ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- There is often talk of the holidays becoming too commercial and too focused on shopping.
While you can expect thousands of shoppers at the malls and stores, there's a church in Chesterfield taking a different approach to the holidays.
The Crossing asked people to come in and take a break from Black Friday shopping.
The non-denominational Christian church has adopted the Advent Conspiracy approach, which promotes cutting back on needless spending during the holiday and spending more time with family and friends.
Advent conspirers are asking churches to donate at least 25 percent of their Christmas service offering to clean-water projects around the world.
People in the groups say it would cost about $10 billion to end the water crisis.
Last year, Americans spent $450 billion during Christmas time.
