- Details
- Written by Kevin Seiler Kevin Seiler
- Created: November 22 2011 November 22 2011
Here we are again. What a wonderful time for Christians! Advent, Christmas—the celebration of Jesus’ birth are times to rejoice. Are you making plans for all the festivities, and most importantly, for sharing your faith? The Board of Outreach would like to encourage everyone to think, plan and pray for opportunities to invite someone you know to share in the celebration of Christmas.
There will be a Family Service on Sunday, December 18, a single service that is enjoyed by all. It is a popular service that includes the children, youth and adults that brings blessings and a smile while worshiping our Lord. This year it will be a joyful service that will help us rejoice in our Savior’s birth.
On Christmas Eve, there will be two candlelight services with special music and a celebration for anyone to enjoy.
The Christmas Day service is a joyful way to truly get our hearts focused on what Christmas means to Christians everywhere—the Christ coming to live among us.
The Outreach Board has looked at how to best use available funds toward advertising and try to reach as many as possible with information about Saint John’s festival services. We also think the most effective way to bring people into Christ’s church over the holiday season is by a personal invitation. We are asking you to be aware of the people in your personal circle outside the church who don’t have a church home. These people could be neighbors, co-workers, friends, family members, bank tellers, or even people who check your groceries with whom you have a relationship. If you have someone specific in mind, pray for the opportunity to invite them. Pray for the words to say with love and sharing the good news of the gospel. Pray for courage that you may be bold in sharing Christ’s love with those who do not know the peace and comfort that comes with a humble Savior, born in a manger some 2000 years ago.
There will be invitations printed and handed out on Sunday mornings with the information detailing Saint John’s festival services. We encourage you to take them and get them into the hands of those who do not have plans for worship around the Christmas season. All you can do is invite, follow up with prayer, and let God work in their hearts. He can change hearts, we cannot.
My wife shared a devotion with me from Oswald Chambers. It focuses on this passage, from John 7:38: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Then Chambers goes on, “A river reaches places which its source never knows.” Jesus is the Source. “If we have received his fullness, ‘rivers of living water’ will flow out of us, reaching in blessing ‘to the end of the earth.’” Chambers talks on about how the river moves around obstacles, obstacles that give us doubt, or fear, or insecurities. But if we focus on the Source, he will take us around or remove the obstacle. “Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty.”
Chambers finishes the devotion with these words: “If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.”
Be a blessing to others and give someone the best Christmas gift that you may ever give—a simple invitation to join us in a Christmas Celebration.
The Board of Outreach enlists God’s people at Saint John’s in the work of spreading the gospel to the unchurched and works to deepen the faith and activity of the members of the congregation.