Point to Jesus this Christmas 2024 Webinar
We recently hosted our Point to Jesus this Christmas webinar sharing ideas and resources for how to reach out in our communities with the gospel. We want to encourage you to make the most of the season as you point to Jesus!
Why not watch the recording, read the main takeaways, share with your friends, and make sure to make your own Christmas evangelism checklist!
Keep reading to see our suggestions for advent, evangelistic events, reaching friends and family, and those we encounter more widely, plus our Q&A answers.
Special Guests
We welcomed four special guests to share their experiences and suggested resources, and our team also fed back some of the top suggestions from previous years.
Matt and Nancy Oliver joined us from Hardwick Baptist Church, part of Medhurst Ministries, and shared about their ministry in Hardwick, what is considered a deprived community on the northwest side of Stockton-on-Tees.
Colin Webster, pastor and author of this year's evangelistic giveaway Special Delivery, shared some of the events and strategies that Cornerstone Church Nottingham organise.
Debbie Cook, director of Oasis English Language School, talked about the new resource Light and Life, designed for those with English as an additional language.
Roger Carswell, evangelist and author, championed some tracts which can be used widely to share the gospel.
Advent
How do we point our children to Jesus at Christmas time? Is the gospel front and centre, or tagged on behind trips to Santa and a pile of gifts?
Advent is the perfect time to spend getting our minds focused in on the true meaning of Christmas. Whether you have toddlers or teens there are things to be using to count down the days as a family, including devotions, advent candles featuring the names of Jesus, Christmas devotional dippers, or even our new advent resource pack, Come & See.
Come & See contains all you need to complete five interactive family devotions, four in the weeks before Christmas, and one after. The activities are suitable for all ages, and questions to discuss are directed to little ones, bigger ones, and teens and adults. We also love that one of the actions for the follow up encourages evangelism in our children and young people under the Go Time section.
For daily devotions for adults we have a variety available, many from just £1 a copy, making them perfect for your whole church to read together. You can even set up a church WhatsApp to share encouragements as you read along together. This years new devotion is Sing in Exultation, a christmas devotional exploring our favourite carols, available from just £1 a copy.
Evangelistic Events
Whether you're hosting an evangelistic craft event, nativity service, Christmas party or carol concert our guests all agreed that having the gospel central is key.
Craft Events
Both Nancy and Colin shared about the success of their respective craft events. Nancy has found that hosting a wreath making event for the women in their town has created great opportunities to invite along friends and family members. Whilst some churches charge to cover the cost of the supplies, Hardwick work hard to keep the event free, enabling everyone to be able to join in. By rallying their church community to source foliage from their gardens they can do this very successfully. Incorporating a personal testimony into the event can be an effective way to share the gospel in this environment.
Our friends at Passion for Evangelism hosted an online event recently with lots of practical advise for running an evangelistic wreath making event, and we would recommend taking a look at the recording of that for their hints and tips.
Colin shared about a cracker making craft event which was very popular at Cornerstone, where instead of adding a joke they included a Bible verse, plus a small gift. They also beautifully decorated the crackers with ribbons and dried flowers.
"My wife taught people how to decorate it with some dried flowers and ribbon. We also printed off bible verses (instead of a joke) and put in a little gift of our own (this could be nail clippers that actually work!) or free samples of hand cream, shampoo etc." Colin Webster
Colin's church used plain kraft crackers from here. A lower cost option would be something like this.
Children's Events
At Hardwick Baptist Church the annual nativity takes the form of a 'Just turn up' or 'Scratch' nativity. Everyone is encouraged to come along, grab a costume and act along with the narration from the Bible. This allows visitors to really engage with the Biblical account, allowing many who may not have got a main part in their school nativity to be Mary or Joseph (even if like Matt explained you end up with multiple!). It's also an easy invite for all your toddler group and primary club families. If you plan ahead and get costumes when they come into the sale you can build up a collection very cheaply.
Videos from our friends at GoChatter, such as the Lego Christmas or read along Nativity, are also great for family events.
Having a gospel focused Christmas children's book (available from just £1 a copy) wrapped for each child, or family, enables them to take home a reminder of the real meaning of Christmas.
Carol Events
Carols are such a beloved part of the Christmas season, even for those who aren't Christians. This is what makes carol singing and carol services such a great opportunity, especially when the words are explained. Whether you venture out into your local high street, or the streets surrounding your church as Colin describes, take the opportunity to share invitations for your Christmas services and upcoming courses too.
Having guest packs available for all your visitors is a wonderful idea. Include a gospel, evangelistic book and invitation to future services or courses.
