Where do you place Christmas in the story of salvation? Your answer to this question reveals much about your understanding of the gospel. And it will powerfully shape the way you approach the festive season, evangelistically.
Some consider Christmas to be, essentially, the beginning of the story. Forgetting the Old Testament, this telling of the tale starts in Bethlehem, but climaxes far away at Golgotha. On this understanding, Christmas is the opening five minutes of the biopic, but the real action happens much further down the line.
Evangelistic dilemma
If you think like this then December will present you with a serious evangelistic dilemma. On the one hand you know the popular appeal of Christmas. People love mince pies, Christingles and nativity plays. So you may gladly leaflet the locality and invite your neighbours to carols by candlelight, but all along you wonder: ‘Am I using Christmas as the bait, when my real intention is to present a quite different message?’
The dangers of over or underdosing the gospel
In 2023, my sister was diagnosed with Stage 1B breast cancer. She immediately underwent four months of initial chemotherapy followed …