CREEDE HINSHAW: Is your church mired in ‘hibernation’ season?

Many congregations presently are mired in a six- to eight-week season called Church Hibernation, a lackadaisical season of torpor, postponement and procrastination.

“That doesn’t describe my church,” you say. “We have special Christmas music and festivities in December and decorate our building for the seasons.”

While I concede that point, I contend that most churches abandon meaningful decision-making or vision-setting for two months, giving in to the spirit of the age and operating in a spiritual holding pattern.

Shopping, partying, and travel trumps everything else, no questions asked.

Has your congregation embraced (or been afflicted by) this listlessness? Have you heard the following comments:

“We can’t meet again until Jan. 15.”

“Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Let’s postpone our next Board of Stewards meeting.”

“People are busy. That decision can wait until after New Year.”

“Family is coming in. A little delay won’t hurt.”

“Let’s reconvene in the second week of January after the New Year celebrations.”

Such comments indicate that there is half-heartedness in the congregation. Any church that calls a two-month moratorium on church vision and oversight is on the way to withering and dying.

I have been reading the journal of Francis Asbury, the motivated, determined first American Methodist bishop who was more well-known and recognized in the 13 colonies and (later) states than any other American. Here are some abridged entries from his journal, late December 1773:

December 21, 1773: I set out for Bohemia (Pennsylvania), and though my body was much fatigued with my ride and my head ached violently, yet in the evening I preached…

December 22, 1773: On the way to Susquehanna a person came for me to visit Mrs. T. in a dropsy.

December 23, 1773: I set off to attend our quarterly meeting. Many people came from miles around. I preached from Acts 20. We afterwards proceeded to our temporal business.

December 25, 1773 (A Friday): I attended church, then rode five miles to preach to a small crowd.

December 26, 1773: I rode to B.P.’s where we had a large congregation and a very comfortable meeting.

December 27, 1773: Rode to the widow Bond’s and preached twice, with very little intermission, to a great number of people.

Notice that Asbury preached daily, even when sick, achy, and weary. He also attended to pastoral needs that interrupted his schedule.

Note that the congregation — on the day before Christmas Eve! — gathered to examine themselves regarding their spiritual devotion and church faithfulness. Any preacher who today called a church meeting for December 23rd would be labeled daft.

Note that these Christians gathered for worship on Christmas day – a Friday. And that a large crowd gathered for church on Saturday, Dec. 26.

Study the life and work of the early church (of any era) and you find Christians who were urgent, who were dedicated, who knew nothing about three-day weekends or Super Bowl Sunday or calling off church on Christmas Day. You get a sense of a people who – dedicated to the living Jesus Christ – were determined to and desirous of living lives of devotion 365 days per year.