# Canceling Worship Services



## Marrow Man (Dec 27, 2008)

A friend alerted me to the fact that at least one megachurch, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA (Andy Stanley's church), is canceling services this Lord's Day, December 28th.

Hit the Snooze Button « Gairney Bridge

Are other churches elsewhere doing the same?


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## Herald (Dec 27, 2008)

Say it ain't so!


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Dec 27, 2008)

Well when you do not worship Christ then why meet on the Lord's Day.


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## christiana (Dec 27, 2008)

Well, it wont be unusual and no one can complain when many others in the church are absent on a day of their choice. Role modeling examples will be followed.
If Andy planned a ski trip or whatever his reason is he should arrange a replacement in the pulpit. Still, even with that, it is not good role modeling, is it?


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## Pergamum (Dec 27, 2008)

Is it for snow? Or just a vacation from Church?



Oh......Christmas. Yikes.


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## Galatians220 (Dec 27, 2008)

If I'm not mistaken, this started in 2005 when Christmas fell on a Sunday, and many Christless churches cancelled services that day "so that the staff can spend Christmas morning with their families."  It became a most horrendous, most sulfurous balancing act: which is more important, worship on the Lord's Day, or opening presents under the tree (_cf._ Jeremiah 10:3-5; Galatians 4:9-11) with one's kids? We know which option won out in many churches that day. It's disgusting, but it's the state of some churches in these days.

My first acquaintance with repellent, revolting behavior like this came when (I was still a Catholic then) my brother's church in a suburb of Chicago decided to rename itself "St. Francis of Assisi Worship Center" and take the words "...Catholic Church" off the building. "Worship center," as in "sports center" or "your place for all things soccer" or "center for transcendental meditation," the latter of which was just around the corner from "St. F. of A. Worship Center." My brother and I talked about it, but he was unimpressed with my argument. Whatever. The Lord saved me out of the RCC, but not him - yet.

Ben, you're absolutely right: there is, at the end of the day, no reason for these places to pretend that they worship our Lord Jesus Christ. At least they're being honest.

Margaret


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## fredtgreco (Dec 27, 2008)

this is completely ridiculous. It goes way beyond what is "proper" worship and what is not. Does this church think that they have so little to say that there is no loss if there is no worship? Could the peope not have rested all day Friday (like I did) or Saturday? Ugh.


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## KMK (Dec 27, 2008)

Marrow Man said:


> A friend alerted me to the fact that at least one megachurch, North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA (Andy Stanley's church), is canceling services this Lord's Day, December 28th.
> 
> Hit the Snooze Button « Gairney Bridge
> 
> Are other churches elsewhere doing the same?



There was a church here in SoCal recently who cancelled Lord's Day worship and went out to clean up local parks instead. Their reasoning went something like this: "We don't want people to just 'go' to church, we want them to 'be' the church."


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## Grymir (Dec 27, 2008)

Oh my, It's a one stop psycology center. I checked out the "church" web site.


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## he beholds (Dec 27, 2008)

My best friend goes to a satellite campus of that church (it uses video of Andy Stanley 60% of the time, and their pastor preaches 40%--don't even get me started) so I'm going to ask her what her church is doing.

-----Added 12/27/2008 at 08:32:04 EST-----

From her church's website:
"_______will not be having services on December 28th to honor our wonderful volunteers who give of themselves each
and every week. Please enjoy this Sunday with your family and friends and we'll see you back at _________ on January 4th!

Merry Christmas "

UGH


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## PresbyDane (Dec 28, 2008)

I do not believe it, has it really come to this now.


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## Whitefield (Dec 28, 2008)

It is God's worship service .. hence only He can cancel it.


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## AThornquist (Dec 28, 2008)

Whoa. If my pastor (or the pastor of your church, I'm sure) even suggested this, things would not be well. He would probably be rebuked, asked to repent, etc. 

"Churches" like the OP's example have a campus a mile wide but a spiritual depth of about an inch. It is sad but not too surprising they did this.


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 28, 2008)

http://www.puritanboard.com/f67/who-closing-christmas-10598/


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## GTMOPC (Dec 28, 2008)

If you decide to find a new church home one of the new questions on your list should be "Do you have a Lord's Day service?" I guess this was inevitable when we stopped asking "Is your church biblical?"

It's sad that Christianity has come to this. I dare label it Christianity though, Christ centered churches don't do this sort of thing. The problem is that this type of behavior is labeled _Christian_ and that's the only exposure some people will ever have to Christ.

in my opinion these types of events should move us to fight ever the more for the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ!


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## kvanlaan (Dec 28, 2008)

A mega-church doing something without Biblical warrant? 

Shocking. :yawn:

(But yes, thread-worthy indeed; I think this is a new low.)


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## Timothy William (Dec 28, 2008)

My church had services yesterday (it also had Christmas services, which I didn't go to) and there were _very_ few people there. I counted 2 of 6 pastors and none of 5 elders, and about one third the usual number of congregants. But then, this is Canberra, where everyone leaves for a couple of weeks during the summer, and it is a student church. On the plus side, the musicians were all away, so we were spared the usual praise band.


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## jfschultz (Dec 28, 2008)

Galatians220 said:


> If I'm not mistaken, this started in 2005 when Christmas fell on a Sunday, and many Christless churches cancelled services that day "so that the staff can spend Christmas morning with their families."  It became a most horrendous, most sulfurous balancing act: which is more important, worship on the Lord's Day, or opening presents under the tree (_cf._ Jeremiah 10:3-5; Galatians 4:9-11) with one's kids? We know which option won out in many churches that day. It's disgusting, but it's the state of some churches in these days.



