Five Ways to Share the Good News This Christmas

As I travel the UK in this season I am noticing a few things. Firstly, an increasing vacuum of hope amongst those who do not yet know Jesus. Secondly, a growing confidence and desire amidst the church to be good news people in a bad news world. Thirdly, God is on the move in a fresh way. All year long, research has revealed a growing church and an increased gospel openness. And in an unstable world, Jesus offers a hope that changes everything. This Christmas here are a few ways to make the most of the opportunity to invite others to hear the story of the saviour God who became a baby.

1. Invite your friends and neighbours to carols.

Christmas is an all-round sensory experience. There is the feel of jingle infused woollen jumpers, the smells of pine and cinnamon, the taste of mince pies and mulled wine and the sight of a thousand coloured lights. But there is something about the sound of jingling bells and Christmas music that stirs an inexplicable sentimentality in us. And perhaps more than any of our hymns, Christian carols have survived the secular storms of our times and stand strong in many people’s cultural memories. As a result, millions will attend carol services who would never set foot in a church in the other eleven months of the year. And you are the best person to invite them. The Finding Jesus research recently found that the single most helpful factor that is helping people explore faith is going to church in person. This Christmas have a pray and ask the Lord for the boldness to invite a friend or neighbour to hear songs of good news, comfort and joy.

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2. Christmas cards start with Christ

There is little doubt that the price of postage and the ease of a ​‘catch all’ Christmas wishes Facebook statuses have contributed to the slow death of the Christmas card, but most houses still have a smattering on each mantlepiece. Quaint snow scenes and jolly Santa driven sleighs are ok, unrealistic and sanitised nativity scenes are better, but we love to give cards with an appropriate, hopeful Bible verse to brighten up our friends’ lives and homes. Take a little longer over the message in the card as well and let your connections know how grateful you are for them.

3. Go all out with Christmas talks

If you go to Starbucks you can expect them to talk to you about coffee. Likewise, Waterstones and books, Specsavers and glasses and Aldi and whatever it is they are selling in the middle aisle that week. So if people come to church they should expect to hear the gospel.

As an evangelist, I cannot tell you what a joy it is to bring good news to people at Christmas. I have the delight each year to speak in churches, workplaces and occasionally car parks (!) to people who have come for an annual visit to sing ​‘Little Donkey’ and eat a mince pie by candlelight. The philosopher and football manager Arsene Wenger reportedly said, ​‘Christmas is important but Easter is decisive.’ My encouragement to all Christmas preachers is to point from cradle to cross, from Bethlehem to Calvary, from manger to resurrection. And if your church is running a carol service why not encourage your pastor to speak with invited guests in mind?

4. One more seat at the table

From late November, advertisers prey on our desire for the ​‘perfect’ Christmas, and the utopian image is stereotypically the family around the tree or at the turkey-adorned table. For many, however, this is far from their reality. In a world in which the World Health Organisation last year declared loneliness to be a pressing global health threat, many will spend their Christmas alone. Into this epidemic of isolation, Psalm 68:6 speaks: ​‘He sets the lonely in families.’

Growing up, more often than not, our Christmas Day table fed more than our nuclear family. My amazing parents were always on the lookout for those who might lack ​‘kin’ with whom to spend a merry Christmas. We had a small house on a council estate, but they made it work. It had a profound impact on us children.

A key word for our evangelism in this season is hospitality. The gospel comes with a seat at the table.

5. Add to your advent prayers

Perhaps the most important left until last. This is the proverbial ​‘partridge in a prayer tree’ (pun intended). Prayer and evangelism go hand in hand. All of the above must be saturated, surrounded and soaked in intercession. And advent is an apt framework for our prayers for our not-yet Christian friends, neighbours, colleagues and family. Evangelism is patient work. Jesus compares word ministry to sowing seed and anticipating its growth. The weeks before Christmas are a time of waiting. May we all ​‘devote ourselves to prayer’ for the lost in this advent season (Colossians 4:2), and patiently ask that ​‘every heart prepare him room.’

This Christmas may you know you carry the same good news that the angels announced on a Judean hillside two thousand years ago. And as you embody and enunciate it may you know the same Emmanuel, God with you, every step of the way.