Christmas Dilemma Answered

After all the media hullabaloo, we appear to have answered the Christmas dilemma correctly – at least as far as Grace Church is concerned. Our three Christmas weekend services had attendances in the Auditorium (not including the early childhood kids who were in Sunday School) of the following:
     6 p.m. 12/24 – 640
     8 p.m. 12/24 – 392
     10:45 a.m. 12/25 – 359
     Total Auditorium attendance – 1,391

This is a good example of the leadership/followership relationship. Obviously, the church leaders set the course for our Christmas weekend. Pastor Scott could have decided not to have any services on Saturday night or Sunday morning for that matter. He could’ve led us in that direction. That’s the leadership side of the relationship. But good leaders are also good followers.

The followership side of the relationship is when the leader attempts to follow those they are trying to lead. In the example of Christmas weekend, the church leaders attempted to put themselves in the place of the congregation, what service(s) would the congregation most like to have. The leaders that best know those they are leading tend to be the best followers. And with Christmas weekend, we appeared to have followed and thereby led rather effectively.

With a congregation of 800+, I know our service schedule didn’t fit with everyone. That’s the tough part, we have to lead/follow based on the majority, unfortunately, in doing that, we miss some.

If our attendances continue at their current level, it wouldn’t surprise me if we offer two
Christmas Eve services to accommodate the large response, but I’m just guessing. Maybe we’ll always have a Christmas morning service too – regardless of whether Christmas falls on a Sunday or not. It will all depend on following and leading.