{"id":3540,"date":"2013-12-06T06:19:53","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T12:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=3540"},"modified":"2013-12-06T06:19:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T12:19:53","slug":"the-5-myths-of-church-christmas-craziness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/06\/the-5-myths-of-church-christmas-craziness\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Myths of Church Christmas Craziness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted December 6, 2011<\/em><\/h1>\n
\n

<\/em>Brace yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a leader in a local church you know that the wave of ministry overload is about to hit you and your team, if it hasn\u2019t already.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To survive, it is vital that you as a church\u00a0leader provide clarity to your team as to why you are hosting 5 Christmas concerts, 14 Christmas Eve Services, 4 Christmas Day services, and a couple of Christmas banquets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Without that clarity you can easily fall prey to the\u00a05 Myths of Church Christmas Craziness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MYTH #1: CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS LEAD TO AN ATTENDANCE SPIKE IN JANUARY<\/strong><\/p>\n

People may, indeed, visit your church following a Christmas event. But don’t expect a sudden attendance spike. Right-size your expectations.<\/p>\n

MYTH #2: CHRISTMAS PROGRAM TRADITIONS ARE SACRED<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t drop a tradition on a whim, but be very clear\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0you are about to present\u00a0The Christmas Handbell Choir Concert<\/em>\u00a0for the 93rd<\/sup>\u00a0consecutive year.<\/p>\n

MYTH #3: IF WE DROP OUR CONCERT EVERYONE WILL GO TO\u00a0THAT OTHER CHURCH\u2019S CONCERT<\/em>\u00a0INSTEAD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indeed they might.<\/p>\n

Take a deep breath.<\/p>\n

Get over it.<\/p>\n

MYTH #4: CHRISTMAS CONCERTS ARE MISSIONAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Christmas concert can indeed\u00a0lead<\/em>\u00a0to missional activity, but it is not in and of itself missional.<\/p>\n

A friend of mine used to invite upwards of 20 co-workers to our church\u2019s annual Christmas event, and afterwards would bring them all back to his home for a Christmas party where they could discuss their experience at the church.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0missional.<\/p>\n

MYTH #5: A CHRISTMAS EVENT GIVES PEOPLE A TASTE OF WHAT OUR CHURCH IS LIKE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beware the temptation to bait and switch.<\/p>\n

Many churches present Star Wars-like production in their Christmas program, with the unspoken promise that \u201cthis is what our church is\u00a0really like<\/em>\u201d. Better to convey genuine authenticity than a promise of a weekly Cirque du Soleil production.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My wish for you this Christmas is that all that you do as a church will truly impact your congregation and community in a profound way.<\/p>\n

Just remember, that without providing crystal clarity as to\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0you\u2019re doing all you\u2019re doing, you can easily be blind-sided by Church Christmas Craziness.<\/p>\n

What myths have you learned with respect to Christmas programs?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally posted December 6, 2011 Brace yourself. If you\u2019re a leader in a local church you know that the wave of ministry overload is about to hit you and your team, if it hasn\u2019t already. To survive, it is vital that you as a church\u00a0leader provide clarity to your team as to why you are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[479,22,4,738,478,7,8,752,705],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-church","category-community","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership","category-missional","category-seasonal","category-strategy-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3540"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3546,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540\/revisions\/3546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}