Gift of Christmas –

Jesus is alive! Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus has come to deliver life in all its fulness. Some of the convictions we want to share with everyone, but for most people the first thing people identify Jesus with is … you’ve guessed it … Christmas! To make the most of this Christmas, as church, street getting ready now. 

We’re so very keen to fast-forward people to understand easter, but if we’re going to start with where people are, I suggest we start with Christmas. Let’s face it Christmas remains the festival where most people expect, even want, to sing carols. If so many people are still prepared to go out of their way, even willing to put on a coat to sit inside a cold, church building, to engage in some way with the drama of God’s one and only Son coming to earth, I think we should prepare as best we can for it. I know it’s September, but that was the month we sat down, as a local church leadership team, and decided how we’d present ‘the Christmas story’ to as many people we could. 

As I’ve observed our churches, across Webnet here’s an outline of some of the best practice I’ve seen:

Churches who see people becoming new followers of Jesus, as a result of their Christmas activities, have prepared beforehand. 

Good quality give-aways. This tends to be literature, in some form – either a booklet, book, or a signpost to learn more. Even I know what a QR code is these days! What is more I’ve discovered they’re really easy to make use of.  

Churches who see significant numbers, well above their normal Sunday gathering attendance, attending carol services, children’s events, or other means of engaging people, put effort into profiling them. Rather than simply look enviously at the reach of Destination Bethlehem, which Clevedon Baptist Church have put on to great effect in recent years, ask them how much time and effort it’s taken.

Churches who enable people to think more deeply, to face up to their lives in the light of Jesus’ birth, or to determine to explore the possibility of a new life, do their best to reduce the gap between the medium and the message. 

  • Being clear about your message is important. If the Talking Jesus research tells us 1 in 5 people  (not Christians) would read the Bible to find out about the Christian faith, make sure your messaging both enables people to find out more and is true to the source! If you’re running Alpha, or other exploring faith courses following Christmas make sure the details are finable and clear too.
  • Prayer is important. God acts in response to the prayers of his people. Jesus is drawing people to himself across our region.
  • Being real is important. Honesty and reality are two key elements you need to be clear about if you want to communicate authentically with anyone under forty (at least).
  • Presentation is important. This does not suggest we underplay the previous point. If we believe this message is life-transforming we need to treat it with respect.
  • Being friends is vitally important. Helping people believe they can be the vital link to introducing someone to know Jesus Christ, simply by inviting them to a carol service (the easiest and most likely to elicit a positive response in the Christian year) is vitally important. 

Check out resources available through Hope Together. https://www.hopetogether.org.uk/shop/

 

NB. Try us – we have limited amounts available at the Webnet of hub of:

  • Gift of Christmas.
  • Mark’s gospel.
  • Luke’s gospel.
  • Healed/Restored.

Nigel Coles

Nigel is Regional Team Leader of the West of England Baptist Network. He facilitates the life of the webnet team and oversees the missional strategy for the region. He also works to develop missional strategy over a wider geographical area with our partner Associations and Baptists Together. Nigel believes that when Jesus sent out seventy-two others, he meant everyone who was there, and this passion to help everyone find their way in the mission of God is what inspired the development of Seventy-two.