Dear Friends,

So here we are, in November already, with only a matter of weeks to go before we arrive at Christmas and then another year will have reached its climax. It’s generally this time of year when we shift our focus towards Christmas events like the Christmas Experience in schools, Christmas Alive and our Carol Service at church. Can I take this opportunity to encourage you to consider what you could help at or participate in as we enter this busy season?

Have some fun in the season of rejoicing! Christmas Alive is a wonderful opportunity to have fun meeting people we don’t normally see in Church. The high quality production of last year will be even better this time around and will be run over 2 days. The Bethlehem village will be back and we now offer the event on the great reputation we have built from last year. Please sign up to help out in any way you can by filling in your details on the sheets in the foyer.

The Christmas Experience is also a brilliant way of sharing the message of Christmas with children and staff in schools. Our Kidz Klub team will be going into a multitude of schools this December, giving kids the opportunity to make the connection between the birth of Jesus as our Saviour, and the more worldly experience they have of the day of celebration as they know it. Please talk to Maryanne or Matt Beckett if you can volunteer with this invaluable ministry.

Christmas Alive and the Carol Service are wonderful opportunities to invite people to come to church to hear the story of the birth of Jesus in a very innovative and interactive way, so please make the most of the event. There will be an abundance of invitations available to take to your family, friends, neighbours and everybody else you know (or even people you don’t know yet). The same applies to the Carol Service which we will held on 22nd December. I want to encourage you to be bold when you think of inviting people to come to events. I was recently challenged to spend an hour a week talking to someone about Jesus. The challenge isn’t to convert someone, or to achieve great success in evangelising them, but just to have a conversation about Jesus.

So I’ve been looking for opportunities to start some conversations. The great thing is that people expect to hear something about Christmas from churches because very often, that’s what they associate Church with. If you have a handful of invitations with you, starting those conversations is remarkably easy.

It’s November and it’s definitely not too early to start inviting people now. By the time you read this article, I can guarantee that the shops will have had their Christmas wares on sale for a while. I spotted the first few items in the shops in September – which is too early! Psalm 66:5 says “Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.” It’s that simple – you just say, “Why don’t you come and see?”

Be blessed as you go!

Paul