Christmas is when many people are more open to hearing about Jesus than the rest of the year. It is as if the longing for the transcendent to fill the God-shaped hole inside us comes to the surface as Christmas carols play and bright lights appear in the darkness.

As a high majority of Australians celebrate Christmas in some way, the church has the opportunity to point the spotlight back on Jesus at Christmastime and the Christmas season is a prime cultural opportunity for outreach.

Here are four ways churches and pastors can maximise the unique gospel opportunities this time of year.

1. Bring biblical literacy to your community at Christmas

Many around us desire Christmas to be more about Jesus but don’t know where to start. We can reach out to them with the basics of the Christmas story. Before knowing why Jesus came, they must know that he came. Before they understand the basics of the gospel, like the significance of the cross and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-4), they need to know that God became man in Jesus.

I remember our church’s first community kid’s Christmas party at our local library. After I told the story of Jesus’ birth, and some of our church members acted it out, multiple kids said they had never heard it.

Maybe your local paper would run an article written by you as a pastor around Christmas, even if they no longer have a regular religion column. A simple way for churches to reach out to community members with the basics of Jesus’ birth is through purchasing Christmas outreach booklets. You can give these to visitors on the Sundays leading up to Christmas and at the Christmas Eve Service. Church members can also help give these out, along with an invitation to church.

2. Bring the spotlight back to Jesus in your community at Christmas

Several years ago, a few church members became passionate about having a large nativity scene in front of our church building along the road. They went all out, complete with Christmas carols playing. I have often found people out for a walk, just standing there, quietly thinking as they take in the nativity scene. Maybe your church can put the spotlight back on Jesus through a kid’s Christmas pageant, a nursing home outreach, or Christmas carolling. In all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, churches are uniquely poised to help people pause and think about what the birth of the Son of God means.

It could be that your church can hold outreach after outreach leading up to Christmas. Go for it! But if you can only do one or two meaningful things to point to Jesus in your community at Christmastime, then embrace that! Whatever we do, the last thing that we want is to cover up the manger with our busyness. As Linus proclaimed after reciting Luke 2 decades ago, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!”

3. Bring Jesus back to the centre of your celebration of Christmas

Christmas must be more about Jesus in our hearts before we can lead others in this great goal. The simple practice of reading an Advent devotional as a family and personally has had a profound impact in preparing our hearts to celebrate Jesus all December long.

I can still hear his voice reading the King James English as we all quieted our hearts and thought of the greatest gift of all (2 Corinthians 9:15) before giving and receiving gifts as a family. I do the same thing with our family today, reading about the birth of Christ from the Bible after we have all eaten breakfast on Christmas morning. To point others to Jesus effectively, pastors must first point themselves and their families to Jesus.

4. Bring the hope of Christmas boldly into your community

The cultural connection of Christmas has often made it easier for me to invite people to church. We can equip our churches to invite others by providing invitation postcards with information about special Christmas services and regular Sunday information. We can also challenge the congregation to invite at least one person to church for the Christmas season and pray together for God to use these invitations to bring people to Christ. Many churches serve in practical ways that show the hope of Christ around Christmastime: sponsoring an angel tree for kids of prisoners or foster kids, providing a special meal for the poor in the community, or helping a local food pantry.

Because Jesus has come, we can step out boldly in joy and faith as we proclaim Him through word and deed at Christmastime.

I will never forget the year I handed a grocery store cashier an invitation to our kids’ Christmas pageant. She asked what it was about.

“It’s about the story of Christmas,” I replied.

“Oh, you mean Santa Claus?”

“No, I mean Jesus.” She stared at me blankly.

“Maybe you have seen one of these,” I said, pointing to the nativity scene on the front of the postcard.

“Yeah, I did hear something about Jesus being born once. I’ll bring my son. I think he would love it.”

A couple of weeks later, she did come with her son, hearing the gospel for probably the first time.

Fellow pastors, let’s lead the way in making Christmas about Jesus. Statistically speaking, a majority in your community long for that. For others who don’t even know that Christmas should be about Jesus, you may have the joy of planting that first gospel seed.

© 2023 Tim Counts. Used with permission. Originally published at TheFocusedPastor.org.

Tim Counts

Tim Counts is the pastor of Northshire Baptist Church in Manchester Center, Vt., and serves on the leadership team for Small Town Summits. He blogs regularly at He Must Become Greater.

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