My first thought when reading Margaret's reply was the family Christmases when I was growing up. My father's flight schedule usually had him away for a week at a time. (He was an airline pilot with Pan American-Grace flying routes in South America.) When his schedule had him away on Christmas, we did the family Christmas celebrations at the end of the trip closest to the 25th. (Disclaimer: During those years we went to church on Christmas if the 25th was on Sunday.)

It is a sad commentary on today's "christian" community that the 25th is more Santa's day the Jesus' day.


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## Galatians220 (Dec 29, 2008)

Every year, the Lord gives us 52 (in most years) holidays, days of rest, days to worship Him with family and friends, to luxuriate in reading His word, and hearing Gospel preaching, etc. One can either observe these holidays or not, but one only impoverishes oneself by non-observance.

More horrifying, though, is to ask rhetorically, what does "the church" do? I answer non-rhetorically: in many cases, it cruds up the year with _faux_ feast days snagged off the pagans and lifted seamlessly out of Catholicism; it introduces worldly elements of materialism, greed, self- and idol-worship into them until even the allegedly Christian "window dressings" that they used to sport are in tatters. Then some "churches" go whole-hog and decide that the Santa-worshipping culture dictates that they should "honor" and appease members of their staffs who want to get seriously into the worldly elements by doing away with worship of the Lord entirely *on His day.* Who gave us the Lord's Day in the first place? Macy's? Best Buy? Charles Dickens? Irving Berlin? One would think...  

I'm at fault, too, and I admit it in that I don't go into a cave after Thanksgiving and emerge from it on Jan. 2. I had my usual taste of eggnog and "Shop Around the Corner" (a Christmas movie from 1940, and one of my all-time favorite movies) this year. But I saw more disgusting things this year even than last in the world at large involving Christmas and got weaned even more from the cultural "celebration." I've been trying to keep a foot in each camp and it ain't workin' anymore.

It's just a crying shame that even blood-bought children of the King find their "warmest fuzzies" in "Christmas" trappings... *The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the "warmest fuzzy" and the demonstration of the most love we will ever have,* not memories of parents and siblings and children, and Christmas trees, and presents, etc., etc.!!! 

I wish I, among other things that I do/think, were not still so wedded to the beggarly elements of life on this earth.

Margaret


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## AThornquist (Dec 29, 2008)

A man whose church had a "Sunday off" visited my church two weeks ago instead of staying home. This last week both he and his wife were at my church. I wonder if they will keep coming.  Maybe the holiday break gave him some reason to visit the "cult down the street." (Yes, that is what my church is known as by some in the community. Apparently they get creeped out that we have so much fellowship and actually like each other! lol... or maybe its our barb-wired fence around the worship bunker and church-family sleeping quarters... [kidding!])


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## PresbyDane (Dec 29, 2008)

In Denmark it came close to a strike amongst the clergy.
The reason being (said their spokes-person) that they always had to work weekends. 
Just to let you know it will get worse were you are.


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## GTMOPC (Dec 29, 2008)

Martin Marsh said:


> In Denmark it came close to a strike amongst the clergy.
> The reason being (said their spokes-person) that they always had to work weekends.
> Just to let you know it will get worse were you are.



Just when you thought you'd heard it all. That would've made a good one liner...if it weren't true!


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## Marrow Man (Dec 30, 2008)

A member of North Point found my blog and posted this among the comments:



> As a person who has attended church EVERY Sunday that I can ever remember and now a regular attender of North Point Community Church since it opened its doors in Alpharetta, GA, I personally don’t have a problem with North Point (or any other church) not having a Sunday service one Sunday out of the year.
> 
> The following are just a few of my reasons why:
> 
> ...


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Dec 30, 2008)

Two things I notice.

1) Complete failure to understand what is worship.

2) Complete failure to understand "the Church".


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## Kim G (Dec 30, 2008)

Marrow Man said:


> A member of North Point found my blog and posted this among the comments:
> 
> 
> 
> > Lastly, if I’m not mistaken, when Christmas was on a Sunday a few years back (as you pointed out), North Point was actually closed for 2 Sundays in a row!



Wow, now let's brag about closing "church" for two Lord's Days.


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## Marrow Man (Dec 30, 2008)

Kim G said:


> Marrow Man said:
> 
> 
> > A member of North Point found my blog and posted this among the comments:
> ...



Yep.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 30, 2008)

Marrow Man said:


> A member of North Point found my blog and posted this among the comments:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Tim,

I read your response. It was very good. Gracious, yet pointed, addressing the issues in an understandable way, without an unnecessary poke in the eye.

Well done, brother.


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## Marrow Man (Dec 30, 2008)

fredtgreco said:


> Tim,
> 
> I read your response. It was very good. Gracious, yet pointed, addressing the issues in an understandable way, without an unnecessary poke in the eye.
> 
> Well done, brother.



Thank you for the encouragement, brother. As I am naturally an eye-poker from way back when (the "inner Stooge" within me, if you will), the Holy Spirit gets all the credit here.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 30, 2008)

Marrow Man said:


> fredtgreco said:
> 
> 
> > Tim,
> ...



You are welcome. You will appreciate that I was more concerned with highlighting a good example for (especially younger) ministers to follow, than I was in pumping up your self esteem!


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## Marrow Man (Dec 30, 2008)

The fact that I referenced my "inner Stooge" might be also merit proof that I am no longer "younger" compared to many other ministers on our board!


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## BJClark (Dec 30, 2008)

EEK, 

Why not gather with your family and worship TOGETHER!! 

It certainly shows where the heart is..and it's not on God..

This verse jumps out to me:

Luk 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.


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## PresbyDane (Dec 30, 2008)

I feel just like the guy in the quote, you know once EVERY WEEK it is just to much one does feel 
no seriously I mean one thing is being of this opinion but showing it in public is something else.
"You can keep your mouth shut and let people think you are an idiot, or you can open your mouth and remove all doubt."


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