GRACE AMBASSADORS

MINISTRY UPDATE

Evangelism During Christmas

“Are you ready for Christmas?” asked the post office worker.

“I don’t celebrate Christmas,” responded my wife.

“Neither does the lady who just left,” he replied. “A lot of people don’t celebrate Christmas for the right reason.”

“What do you think is the right reason?” my wife inquired.

“Jesus birth!” came the retort. Then after a moment of thought he retracted, “Well, Jesus wasn’t born during Christmas, but we make it his birth. Why don’t you celebrate it, are you another religion?”

It’s not everyday that someone asks about what you believe.

My wife gladly responded, “I’m a Christian, but I find when I don’t celebrate I have more chances to tell the right gospel. We are not saved by his birthday, but by his death, burial, and resurrection.”

They later exchanged greetings and names for future conversations.

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“Are you doing anything for Christmas?” she asked excitedly.

“Nothing.” I said. “It will be good to do nothing. Stay home. Do some things we wanted to get done. Relax.”

You could hear the changed tone in her voice at the thought of having a day of nothing, peace, and quiet (1 Tim 2:2-3).

“That sounds nice. I still have shopping to do, and have three different places to be in one day,” she sighed.

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“Christmas is Christian!” they defended.

“I see. So you go to your church on Christmas to be with other Christians? The Catholic churches are all open on Monday.”

“Well, no, I’m not Catholic,” they justified.

“Christmas is not Catholic?”

“I guess it is, but my church is closed. I celebrate it at home. My whole family gathers together to celebrate,” they boasted.

“Oh, your whole family is Christian?”

“Well, no,” they said despondently.

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You don’t have to celebrate Christmas to minister the gospel of Christ during the holiday season. In fact, glorying in the cross requires putting off the baggage of what has become a cultural mass of confusion.

For the glory of the cross of Christ,

Justin “grace and peace” Johnson