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For those who missed it, we've posted the video of our webinar earlier this month of our panel discussion on about how a church can use Advent and Christmas to reach the community. The panel discussion was led by Canon Matt Mirabile, co-founder of Continuing Forward who leads Trinity Anglican in Rochester, N.H.
Timing of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Worship
Of course, every church will host worship services on December 24 and 25. Canon Steven Dart of Christ Anglican Church (APCK), said that their suburban Phoenix location required an adjustment to their Christmas Eve schedule. Arizona draws a lot of snowbirds, and many of the out-of-town visitors attending Midnight Mass had been drinking, disrupting the service. Now the Christmas Eve services are 5 and 9pm, which also attracts parish members who don’t stay up late.
Our second panelist, Fr. Andrew Faust, similarly described why his parish Christmas Eve services. St. Paul’s Portland (ACA) — located near the center of Maine’s largest city — draws attendees both from near-end suburbs, but also up to 50 miles to the north and south. The 6pm time allows the latter to make their long drive home at a reasonable hour.
(This does raise the question of when do churches post the times of their Christmas services, to better inform local and out of town visitors. While some Anglican churches don’t post their times until the Sunday before Christmasx, two of the three churches represented in the webinar have already posted the times of their services).
Pre-Christmas Festivities
The weeks leading up to Christmas — Advent for Anglicans but pre-Christmas for the broader world — provide many opportunities to prepare both parishioners and visitors for the month’s high feast.
Trinity Anglican is hosting its annual performance of Handel’s Messiah on December 14, complete with solostis from Boston. The services attracts numerous visitors, mostly from the local community
Also on December 14, Christ Church does Christmas caroling in the community, to attract people to its Christmas services. It uses flyers to attract participants, while Trinity buys $1500 in Facebook ads for its Messiah perofrmance.
Meanwhile, St. Paul’s will offer the (20th century) traditional feast of Lessons & Carols on Saturday, December 21 (the day before Advent 4).
Gaining New Members
None of the panelsits could name a single new member who came from these special Christmas or pre-Christmas activities. Instead, during December, the church is called to bear witness to its community — both as part of the mission of the broader Church, and also notify (or remind) the community of their specific parish.
Instead, new members come from diligent and prompt follow-through with visitors during the remaining weeks of the year. This includes both steering visitors to meet other parishioners at coffee hour, and also e-mail or phone followup within a day or two of their visit. More on this in a future webinar.
With that, Continuing Forward wants to wish all of our readers a prayer-filled Advent and a Merry Christmatide.
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