We did something unique this year at The Journey. We are having Christmas services spread over two days: 3:30 and 5 pm on Christmas Eve, and 11 am on Sun. December 26. They are all identical services. And, we gave away free tickets to each of the services. We did that so we could know if we needed to do all three services, and to ensure that everyone could have a seat.
Here's what we found - 3:30 service tickets went FAST!! We almost didn't do a 3:30 service. We were thinking 5 and 11 pm at one time. We weren't sure if anyone would want to come on Sunday, but there were a lot more tickets for Sunday taken than we expected. We didn't give away 100% capacity because a. we want people to still be able to invite friends and family last minute. b. we always have people just calling the church, checking out the website, etc. and showing up for the Christmas Eve gatherings.
We have "sold" around 700 tickets for the Christmas Eve gatherings, and are expecting more than that to show up. It should be a great night, and we're anticipating our highest weekend attendance EVER at The Journey.
It will be interesting to see, but I'm anticipating that our offering is going to take a large hit this month. With people giving to the GO Christmas project, and then with only doing one Sunday service, a lot of people that will come on Christmas Eve aren't thinking about the offering, and certainly not thinking about how they aren't going to be there on Sunday to give. You always want to end December strong, but we'll see.
The Tale of the Ugly Sweater is our Christmas Eve theme, and I'm guessing, there are very few churches that are running with that one for their service planning! It will be fun, different, and impactful.
Next year, with Christmas day on Sunday, will be even more unique.