It is normal for churches to organize services to usher in the New Year.
Another name for a New Year’s Eve Service is “Freedom’s Eve Service” or “Watch Night Service.” We will use these interchangeably in this post.
Have you noticed that most churches have a specific plan for their Watch Night services and these plans haven’t changed for ages? If your church falls into this category, then you should be thinking of doing something different this year. We will show you a few ideas that you can consider for a great New Year’s Eve service in this post.
Ideas for a Great New Year’s Eve Service
Regular Watch Night services have a mix of activities. These activities include prayers, sermons, music, food, and devotionals. When you look at it critically, it is almost impossible to do something new during these services. Regardless, we will share a few ideas in this section that are regular but you may not have them in your plan already.
Show gospel videos
People tend to connect a lot more with videos these days. You can catch the attention of your congregants at different points during the service with gospel videos. These videos can be montages of your announcements for the New Year or spoken word. You can also consider videos with motivational messages for your congregants to prepare them for the New Year.
Ensure that you carefully choose the videos so that they match your theme for the New Year. Play them over your multimedia screen beforehand to test the sound and clarity. Videos help to improve your church communication.
Music marathon
Another activity that attracts so many people to church is music. You can take advantage of this activity and have a music marathon during the service. Invite some popular local gospel artists and groups to come and minister during the marathon.
Announce your plans ahead of the Watch Night service and encourage congregants to invite their friends. You should also communicate it over your different social media channels. The more you publicize the service, the more people are likely to attend. Have a master of ceremonies to coordinate the service and add a few other things to make the service more interesting.
Break bread
Breaking bread can add some spice to your Freedom’s Eve service. Jesus Christ asked us to continually take this meal in remembrance of Him. As such, eating the Lord’s Supper during your service shows that your congregation is remembering Christ at this time.
It helps you to reinforce the truth of our redemption from the curse of the law. Also, it helps you to establish the crossing over from the current year into the New Year. You can add some uniqueness to the way you eat the Lord’s Supper. Doing this makes it different from your regular communion services.
Prayers into the New Year
Prayer has always been an integral part of our services especially New Year’s Eve services. However, you can add prayers in a unique way to your watch night service. For example, you can split the congregants into smaller groups for prayers during the service.
Hand out specific prayer points or set up a “prayer wall” with prayer points that they can pick from. Ensure that the prayers are in line with the theme for the New Year. You can also ask individuals to submit prayer requests during the prayer sessions. Have a moderator for each prayer session and some music between prayer sessions.
Testimonies
The Bible says that they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the “word of their testimonies.” This part of scripture shows how important testimonies are. We share testimonies to show gratitude to God for His works and to spur faith in the hearts of believers.
Dedicate a part of your New Year’s Eve service to sharing personal testimonies. Congregants can share God’s answers to their prayers, blessings, and spiritual victories for the current year. Doing this will encourage congregants as they step into the New Year.
Conclusion
New Year’s Eve services can be more interesting than we have had them over the years. We have shared some ideas that you can infuse into your service this year. Whatever ideas you choose, ensure that you set up a committee to help in the organization. Meanwhile, kindly check out some of the articles on ChurchPad to help improve your church administration.