The Narnia 3 Blog

Church on Sunday, Well, Maybe Not if its Christmas

Making the ciclres in the last few days is the AP Story: Some Megachurches to Close on Christmas in which several large churches, mainly of the so-called "Seeker-Sensitive" ministry philosophy, have announced that they will not be having services on Sunday, December 25th, because Christmas, of all things, falls on Sunday.

Chief among the churches cited is perhaps Bill Hybel's Willow Creek Community Church. The Fox News Story details their position as follows:

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.

One interesting feature about this quote is that Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek is never even identified with the church or the story. Willow Creek, like most of the churches noted in the article are having multiple services during the week and expanding their normal Saurday evening services. Some, like Rick Warren's Saddleback Church are scaling back Sunday services (in their case really scaling back, going from several services on Sunday, to a single late morning service), but at least they are retaining a Sunday service.

That the Christian church gathers to worship on Sunday is not debateable. That has been the unbroken tradition since the Apostolic era and then codified by the Emperor Constantine in 331. The early church as apparently a mixture of Saturday worship in the Synagogue and Sunday worship, celebrating the resurrection and the New Testament assumes rather than demands worship on Sunday. Paul in 1 Cor 16:1-4 assumes a gathering on "the first day of the week" and John makes it clear that by the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation (90-95AD) Sunday was known as "The Lord's Day" (Rev 1:10). As one noted reference work states:

The absence of detailed directives in the NT for observing Sunday may leave some people today dismayed and bewildered (Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1385).

The question is what is the actual purpose of the Worship Serivce? If it is primairly evangelistic then the Willow Creek spokeswoman is expressing a consistent and coherent philosophy, that if their services are designed to "reach the unchurched," and not having services on a major holiday probably makes sense (some churches in the story are consistent to the point that they wil not be having services on New Years Day either). But she goes on to say that their target audience are the ones "who don't go to church" then it begs the question as to why they have Sunday services at all. In other words where does the Sunday service fit into a ministry philosophy where reaching people who don't come to such services is center? It seems that one way would be making the Sunday service special and memorable, something that doesn't happen all the time; like Christmas on Sunday!

When churches cancel Sunday services because they fall on a "Christian Holiday" will they be consistent and cancel services that fall on, say, the Fourth of July? Probably not. The normal "seeker" philosophy is that church services should be inviting and interesting to those who normally would not attend church. Well, as a pastor, in my experience it was much easier for our members to invite people to church on Chirstmas than "regular" Sundays. In fact, in my experience, the few times Christmas Day fell on a Sunday in my ministry we had larger than normal (and often larger than Easter) attendance.

Church service times are changing in America. Many churches have abandoned the weekday "Prayer Meeting" format (a nearly dead, in my opinion, remnant of the Layman's Payer Revival of the middle 1800's). Churches used to have services on almost every weekday evening at one time (In Victorian London, Charles Spurgeon had meetings on almost every day and often preached 5 plus times a week). Saturday services are now quite popular. While I was once opposed to the concept I have to admit that they can often service a purpose and provide ministry to people who otherwise cannot attend regularly on Sunday. While the Sunday service remains a foundational part of church life and minstry, other service times have always been part of the cultural needs and norms that the church has found itself in. Other than the fact that the church is to gather regularly for worship, the New Testament does not have much to say about the day of the week or time. Romans 14:4-7 speaks about the observation of days and verse 5 is conclusive, "One man regards one day above another, another regards everyday alike. Le each man be fully convinced in his own mind."

That being said it is also debateable that the "seeker-sensitive" concept as articulated above is, at its core, even Biblical. The church gathers for believers to worship God. The service should be crafted in a manner so that unbelievers do not think you are insane (1 Cor 14:23); however, in the New Testament the thrust of the passages actually dealing with the worship service is that it is geared towards believers and the worship of God and while unbelievers may enter the service, evangelism is not of primary concern. Even the use of the terms "seeker-sensitive" or "seeker-friendly" are unfortunate as it assumes that if you don't agree with that philosophy (or methodology) then you are "seeker-insensitive" or "seeker-unfriendly." In a worship service that truly honors God it seems that unbelievers probably should be "spiritually uncomfortable" as the Holy Spirit is convicting them of "sin and righteousness and judgment."

Sunday services are foundational to the proper functioning of a local church, it celebrates the resurrection and has an unbroken tradition within Christianity. To cancel a Sunday service should not be done lightly and certainly not simply for the sake of convienence, either for those who serve or those who might attend.

Posted by Narnia3 at December 7, 2005 5:50 PM | TrackBack