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"CT Pastors","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2002-10-01T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2002-10-01T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2002-10-01T00:00:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Make More of the Holidays\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/content\\\/make-more-of-holidays\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.christianitytoday.com\\\/pastors\\\/content\\\/make-more-of-holidays\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"CMS Admin\"}],\"creator\":[\"CMS Admin\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2002-10-01T00:00:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/christianitytoday.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","byline":{"writer_byline":"","writer_byline_override":""},"primary_category":null,"secondary_categories":[],"featured_video":null,"related_articles":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20162,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20161\/revisions\/20162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_authors?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_books","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_books?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_categories?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_field_guides","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_field_guides?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_format?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_multimedia","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_multimedia?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_point_editor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_point_editor?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_publications?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_tags?post=20161"},{"taxonomy":"tax_ctp_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_ctp_topics?post=20161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}