Resource considerations

The churches closing on Christmas plan multiple services in the days leading up to the holiday, including on Christmas Eve.

Most normally do not hold Christmas Day services, preferring instead to mark the holiday in the days and night before.

But Sunday worship has been a Christian practice since ancient times.

Cally Parkinson, a spokeswoman for Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, 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.

Among the other megachurches closing on Christmas Day are Southland Christian Church in Nicholasville, Kentucky, near Lexington, and Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, outside Dallas.

North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, outside Atlanta, said on its Web site that no services will be held on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, which also falls on a Sunday. A spokesman for North Point did not respond to requests for comment.

Mainline churches staying open

The closures stand in stark contrast to Roman Catholic parishes, which will see some of their largest crowds of the year on Christmas, and mainline Protestant congregations such as the Episcopal, Methodist and Lutheran churches, where Sunday services are rarely if ever canceled.

Cindy Willison, a spokeswoman for the evangelical Southland Christian Church, said at least 500 volunteers are needed, along with staff, to run Sunday services for the estimated 8,000 people who usually attend.

She said many of the volunteers appreciate the chance to spend Christmas with their families instead of working, although she said a few church members complained.

“If we weren’t having services at all, I would probably tend to feel that we were too accommodating to the secular viewpoint, but we’re having multiple services on Saturday and an additional service Friday night,” Willison said.

“We believe that you worship every day of the week, not just on a weekend, and you don’t have to be in a church building to worship.”

Troy Page, a spokesman for Fellowship Church, said the congregation was hardly shirking its religious obligations.

Fellowship will hold 21 services in four locations in the days leading up to the holiday. Last year, more than 30,000 worshippers participated.

“Doing them early allows you to reach people who may be leaving town Friday,” Page said.

These megachurches are not alone in adjusting Sunday worship to accommodate families on Christmas. But most other congregations are scaling back services instead of closing their doors.

First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, led by the Rev. Bobby Welch, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, will hold one service instead of the usual two.

New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, led by the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, will hold one Sunday service instead of the typical three.