Summer is all but gone and, in simpler times, that would mean that as the leaves turn brown, the days get colder and the nights draw in, the Church world turn its gaze to Christmas.
This year, however, everything has changed. Covid-19 is still rumbling on and new measures have been put in place by the Government to stop a second spike. While that means no direct changes for churches, there is still change compared to last year.
Christmas crisis?
As we stand, services will probably still be limited based upon two-metre (or one-metre plus) social distancing rules; mask wearing and no singing will be obligatory, which, for a live service where carols are traditionally sung, is rather, well, un-Christmassy.
There is still much you can achieve, though. The building can provide spaces for the Christmas story to be told in other ways, not just through the traditional routes. Worship is much more than song, after all.
One option is drive-in church, but this doesn’t solve the problem. For an outward-facing, disciple-making institution, the drive-in option presents many issues with us outworking our mission. Besides, getting everyone together for a bit of music comes at an incredible cost, given the need to hire equipment (and possibly parking space) to run the service. This option is great for denominations where Communion must be administered by a priest or vicar, but for others, I’d suggest considering whether making disciples can be achieved through drive-in services.
The third option is to livestream the service. Livestreaming is here to stay, whether you like it or not, and is an excellent way for churches to reach new people. What is lost is the sense of community, especially with the Rule of 6 in place from Monday, which all but eliminates churches from encouraging ‘watch parties’ at Christmas.
These kinds of questions may be stopping you from planning your Christmas event, after all, how are you meant to organise your community if you don’t know where or how you’re going to do it? However, there is still plenty of preparation you can do to make Christmas special this year – you just need to focus on the following seven Ps.
1. People
The first port of call is to work out who you exist to serve. In the business world it’s called a ‘target market’, and it’s all about understanding the attitudes, interests and opinions of the people your church appeals to. And don’t forget, the church is a missional organisation: that means it exists to serve the people who aren’t yet part of the church. What is the age demographic of your church? What’s your community’s views on Covid-19? Listen to your target market and build the programme for them.
2. Purpose
The second step is to determine why you are doing the event. Is it evangelistic? Is it serving the community? Work out your purpose and it will steer everything else.
3. Problem
What problems are your target market facing? What needs do they have? You need to be empathetic to the needs of the people you are serving. Everyone is looking for solutions to their problems, that’s why we have goods and services. What is the problem that your church can help people to solve?
4. Powers
Essentially, this is strengths, but that doesn’t begin with a P. What are you good at as a church? If you’re good a music, lean into that. If you’re good at community work, lean into that. Every church is good at something, so find your strength and look to start there.
5. Positioning
Positioning is all about finding what makes your event unique. If you are just doing what everyone else is doing, you’re not helping, you’re just doubling up. You need to find your unique lane.
6. Product
The product is the core benefit that you’re offering. What, at its most basic, are you offering to people? If you’re running a Christmas soup kitchen, you’re not offering soup, you’re offering friendship, compassion and care. If you’re running a carol concert, it not music, it’s an experience with something transcendent.
7. Provision
Provision is all about money. How much money have you got budgeted to run the event? That figure will reflect what is possible to achieve.
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Once you’ve worked these things out, you can decide which route to go down in terms of your Christmas programme. It may not be what you’ve always done, but in many senses, that’s a very healthy thing. Something as all-pervasive as Covid-19 forces us to think differently, to adapt.
Whatever Christmas looks like in 2020, it can still be a wonderful time. After all, there’s still the story to tell of God becoming human and making his dwelling among us – heaven coming to earth in the body of a baby boy. Whichever way you tell it, whether in word or deed, in-person or online, that story alone makes every Christmas wonderful.
Chris Bright is the Co-Founder of thinking.church, a company that offers facilitation services to help churches think through their mission, vision and strategy. You can book a free consultation call with Chris by going to bookme.name/thinkingchurch
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