HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF CHRISTMAS
In case you haven't noticed, there is less than one month to go until Christmas! Regardless of how we feel about the Christmas season, one thing we as Christians can be excited about is the opportunity we have to use the special Christmas events like Christmas Celebration and Christmas Eve Services as a means to share the gospel with our friends.
Most of us know that these special Christmas events are good opportunities to invite friends and neighbors to church, but we often find it hard to do. So how can we make the most of Christmas?
Motivation
Before thinking about how to invite friends, it is worth examining our hearts and think about why we inviting people at Christmas is a great idea. Some ways that people suggested to motivate themselves were:
1. Remind yourself of the gospel ‘if I don't remind myself of the gospel I find that I hold back because of fears that me speaking about Jesus or inviting people to events will impact my popularity or what friends think of me. When I remind myself of the gospel I remember that their standing before God is much more important that my standing before people and what they think of me.'
2. Remembering the joy that we have in Christ
3. Recognizing that ‘the fields are white for harvest' John 4:35 (ESV)
Preparation
Often the friends who do come in response to our invitations are the ones with whom we've developed a good relationship with, spend time with and genuinely care about. If we invite people to other activities (lunch, coffee, gym classes) with us then inviting to a Christmas Service won't seem so out of the blue. If we aren't doing so already, it might be worth spending time with friends outside of a purely social capacity.
Prayer
We tend to know that we need to pray as we look to invite people, but often we forget or neglect to do it or we are just not sure what to pray. Some ideas that people suggested include:
1. Pray before we invite friends
2. Pray specifically for friends that we are planning to invite
3. Pray for God to work in the hearts of those who do come
4. Pray for the service itself, that the gospel would be clearly proclaimed
Invitations
This is what most of us find hardest doing - actually inviting our friends. Don't feel down about finding it hard, you won't be the only one! Some things to note when it comes to inviting:
1. It is worth sending a mass email invitation out, but try to follow that up with conversations with individuals
2. Be prepared for people to say no
3. Giving an invite can really be as simple as 'Hey I wonder whether you'd like to come to a Christmas event next week at my church? Then give them the printed invites.
4. Arrange to go for lunch, dinner or drinks after one of the services
Follow-up
Getting people to come along to a Christmas service or event might be just the start of our friends' journey to faith in the Lord Jesus. Helping people to keep thinking about the gospel and about Jesus is difficult but here are some things you could do:
1. Plan ahead to have a coffee after the service
2. Listen carefully to the talk and maybe pick up one idea to keep talking about with your friends
3. Be ready to invite friends to further lunchtime talks or maybe a regular church service in January.
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