Update: We have been informed that Summit is purchasing the tickets. Yet, the church is still closing its doors two Sundays in a row, neglecting the call for the saints to gather and worship corporately, and replacing worship service with a worldly entertainment session.
This isn’t the first time that JD Greear, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention has canceled church services around Christmas in order to accommodate the majority in his church that value consumerism over gospel. In fact, for the last several years, Summit Church has closed its doors for Christmas services. But, in a disquieting turn of events, Summit Church is not only closing its doors on campus for the week of Christmas, including Sunday morning on Christmas Eve, but will be charging money for tickets to attend a worship service that is being held at the DPAC Coliseum in Downtown Durham that Sunday.
The decision to cancel in-person services during the Christmas week and, more egregiously, to charge for attending a special Christmas Eve service at the Durham Performing Arts Center, is a proverbial middle finger to God’s command to gather and worship Him. This not only places barriers to those who would like to worship, it is also a blatant commodification of the sacred assembly.
Charging for a church service, especially on a Sunday morning—a time historically and biblically dedicated to communal worship without financial barriers—is an affront to the very gospel itself. It is a clear sign that Summit Church, under Greear’s leadership, prioritizes superficial, entertainment-driven experiences over spiritual depth and biblical fidelity.
This disturbing trend is symptomatic of the culture permeating most modern megachurches, where the focus shifts from shepherding the sheep to catering to the whims of a consumerist audience. In this climate, the church morphs into a theater of entertainment. Sadly, the congregation comprises more goats than sheep—followers drawn to spectacle rather than to Scripture, to convenience rather than commitment.
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By replacing a week of reflective, communal worship with a ticketed extravaganza, Summit Church is not just neglecting its duty to nurture its flock, it is actively leading them astray. The Bible’s exhortation to gather, especially during significant times like Christmas, is cast aside in favor of a model that seems more suited to a corporate enterprise than a house of God.
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