Churches "Closed" on Christmas
This Christmas, no prayers will be said in several megachurches around the country. Even though the holiday falls this year on a Sunday, when churches normally host thousands for worship, pastors are canceling services, anticipating low attendance on what they call a family day.Read the whole store here.
This immediately brought Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago to mind. I've never attended there, but I've driven by and been snarled in their traffic, and I've know a number of people who went to church there. With parking lots huge enough to require people to direct traffic, and abundant shopping opportunities, it always seemed more like a mall than a church to me.
Sure enough:
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.
As a non-church-going (been there, done that) evangelical Christian, I still find myself disappointed and, frankly, chilled by this announcement.
You may note that I didn't mention being surprised. You see, one of the biggest reasons I don't go to church anymore is that, in my experience, they always seemed to gravitate more toward the "business" of church, rather than the care of the spirit.
Proclamations such as "organizing services on a Christmas Sunday would not be the most effective use of staff and volunteer resources" ain't helpin'.
As seen @
Cao's blog (we love Cao!)
posted by thebaldchick @ 7:32 AM
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