Christmas Day 1- How much production is too much??

Ok- I want to start the conversation about preparing for Christmas based on a comment I got from Brian Alexander. (thanks Brian)  Brian Wrote:

"You probably will disagree with me, but today I was listening to Francis Chan. Actually only a few minutes ago. He was talking about how people try to make Christmas the most production based thing in the church, when really it was all about a SILENT night. I'm not saying the creativity and stuff is bad (I'm actually a fan) just something to get the conversations rollin' off the tongues of people tomorrow."

What are your thoughts?  I will weigh in on this a little later.  Gotta run to a Christmas programming/production meeting.

Comments

[anne jackson]

i will turn to the providential wisdom provided by will ferrell in the classic christmas film, "elf."

"the best way to spread christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

doesn't really say how to sing...just to do it! :)

[Brian]

Great topic...

I believe production and creativity can be used in so many great ways in the church. 1) Enhance worship. I am not sure who first said this, but I like to think of our lighting and video as modern day stained glass. We use every resource we have to creatively display God's glory...which leads me to... 2) Creatively communicate the gospel and 3) break down barriers to the unchurched who are hesitant to even be in our services. Some might say, the unchurched should feel uncomfortable in your services because of their sin. Bottom line, we're talking about conviction here and that is solely the Holy Spirit's role. You might say all the "flash" could distract. I would say that these people are my guests. If I had them over to my house, I would break out the best of the best and make sure they knew that I loved them and in doing that God's love is reflected...doors are opened to share the gospel. I think the same can apply here.

It's also important that we have proper motives and daily surrender our talent's over to the Holy Spirit to be used to magnify Jesus. If we are doing this to be flashy, then I think we are putting the focus on us and that will grieve the Holy Spirit. Our sole motive should be to magnify Jesus.

Regarding "it was a SILENT night," I agree...how reverent a moment that was. I believe there are moments in the service to reflect honor and experience that. But i wanna celebrate! Immanuel, God with us, has come to rescue me, you, us from our desperate situations. As a church, I think it is vital that we CELEBRATE this. We can't sit on our hands any longer and make the world think it isn't a BIG deal. It's HUGE!

I also think it is important to keep your identity/DNA. One year, we sang all carols, had an acoustic feel, etc. It was a great and powerful service. We had a ton of guests...some of them came back the following weeks and realized that we didn't sing hymns every week and we had more of and edge to our band. One person wrote on their Connection Card, "I thought you were a different kind of church." I think it is important that we remain true to our identity and DNA. Don't be something you are not on Christmas Eve. First impressions are huge...don't give them a wrong first impression.

Those are my thoughts...

[Brad]

I love this conversation. I think a lot of time people from the outside of churches like Fellowship look at a Christmas service production and just roll their eyes. However, I believe that the way creative elements are used at FC communicate the gospel in such powerful and relevant ways for our culture. Does the gospel need anything? No. Is the birth story of Jesus any less compelling thousands of years later? No, not at all. In the midst of all the chaos and noise in our lives, it is all about a "silent night," but we've all heard that and sung that song our whole churches lives. Christmas and the story of Jesus should never, ever become commonplace or boring to us, but the church has failed in this regard. The church has not been the cutting edge entity Jesus died for, we have settled for Christmas plays and donkeys outside our buildings and call that creative. Sure it makes for a nice photo op but how does that draw people into our communities to experience the life changing message of Christ? I've been to probably 22 christmas eve services I can remember in my lifetime, but I don't actually remember any of them! I remember seeing the Trans Siberian video at FC and I have not forgotten about that a year later. Was it cool? Yes. It spoke to me as a young creative person and it said the church values creativity, the church values art and excellence and we are doing our best to engage your heart and your mind in this Christmas season. Bravo Fellowship! I love my church and I can't be more happy to be a part of FC Fort Worth.

[Sean Lewis]

We used to rent out a huge concert hall in the city, and put on the biggest production in town. We did it of course to glorify God but the big thing was the out reach. People would pay money to see a big christmas production at The Peace Center quicker than they would visit a church for free to see a production, or just a simple service. Then you would hear the stories of how people got to your church because of the big Christmas production. We have simplified our programs due to time, Money, and the strain it puts on the staff. We still have to do Sunday morning. I hope the big production is something we get back to. Huge Outreach!

[Ronnie (MandoRon)]

I don't have a problem with "production" per say, but I think you have to be careful to keep the focus on Christ with whatever you're doing. Christmas isn't about fancy lights and videos, it's about a baby named Jesus...

When people, who don't regularly go to church, go to a Christmas Eve service, I imagine they are seeking something fairly traditional. Christmas songs and a sermon about the Christmas story. Straying too far from that is risky.

[Chuck Scoggins (in St. Louis, MO)]

Pace...thanks for giving us some insight into the Creative Worship world at Fellowship. I'm looking forward to the conversation on Christmas & Production.

I'd love to know more about how you guys approach the creative process at Fellowship. Your posts a while back about how your creative week works were great for me and my team. Can you share what your creative meetings look like, how you plan a service from conception to completion / review, and any other insight you might have that could help those of us who are a step or two behind Fellowship in "production" terms?

Thanks again!

[Marcus Hackler]

I think there is a balance - we usually amp it up, but also keep in mind that the payoff is only for one night. I think it's easy to get caught up in producing such a big event, and allocating resources to that end at the expense of other needs (such as the next series... or even the following week).

We make the event big, but try to balance it with our other needs as well.

[Maureen]

The heart of the Christmas story is stark simplicity.

[JD]

silent???dude, Mary was giving birth(noisy) basically in a farmhouse(noisy) during a time with tons of people traveling to the city(noisy)....

About the production aspect I really don't see a problem with productions around Christmas...it's a great way to meet people's unknown need for salvation while they search to meet their need of feeling the "Christmas spirit". The thing that drives me a little nuts is that many times if you went to the production you would either a)have no idea what the church was actually like or b)think the church was completely different than it actually was...granted, all that's just preference so who really cares, HA!

[John Bartlett]

I think anything that distracts from, rather than adds to, is too much.

Although I think it's cool to have some type of "wow" factor (something that is good "water-cooler" talk, which is a great way to get others interested in visiting), it should all flow together seamlessly.

[Andrea]

Pace...there is nothing more beautiful than voices raised in love and worship to Christ on Christmas... why not do something for everyone! some traditional and some off the chain...

[Mac]

It's a great question. And, unfortunately, one we have answered wrongly in the past. I think everyone--even the most "unchurched" tire-kicker--has an expectation of some traditional Christmas trappings. One year in particular, we outkicked our creative coverage and muddied the message of Christmas. At the same time, we have to breathe some creative life into the story everyone knows you'll be telling. It's a very fine line. You want to be true to who you are throughout the rest of the year, but you have to do it within the context of "a Christmas service".