Any Protestant churches avoiding services on Christmas Day?

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lak611 said:
I never go to Mass on Christmas Day either. I go to Christmas Vigil or Midnight Mass. But I’m not going Sunday morning. I’ll be at the Vigil Mass on Saturday for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
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Ditto here.

I never let my kids open any Christmas presents until AFTER we’d given thanks and praise to the birthday boy. Christmas is about Christ first. Goodies are secondary.

That means we’ve been going to Christmas Eve mass for close to 20 years. I couldn’t imagine the rebellion I’d face (“Mom, the Christmas Grinch” :crying:) if I made them wait until nearly noon to shred the wrapping paper.

Blessed Christmas to all.

Nan
 
Willow Creek in South Barrington, Illinois (non-denom megachurch) does not have services on Christmas Day. They have services on Christmas Eve during the day.

We’ll be going to Mass on Sunday morning, Midnight Mass, and Christmas morning.
 
djrakowski said:
I’m pretty sure that Episcopalians, and perhaps other liturgical Protestants, have services on Christmas day.
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There are services on Christmas Day at Episcopal and Lutheran Churches in my neighborhood. Methodists have Sunday morning services and Christmas Eve services on December 24.
 
I’ve visited relatives in Iowa for Christmas two straight years. Their church (Presbyterian) had both midnight services and Christmas morning services.
 
I’m guessing that it is primarily baptists, non-denominationalists and maybe pentecostals who do not hold services on Christmas day (if it doesn’t fall on a Sunday). I don’t fully understand the reasons for this–but it saddens me.
 
sandusky said:
It’s just a tradition.
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Mickey said:
I’m guessing that it is primarily baptists, non-denominationalists and maybe pentecostals who do not hold services on Christmas day (if it doesn’t fall on a Sunday). I don’t fully understand the reasons for this–but it saddens me.
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You see, according to some, celebrating the Nativity of Our Lord - one of the most important events in the history of mankind - is merely a tradition - and you know how some non-Catholics feel about tradition :rolleyes:

The church I attended before I converted had Wednesday evening services. While I was attending, Christmas never fell on a Wednesday (I think), but I wonder if they’d have a Christmas service if it did.

(by the way, it saddens me, too)
 
djrakowski said:
Well, at least I appreciated it! 👍
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Thanks! 😃

It is neat to think about the whole situation and all the masses and mass options in my parish alone. I think I will attend the 9:30 Sunday and then the midnight…Although, midnight in the Cathedral would be neat…but I wouldn’t get to see many of my fellow parishoners.

Since becoming Catholic I can’t imagine not being in the Church on any day of religious significance. I can’t understand why we don’t have MORE Holy Days…
 
Mickey said:
I’m guessing that it is primarily baptists, non-denominationalists and maybe pentecostals who do not hold services on Christmas day (if it doesn’t fall on a Sunday). I don’t fully understand the reasons for this–but it saddens me.
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My observations in Protestantism was scarce attendance on a Christmas Day service. Whereas the Christmas (advent) season is brim full. I observed the same trend around easter.

It depends on the tradition of the church as well. My grandparents church (Lutheran) did offer a Christmas day service but roads were usually bad from our farm to town so we did stay off them as much as possible. A few times, we had to wait for the snow plow to clear the road before we could go home after Christmas.
 
VociMike said:
Last year there was a bit of a dust-up over some churches that announced that they would not hold services on Christmas Day, to free up that day for family time (I’m paraphrasing the exact reasoning). Anyway, I wonder if they got burned by the reaction and will be having services on Christmas Day this year, or if perhaps the trend towards no services will increase? Anybody heard anything?
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Not many Protestant Churches have church on Christmas Day when it falls on any day other than Sunday. There was a lot of flak here last year about certain Protestant Churches electing not to have services on Sunday. It became a family issue over a celebration of our Lord’s birth.

Primary reason, prior to last Christmas, Christmas had not been on Sunday for 11 years. That a long time for minds to change.

Any given date or a given day follows a pattern of 6,5, 6, 11 repeatedly

Christmas Sunday 1994

11

Christmas Sunday 2005

6

Christmas Sunday 2011

5

Christmas Sunday 2016

6

Christmas Sunday 2022

11

Christmas Sunday 2033

2033 would be 2000 years after his Resurrecton.
 
Wanna place odds that over half of the Protestant Churches in 2033 will not have a service on that Christmas Sunday?
 
Protestants in this country do celebrate Christmas AND follow the date set by the Catholic Church, 12/25. They do differ in that they primarily have services on the 24th after sunset. (Episcopalians and Lutherans here do worship on 12/25)Why is that not enough to fulfill their obligation to worship God? I have gone to the Christmas Eve vigil Mass and not gone again on Christmas Day. If my whole parish did that would we be sinning?

Last year the big deal was that MOST Protestants do not usually have vigil services on Saturday but that weekend the Christmas Eve service was also the Sunday service for some. This appeared to be inconsistent with their usual Sunday worship policy AND was done completely for convenience by a group of congregations. THAT is what got them criticized, not the lack of the Sunday service. I assume their are Catholic parishes in the US that ONLY offer the Sunday Mass on Saturday as a vigil because there are not enough priests to cover the area.
 
KatieD said:
Willow Creek in South Barrington, Illinois (non-denom megachurch) does not have services on Christmas Day. They have services on Christmas Eve during the day.
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I’ve heard of Willow Creek. Brownsburg Christian Church (with new relevant name now known as “Connection Pointe Christan Church”:eek: ) in Brownsburg, IN (just outside of Indanapolis) is basically a copycat of Willow Creek.

connectionpointechurch.org/

There are services on Saturday evening, 2 on Sunday morning, 6pm & 9pm on Christmas Eve.

This is the non-denom I attend with my family & was a stepping stone to my journey home to the Catholic Church. So although the lame, dating service-sounding name, they are one of the better ones I’ve been to. They are also the first non-Catholic church that I’ve gone to that is not anti-Catholic, although I imagine there may be some in the congregation that are. Still, it’s better than the AG church I went to for years, but that’s for another thread. :whacky:
 
Cardinalsong said:
This is the non-denom I attend with my family & was a stepping stone to my journey home to the Catholic Church. So although the lame, dating service-sounding name, they are one of the better ones I’ve been to. They are also the first non-Catholic church that I’ve gone to that is not anti-Catholic, although I imagine there may be some in the congregation that are. Still, it’s better than the AG church I went to for years, but that’s for another thread. :whacky:
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I’m glad to hear that they’re not anti-Catholic. Kensington, which I mentioned above, hosted a series of dialogues between their pastors and the priest of one of our local parishes, and it was really well done. In contrast, the missions team at the church I most recently attended sent missionaries to convert Catholics in Sicily :rolleyes:
 
Mickey said:
I’m guessing that it is primarily baptists, non-denominationalists and maybe pentecostals who do not hold services on Christmas day (if it doesn’t fall on a Sunday). I don’t fully understand the reasons for this–but it saddens me.
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I’m from a non denomination church, we have in total 5 service starting from 23 - 25 Dec . This is a day to Celebrate why no service!! :confused:
 
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