Co-Mission is committed to planting and strengthening churches throughout London to reach the lost for the glory of God. We want to reach people who wouldn’t normally come to church to hear about Jesus. Here are two examples of Co-Mission churches using the opportunity of Christmas to present guests with their need for a Saviour.
Christ Church Balham held its annual ‘carols in a pub’ service with a unique twist – mashing up traditional carols with pop music! This has become CCB’s biggest outreach event of the year. The theatre at the Bedford Pub in Balham was packed with friends and family of churchgoers, as well as those in the pub curious at the merriment. All enjoyed belting out carols with the ten-piece band, to a mix of merry renditions of Take On Me by Aha (or Angels from the Realms of Glory), Giant by Rag’n’Bone Man (or See Amid the Winter’s Snow) and All the Small Things by Blink 182 (or O Come All Ye Faithful).
Recalibrating expectations
Andy Palmer gave a message on recalibrating expectations of Christmas. Most people, he said, either set their expectations of Christmas ludicrously high or pessimistically low. ‘Our Bible readings tonight clearly encourage us to set very high expectations for Christmas. Because in Christ we are told to expect a Saviour. In Christ we meet God Himself. If you make your Christmas, or your life, about anything else, no matter how good those things might be, your expectations will always fall short. You’ll be left disappointed, because we’ve been made for so much more.’
