Saturday, December 18, 2004

The Sounds of Christmas

Our church tried something new this year, a Christmas concert entitled The Sounds of Christmas. Our Senior Pastor, in contrast to me, is a very musically gifted individual. He was able to create a very solid band made of talent from various locations in Western New York. Guitars, drums, keyboards, an awesome sax player....stuff like that...and a few singers. VERY professional sounding.

But here's the catch: This wasn't JUST Christian music. It was a combination of Christian and Secular music fitting the season. Jesus and Mary were mentioned, of course, but so were Frosty and Santa. Obviously, if our goal was to please everyone in the flock we wouldn't have done this...but that wasn't our intention. The purpose was to get lost people into the front door so we could meet them and maybe, just maybe, plant a seed.

Attendance: 305
(we are a church of 220 average Sunday attendance, the concert was given Friday and Saturday night)
-Members/Regulars (190)
-Unchurched/Non-Regulars (115)

So what do you guys think of this tactic? Should we do it again next year? Would you be offended by Frosty? Should we have only used local church talent? Is 115 out of 305 a better/worse ratio than Christmas time events you've been part of?

7 comments:

Robin said...

I think using the "secular" songs is fine, so long as we come back to the true meaning of Christmas. We recently did a community carol sing, where a bunch of us from the church went to the mall and sang carols, both spiritual and not. And on Christmas Eve, before a more "spiritual" candlelight service we're having a fun time of caroling as well. Christmas should be fun, shouldn't it? Church should be fun, too, shouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

i think that's an awesome idea...my pastor usually does his "outreach" through a topical sermon on the 4th sunday in advent, but i think your idea was way better; what a great idea to get lost people inside the doors. provided that the gospel was clearly presented (which i have no doubt that it was), i think you guys are on the right track. too often we forget that church's main function isn't about us and our needs - it's about (first and foremost) worshipping our Heavenly Father, and (secondly) it's about reaching the lost. with those things in focus, the rest will follow. now, don't get me wrong, i understand that there needs to be a balance within all that stuff (for instance, we can't be sending out unequipped people to minister, and we can't bring people into an unorganized church), but i think we need to see where our focus is.

my two cents. and that's all you get, since i'm jewish.

Katie said...

I thought the concert was a huge success, and if we keep doing it, it will only get better... not only was the talent we had great, but it shows people who don't normally come to church a better side of christians. Alot of people who dont go to church hold the opinion that christians are very uptight and not open to anything "secular" .. including holiday music. They can go, have a great time.. and afterwards realize that we weren't as bad as they thought. not only that, Pastor Joe put a good spin on everything... we can be singing "Rockin around the Christmas tree" and praising God at the same time!!! okay Im getting off my soap box for now... this is my second night with no sleep, and unlike some people I need it....

matthew said...

Thanks for the comments guys and girl

Robin- I definitely agree. In fact I blogged about churches having fun November 22nd and again, secretly, on November 24th.

Robert- Right on Robert. By the way...in your profile regarding music that you like it says, 'stuff that doesn't suck. Like country music.' Do you mean country music sucks or that it's one of the kinds of music that doesn't? :)

Katie- Yeah, I was very happy with it too. Especially the fact that there were over 100 faces I didn't really recognize. And I agree that it will be even better if we do it every year b/c the quality was excellent.

If you have time, read my post from 11/24 with events like this in mind:

http://matthew94.blogspot.com/2004/11/being-fan-in-rebuilding-year.html

Anonymous said...

well, i cannot deny matt, i was referring to country music indeed sucking...now, i understand that there are people who like it, but i am not one of them...and, it's my blog, so i can say whatever i want about country music :)

but i respect your opinion :)

theajthomas said...

My answer is yes. That is all

matthew said...

thanks aj

beauty in brevity