Christmas Eve 2017: Service Flow & Elements
Pre-Service
To set the tone for the service we prepared a playlist of Christmas songs by Meredith Andrews, Hillsong Worship, Evan Wickham and Michael Rossback / David Baloche.
We normally begin our services with a five minute countdown. For Christmas Eve we made a custom countdown with our graphics featuring the Vince Guaraldi Trio.
Music
After a brief welcome from our Lead Pastor our worship team launched into two songs. First, "O Come All Ye Faithful / We Adore You" by Paul Baloche. O Come All Ye Faithful is one of my favorite Christmas song and it was fun doing an upbeat version. Second, "Joy To The World" by Francesca Battistelli.
Welcome
This year the Campus Host was our Assistant Children's Ministry Director. She encouraged newcomers to visit the Welcome Center for a special gift, invited families to get their picture taken at the photo booth, and made sure everyone knew what our regular service times were next Sunday.
Next, it was time time for the kids choir.
Kid's Choir
As the kids choir was getting set on stage we lowered the lights and played a video we produced.
The kids sang two songs. "Oh What A Glorious Night" by Sidewalk Prophets and "Silent Night" by Relient K.
Music
One of our worship volunteers and I worked together to organize a string quartet from musicians in our church. He rearranged a version of "Away In A Manger" originally written as a choral piece for a string quartet. I loved how it turned out.
After this instrumental interlude our full band lead two more songs. "Hark" and "What A Beautiful Name". Both by Hillsong Worship.
Here's a live recording of our team leading this song.
Teaching
Our Lead Pastor, Nate Holdridge, shared the Christmas story. From the Angelic promise of John the Baptist to Zechariah and Elizabeth to the birth of Christ. He concluded by celebrating the riches we've now received through the life and death of Jesus.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich. ”
Closing
To finish the service the band came but up and closed with Shane & Shane's version of "O Holy Night"
That's it! Here's the livestream video of one of the services.
What was your favorite element from your Christmas Eve Service? What songs did you lead? Share in the comments below!