Christmas Eve church services: how much planning does it take?

SASKATOON – Ever wondered how much work goes into a Christmas Eve service? Global News sat down with a local pastor who shared all his secrets on how much planning goes into it and how he makes it as memorable as possible.

View image in full screen

“We’ve probably had wax sprayed on people when they blew out the candles at the end of the service so we kinda give people instructions but we’ve never lit the place on fire so that’s good,” said Marvin Wojda, lead pastor at Elim Church on Slimmon Road.

“No, we’ve never really had a really bad Christmas Eve service,” he laughed.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "No, we've never really had a really bad Christmas Eve service," he laughed.

That’s because planning for this evening’s program began several weeks ago he tells us.

“I sit down with our music worship pastor and we kinda map out where we’re going to go,” added Wojda.

View image in full screen

“We have talked about changing it up, switching it, doing something different but we always seem to come back to the traditional carols and we’re going to read the Christmas story from the scripture.”

With the musicians and soloists lined up, sound and lighting checks will be done just prior to the service. Pastor Wojda will have one hour to connect with the congregation and send holy thoughts home with them so making the messaging relatable is key.

READ MORE: Pope issues Christmas indulgence to spread message of mercy

“We obviously use common language and I think especially on Christmas Eve we go for really familiar carols because people do relate to those.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We obviously use common language and I think especially on Christmas Eve we go for really familiar carols because people do relate to those."

New to this year’s service, members will pray for the refugee family they’re sponsoring, but the pastor tells me traditional tends to be the way to go.

“I think it really helps people centre down on really what the meaning of Christmas is, they’re not having to concentrate on new lyrics or kinda new ideas.”

View image in full screen

Up to 1,000 people are people are expected to attend Thursday evening’s service in this auditorium-like church and while church leaders acknowledged there’s always a few in the crowd where this is the one and only service they’ll attend this year, they said that’s alright, the more the merrier.

“If there’s folks who come tonight who don’t normally come to church, that’s a great thing.”