Reaching the Christmas and Easter Crowd
Inside the minds of holiday-only attenders.
John Huffman, Jr.
October 1, 1999
EVANGELISM
Every pastor encounters them: the Christmas and Easter faces that appear in church
only on the holiest of days. It's easy to grow cynical about the
once-or-twice-a-year crowd. On the other hand, holidays provide the opportunity
to touch the lives of the "under-churched." John Huffman's perspective,
originally published in the Los Angeles Times, offers insight and hope. How do I feel about Christmas and Easter attenders? I am excited to see them. I have a great desire to observe someone
come to life-saving faith in Jesus Christ and then become active in the community
we know as Christ's church. That's why on Christmas Eve and Easter,
I try to present the very essence of what it is to be born again spiritually
by the power of Jesus Christ. I try to understand them. There may be valid reasons why some people
come only on holidays. Perhaps they have had traumatic experiences in church—even Christians can
be cruel. Some may have been burned out by committee work. Perhaps the church
didn't really preach Jesus Christ and was just a social club. Some have
even been spiritually abused by an overeager family member who has tried
to force them into the faith. Others may have suffered a major personal tragedy that has rendered them
emotionally incapable of sitting through a worship service. I have a dear friend who quit attending after her mother died. She told me:
"I can't maintain my composure when I hear those familiar hymns sung.
I break down sobbing and embarrass myself." Eight years ago, when our daughter Suzanne died, it was very difficult for
my wife, Anne, to come to church. During the next few months, she had to
make her own lonely odyssey of grief, dealing with it her way, as I did with
mine. I needed to be in church. Anne needed a bit of distance before she could
reenter. She says, "Going to church to worship God, to sing 'How Great Thou
Art,' was salt in the wound of my broken heart! Protest to God and worship
are often contradictory, so I stayed away for several months." She has in some ways moved beyond me since returning, using her professional
training as a psychoanalyst to lead grief recovery workshops within the community
of faith. For many young people who leave the church during their college years, another
reason is the need for spiritual autonomy. They need to stand back, reflect,
to make certain they are not just jumping through religious hoops. The faith
needs to be theirs personally. Many eventually find a fresh, personal dimension
to their faith in Jesus Christ and return to church, where they grow and
serve, but not necessarily to the congregations of their youth. For others, it is simply a case of rebellion against God. These persons stay
away because they don't believe in God or they are very hurt by something
God has allowed them to experience. Or they may know they're living
with some area of unconfessed sin and they don't want to be hypocritical. Some people have never really understood what the Christian faith is all
about. These two festive holidays are like the theater previews of coming
attractions: they are interesting, they whet the appetite, but they are not
the movie. Christmas and Easter are not designed as an end in themselves, but to encourage
a person to a full-time, 365-day-a-year commitment of one's life to
Jesus Christ—finding forgiveness, meaning, and strength to live one day
at a time, knowing that the name of one's higher power is Jesus Christ! I am sad. I know that as much as we all pray and work, some will simply
not take seriously the claims of Jesus Christ. There are those who may continue
to attend for a period of time. Some will be radically converted. Others
will drift back to their old lifestyles. This breaks my heart. Yet, even
Jesus taught that not all will respond positively. Finally, I am hopeful. Every Christmas and every Easter there are
some who come home to Jesus. They see beyond the civic and religious festivities
to the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. They come to understand that there is a God who created them with purpose
and meaning. They come to understand that no one is perfect. They come to
understand that God took human form in the person of Jesus Christ, to die
for our sins and to be raised from the dead in victory over sin and death.
They come to understand that one needs to receive freely the gift of God's
grace that cannot be earned by religious activity, even church attendance. They come to understand that God, knowing we cannot go it alone in the Christian
faith, places us in his local community called the church, where we grow
through worship, Bible study, fellowship, and service to others. And they
enthusiastically join us in the realization that every weekend is Christmas
and Easter, for every Sunday we celebrate the life, death, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ! John Huffman, Jr. has since 1978 been pastor of
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
600 St. Andrew's Road
Newport Beach CA 92663 Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
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