There are also free resources to accompany this years new evangelistic giveaway book, Special Delivery, including invites and poster templates, plus powerpoint templates for your services.
Reaching Friends and Family at Christmas
How are we planning to use the opportunity that Christmas presents to reach out to our friends and family? Perhaps they live at a distance, or aren't linked in to your church at all.
A very easy way is to show hospitality, a key theme which came out of our webinar. Could you invite some friends or neighbours round for a festive evening. Make sure to invite a couple of Christian friends too if possible, and make a point of mentioning your evangelistic services which are coming up. A personal invitation is so powerful, especially when followed up with an offer of a lift, or to save a seat.
A handwritten Christmas card which has a Bible verse included helps to re-centre people on the real meaning of Christmas, and if you're swapping gifts could you add in an evangelistic book in addition to your normal present? If you read a copy too you can follow up in a couple of weeks to see if they enjoyed it, and share your own thoughts.
Matt and Nancy invite families from their toddler group round for tea before their Christmas Eve service, this provides a great opportunity to share food, and a natural flow into the service.
Prayer is key when seeking opportunities with longstanding relationships, and if you're nervous thinking about speaking to friends in this way maybe check out our previous blog on sharing the gospel with your family.
Colin shared that the preparation for their church starts early, and involves getting all their congregation to start praying for opportunities and specific relationships, being prepared both practically and spiritually for inviting people along.
Reaching the Community
The Talking Jesus 2022 survey revealed that 50% of non Christians have a Christian friend...but what about the other 50%, how will we reach them?
Matt shared that Hardwick Baptist Church hand deliver a Christmas card to every home on their estate, and include an invitation to all their Christmas services.
Handing out tracts or Life magazines while carol singing is also another great way of reaching further into your community. Roger Carswell suggests using tracts as the key to open and close the door of conversation, and his newest tract, O Holy Night uses the lyrics of this popular carol to do just that.
Some churches will encourage everyone to take a handful of Life Magazines to deliver to every door on their street, others will get them delivered to the whole postcode or parish with their Christmas service details printed directly on the back. Get in touch for more details about bespoke covers or distribution to tim.foster@10ofthose.com
Debbie Cook shared how, through the work of the Oasis English Language School, they are able to share the gospel with those learning English. Importantly she reminded us that many of the traditions and anecdotes that British people understand are not understood by many from different cultures. This is why Debbie wrote Light and Life, sharing a simple and Biblical explanation of the first Christmas. This is ideal to give to any asylum seekers or refugees who we may have in our community. You could run an event where Christmas traditions are shared from a variety of countries, and use this as an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus, and explain how many traditions have their origins in Jesus' birth.
Q&A
At the end of the event we had time to take some questions from those attending!
What Christmas evangelistic events can we run for men?
Colin suggested having a Christmas curry and quiz night, or hosting a carol singing event in a local pub (with permission!). Bethan Lycett, our host, reminded us of a previous webinar suggestion of hosting a gift wrapping event for those who need some help wrapping gifts!
Are there any laws we need to be aware of when carol singing?
Roger suggested that the law is on our side as long as we are not causing an obstruction or nuisance, and we should also consider the copyright of the songs we are singing (although most carols will be exempt as they were written more than 70 years ago). Christian Aid have some guidance specifically around carol singing which may be useful to read, and The Christian Institute have put together advice on street evangelism more widely which is also helpful.
Has anyone used their front window in a high traffic area to point to Jesus?
Bethan shared her experiences of doing window displays, and how you may not even realise the impact they're having on those walking or driving by. If you can share a Bible verse, or gospel truth, and pray that those seeing the display would think upon what they read.
How can we reach out to our new neighbours this Christmas?
Roger recommended having an informal Christmas open house to invite neighbours in, and this can be the case for all of us, not just if we're new to the area! Neighbourhoods Reimagined is filled with lots of great ideas on this theme.
Christmas Evangelism checklist:
Order Life Magazines to give out in your community
Collect invitations for church Christmas events
Arrange a Christmas get together for our neighbours or non-Christian friends and use the opportunity to invite to our church events
Order and wrap evangelistic books for friends, postman, window cleaner and delivery drivers
Help plan a follow up course for the new year
We hope you've found the information from the webinar helpful as you think about how you can point to Jesus this Christmas, and if you have any further ideas do get in touch!
More Evangelism Articles:
Being Enthusiastically Evangelistic this Christmas
Outreach and Evangelism: What’s the difference, and does it really matter?
How can we share the gospel with our family?
Evangelism for the Discouraged and Disheartened
