Why January matters more than you think for the people who come to Christmas Eve
This week our churches find themselves deep into the pageantry, joy, and busyness that is the Advent and Christmas season. We know how to plan and execute Advent and Christmas that brings us joy and connection — not just with one another but with decades of traditions and memories. All of this culminates on that one special night, December 24th, as we sit in a room filled with candlelight, singing familiar songs reminding us how light broke through darkness.
The warmth of that magical moment has all but faded away by the time the church gathers for its usual worship the following Sunday. Those Christmas and Easter attendees return to their usual patterns, and we won’t see them again until spring. But perhaps some of those folks who basked in the warmth of Christmas candlelight need more of that light in the new year.
The Investment Problem
We front-load all our congregational energy, volunteer capacity, and pastoral bandwidth into December. By December 26th, everyone is exhausted. Clergy have preached through four weeks of Advent, conducted multiple Christmas services, attended countless gatherings, and fielded the inevitable year-end pastoral emergencies. And so, understandably, we rest. The January church calendar sits mostly empty.
Here’s what we miss: we’ve invested maximum energy when we already have maximum attendance, and we have nothing left when new people might actually be seeking us out.
I worked with a church that hosts a beautiful community Messiah sing-along every December with up to 1,000 attendees. It is the church’s most well-known annual music event. But the printed program? No information about the church. No mention of upcoming services or events. No invitation to anything. They were hosting a perfect outreach event and completely missing the invitation opportunity. I made the simple suggestion to add an invitation to other Advent events and a website connection point — a small change that communicated: you are welcome, and you are wanted.
What January Could Look Like
What if we forwarded some of the intention we place around Advent to January and February? A few ideas:
- An informal coffee hour for newcomers who visited in December — not your usual fellowship time, but something more intentional. A cozier room, seasonal beverages, a lay leader or clergy person hosting informal conversation without pressure or membership pitches.
- A short-term study or lecture series — four weeks in January or February, centered around topics like existence, purpose, and building community. Something substantial but completable.
- Shared meals and conversation. When it’s dark and cold outside, you become the place that says, “come and be warm with us.”
- Community service opportunities — indoors. The months leading up to Christmas compel folks to serve, but those organizations need volunteers just as much in the depths of winter.
That person who will sit in your candlelight service next week — they don’t need you to do more in December. They need you to be there in January when they might be ready to take the next step. Don’t let the light you create on Christmas Eve go dark two weeks later.
Make a genuine and specific invitation — not a vague “come back sometime” — but to an actual event or connection point. The thrill of hope that creates rejoicing isn’t reserved for Advent or Christmas, but should compel us to make places of light in darkness, warmth in cold, and connection when despair is strongest.
Is your congregation facing a similar decision?
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