5 evangelistic dimensions of Christmas
So, what has Christmas got to do with evangelism and church planting?
Answer: EVERYTHING! Here are five very popular expressions used a lot at this time of year and we think you’ll see that they all resonate with why we’re here.
1. Incarnation
“The Word became a human being and dwelt among us” (John1:14). This really is astonishing. The Controlling Principle of the Universe, the One through whom everything in the cosmos was made and remains in existence – this divine all-powerful being became a baby at Bethlehem! The comfort and adulation of Heaven was given up so that we could understand who God really is in a context we understand.
The challenge for us is whether we will hear the call to forsake that with which we are familiar and ‘at home’ and go as a walking, talking, living, breathing example of Christlikeness in an alien place: that’s incarnation.
2. Salvation
Joseph is told to give this baby the name ‘Jesus’, meaning ‘God to the rescue’. This same Jesus who saved Zacheuss, Peter, Paul, Lydia, Martin Luther, John Wesley, William Booth, George Jeffreys, Billy Graham, RT Kendall, Cliff, Bono, Uncle Tom Cobley(probably!) is still committed to seeking and saving that which was lost and we are eternally thankful! Christmas is a reminder that God is still in the salvation business!
3. Good News
We have good news of great joy for all people! (Luke 2:10). What strange persons we would be if we had the best news in the whole world and simply kept it to ourselves! Christmas is that time in the year when it is so easy to talk about God’s indescribable gift! (2Cor 9:15); so, talk!
4. Jesus!
It’s not Happy Partymas or Happy Presentmas or Happy Turkeymas or Happy Familymas! Of course all of these are part of our seasonal celebrations and rightly so; but at the core of the festivities, at the centre of our focus is Happy Christmas! And why so happy…?
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” (2Cor 8:9)
5. Santa Claus
Just kidding. Santa is a myth; Jesus is real. Santa only pops up this time of year; Jesus is always with us ‘Immanuel’ (Matt 1:23). Santa didn’t die for anyone…and he’s no longer alive!
Have a ‘good one’ Direction readers. As we head towards 2016, let’s aim to share more good news, plant more pioneer churches and help our existing congregations to be the very best examples of Gospel communities they can be. All for the King and the Kingdom!