As people come in they are handed a candle which should already have the drip protector in place.  We welcome everyone and then we usually do our music program.  Christmas songs,  a couple of specials, some little things by the children, etc.  We usually do a short message about  the reason for the season and then we begin the candle lighting.  (When I finish the message I give instructions for candle lighting)  What people need to know is that once a candle is lit it needs to be held straight so that wax doesn’t drip on their skin.  When someone is lighting a candle they will put their unlit candle on a ninety degree angle into a lit candle.  Once their candle is lit they hold it straight up.  A lit candle should never be turned sideways!  Also, they need to be careful not to light the hair of the person in front of them on fire, this can happen).

When you are ready for the candle lighting, get your room as dark as possible.  Light one candle at the front of the church.  From that one candle have your ushers each turn their candle into the one candle that is lit and light their candles.  Have them go to the first chair of each row and have the person in the first chair turn their candle into the ushers candle (Remember, the lit candles are always held straight) then the person in the second chair will turn his candle into the lighted candle of the person in the first chair, etc.  The ushers then move on to the next row and do the same thing, lighting the candle of the person in the first chair, who then lights the candle of the person in the second chair and so on.  As more and more candles are lit the sanctuary will become very bright.  The analogy is that Jesus is the light of the world and as we spread the light it overcomes darkness.  We usually sing a song called “Light of the World” or “Silent Night” during the candle lighting.  We don’t make people hang on the to lit candles for more than about five minutes.  Once all the candles are lit you may want to invite the people to stand and sing a final chorus of whatever song you have been singing.  It is really a remarkable sight.

Over the years we have come up with a way to blow the candles out.  It is kind of “hoakie” but the people seem to enjoy it.  We close our service by singing Happy Birthday” to Jesus and then everyone blows out their candle.  Make sure you have someone standing by the light switch to turn the lights back on!  We pray that you will have a great service!

We put almost as much effort in to the Christmas Eve services as we do the Easter services.  We start by decorating the church and adding a lot of lights and poinsettias in the sanctuary.  We begin to talk up the services on the first weekend of December, encouraging our church to invite their friends and neighbors.  We include invitations in our bulletins for them to hand to people as they invite them.  We also do a candy give away the weekend before at our local strip mall and invite people to the services as well.  We do two services, one at 5:00 pm and one at 7:00 pm.  Having options for people helps to bring more people.  We will sing some Christmas Carols, have a couple of special songs, present a 5 minute message on the reason for the season, and then do a candle lighting service.  The services last about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Every year, we see new people come to our Christmas E ve service who show up for a weekend service shortly there after.

This year at Church Growth Consulting we found a new source for candles that we wanted to pass along.  It is called eChurchDepot.  Their prices on candles were the best we had ever seen by about 30%.  It is still not to late to pull together a candle light Christmas Eve service if you get started NOW.