3 Churches That Leveraged Christmas Well … and What You Should Copy This Year

Jul 14, 2025

Discover how churches can leverage Christmas for growth! Learn about a Texas church that ignited excitement with a pre-Christmas service challenge, inviting attendees to bring friends. Explore a California church's VIP experience that enhanced first-time visitor engagement through digital promotions. In Canada, a church created a competitive volunteer program encouraging outreach and spiritual growth. These innovative strategies show that Christmas can be more than a tradition; it can be a powerful tool for community connection and expansion.

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ADVICE

Double Christmas Attendance Goal

Aim to double your church's average attendance at Christmas as a starting benchmark.
This reflects reaching more spiritually open people, not just increasing numbers.

ANECDOTE

Lake Hills' Big Day Rally Cry

Lake Hills Church created a 12-minute pre-Christmas segment called the Big Day Rally Cry.
They motivated hundreds to invite friends right then using video testimony and live invitation via QR code.

ANECDOTE

Verve City's VIP Guest Approach

Verve City Church sent 10,000 physical mailers and ran digital ads inviting their community.
They offered VIP perks like reserved parking and fast kids check-in to boost sign-ups and attendance.

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What if you could double your church’s attendance this Christmas … just by doing what other growing churches already do?

In this second installment of our special Christmas planning series, Rich Birch unpacks three real-life examples from churches that didn’t leave Christmas up to chance—and saw incredible results. These churches represent different regions and contexts, but all share a key trait: they treat Christmas like a growth engine, not just a tradition.

Here’s what you’ll discover in this episode:

The 2x Benchmark: Rich shares a healthy target for churches during Christmas—double your average attendance—and explains why this isn’t just about numbers, but about reaching people who are spiritually open during this season.

Lake Hills Church – Austin, TX: This church ignited a “Big Day Rally Cry” by creating a 12-minute pre-Christmas moment in their service, featuring testimony, vision casting, and a live invitation challenge. You’ll hear how they rallied hundreds to invite friends, right there in the room.

Verve City Church – Chino, CA: Learn how this innovative church packaged a “VIP Christmas Guest Experience” using mailers and digital ads to drive pre-registration, offer special guest perks, and radically boost first-time attendance.

NBUC / New Beginnings Church – Ontario, Canada: Discover how they turned Christmas into a leadership development moment by launching a “Volunteer Invite Challenge” that blended prayer, accountability, and a little healthy competition to motivate core team members to reach out.

These examples aren’t complex—they’re systems that any church can adapt and implement.

Rich reminds us: “Churches that grow don’t leave Christmas to chance.” Now is the time to put systems in place, build momentum, and prepare your team to make the most of the biggest Sunday of the year.

This episode is part 2 of a special 3-part series designed to help your church plan ahead for Christmas, starting this summer.
If you missed part 1, be sure to go back and check out:
“Why Christmas Can Still Be the Biggest Service of the Year At Your Church” Listen Now

Be sure to follow or subscribe so you don’t miss part 3 next week, where we’ll explore why churches sometimes fail to grow during the holidays—and how you can avoid those pitfalls.