During the last five days before Christmas, at least 55,000 people were planning to attend the eight multi-media worship services at Willow Creek Community Church.<\/p>\n\n
The leaders of this famous megachurch outside Chicago can be precise about this number because that is how many people had, at mid-week, visited WillowCreek.org and claimed seats in the 7,200-seat auditorium. A few solo seats remained.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t sell the tickets, of course,\u201d said spokesperson Cally Parkinson. \u201cMost people really like the E-Tickets. It\u2019s convenient to know that you\u2019ll have a seat and it helps us prepare for all of those people in the church and the parking lots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
These 75-minute Christmas services began on Tuesday night and continued through the popular Christmas Eve triple-feature at 12:30, 3 and 5:30 p.m. This is, as Parkinson likes to say, the Super Bowl for this \u201cseeker friendly\u201d congregation.<\/p>\n\n
Any way you look at it, 55,000 people is a big Christmas. Willow Creek\u2019s leaders are used to that. They are not, however, used to handling a barrage of questions \u2014 primarily from journalists \u2014 about their decision not to hold a Christmas service on Christmas Sunday.<\/p>\n\n
Many other big congregations decided to use the same strategy, which meant the \u201cChurches Shut Doors on Christmas\u201d headlines spread nationwide. The timing was perfect, in a year when the \u201cPut Christ back in Christmas\u201d debates were bigger and louder than ever in the public square.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think the whole Christmas wars story was being driven by TV talk shows and politics and we just turned into the next day\u2019s story,\u201d said Mark Ashton, who serves as \u201cpastor of spiritual development\u201d at Willow Creek. \u201cIronically, when all is said and done, this could turn into the biggest outreach event that we\u2019ve ever done as a church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Willow Creek has, as a rule, never held services on Christmas Day, he explained. The exception came in 1994, which was the last time Christmas fell on a Sunday. After hosting the usual throngs in the pre-Christmas services, hardly anyone \u2014 which at Willow Creek means 1,000-plus people \u2014 returned that Christmas Sunday. This is serious, since it takes 1,000-plus people to operate the children\u2019s ministries, youth groups, food services, bookstore operations and parking lots when the megachurch opens its doors on an ordinary Sunday.<\/p>\n\n
Thus, Willow Creek\u2019s leaders decided to create a 12-minute DVD this year containing a story \u2014 entitled \u201cEmmanuel: God With Us\u201d \u2014 about a young woman in Chicago struggling to understand the meaning of Christmas. The church produced 25,000 of the DVDs for home use by families on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think that we\u2019re skipping worship on that Christmas Sunday,\u201d said Ashton. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is decentralizing it. \u2026 We\u2019re hoping to end up with 20,000 mini-services in homes in the Chicago area and all across America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The goal, for Willow Creek leaders, is finding a way to create the most \u201cspiritual experiences\u201d for the most people this Christmas, he said. It helps that most megachurches are not tied to the ancient traditions that steer other flocks.<\/p>\n\n
In a statement released to critics, Willow Creek leaders explained that in their community, the \u201cnormal Christmas rhythm is to celebrate Christmas with a Christmas Eve church service, then spend Christmas Day with family and friends. Most nondenominational churches reflect this same pattern. Some liturgical churches, like the Episcopal or Catholic churches, are tied closely to a church calendar. They always celebrate Christmas Day as a high point on their calendar. So if they departed from this tradition, it would be a big change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
In other words, Willow Creek remained true to its own goals and its own philosophy as a church. Keeping the doors closed on Christmas Day was not a change in a worship tradition \u2014 it was an expression of a modern reality.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOur goal is to serve people in ways that make the most sense and have the most spiritual impact on their lives,\u201d said Ashton. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a matter of giving people what they want. It isn\u2019t just consumerism. We challenge the socks off people with the messages they hear while they\u2019re in our services. \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cBut we also notice how people vote with their feet. We notice when they want to attend services and when they do not. We take that into account.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During the last five days before Christmas, at least 55,000 people were planning to attend the eight multi-media worship services at Willow Creek Community Church. The leaders of this famous megachurch outside Chicago can be precise about this number because that is how many people had, at mid-week, visited WillowCreek.org and claimed seats in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[206,213,220,543],"class_list":["post-1365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christmas","tag-church-calendar","tag-church-tradition","tag-megachurches"],"yoast_head":"\n