Plan to Share the Good News This Christmas

December 4, 2023

When Jesus was taken up to heaven, he left us with the Great Commission. A command to tell others the Good News. 

So, how often are you sharing the Good News? I know a lot of people

who are enjoying the Good News but rarely take the time to tell others

the Good News. The main reason is we’re too busy. We’ve got too

many other things going on.

But, what if we made time and a plan to share the Good News with

others this holiday season? What does that look like practically?

Here are four ways to share the Good News this Christmas.

1. Pray for your friends and family.

Do you pray for your friends and family? Sounds simple, doesn’t

it? Yet many of us miss this basic part or our sharing the Good News.

Make a list of people that you would like to hear the Good News for

their life. You should already have one or two or three people on that

list. Who are three people who are friends or family of yours who don’t

know the Good News in a personal way? Get them in your mind right now.

Let’s pray for them right now.  

“Dear Father, help _____ to experience the Good News of salvation and

Christmas this year. Help them to connect with you and state a

relationship with you. Show me my role in helping them come to

understand the good news.  Amen.”

Make a list and take the time to talk to God about them because you

care about them to hear the Good News that’s made a difference in your

life.  

2. Serve someone.

Jesus tells us that He did not come to be served but to serve. What

better way to celebrate Christmas than to serve someone? There are

a thousand ideas out there. Let me give you just a couple ideas to get

started.  

Sponsor an ODH Child – You can feed and educate a

child in Haiti for only $25/mo. We have over 500 kids at Open Door

Church. Every family can afford to sponsor one. It costs less than a

dollar a day. 

Give Gift Cards – Some of you have been bringing by

gift cards to the church office. I’ve been giving them out to families

who have been struggling. These gifts are truly changing their family’s

Christmas. Every family has said, “Thank you so much.” 

I want to thank those of you who have given the cards. You’re making a difference in the lives of others this year.

Invest In Relationships – For some, the holiday

season is a joyous time of celebration with loved ones. For others, the

holiday season is difficult, because they are alone. Maybe they lost a

loved one, maybe this is the first Christmas they are spending alone,

maybe their family lives far away and they couldn’t be with them this

holiday season. Whoever that person is in your life, invite them over.

Make some room at your table this Christmas. Serve them.

Serve someone this Christmas. Find someone who’s hurting and tell

them the Good News of Christmas. Jesus was born into this world to

let hurting people know that there is hope. One of the things

that bothers me about Christmas and probably bothers you too is

that during this time of the year that Jesus came to say, “I give you

hope,” some people feel the most hopeless. 

There’s something about Christmas that turns up the volume of whatever

we’re going through in our lives. If things are good it makes

them seem even better. But when things are bad it makes it feel even

more hopeless. We can change that. Let’s change that. Just one person at

a time this Christmas. Find someone who’s without hope and share with

them that there is hope this Christmas.  

3. Start a Christmas discussion group at work.

You could grab a book like Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christmas and

say, “Let’s get together once a week. We’ll read a chapter and get

together and talk about what we read and what Christmas is all

about.” You can invite followers of Christ at your place of work or

people who want to learn what it means to follow Christ. Just get

together and talk about the real Christmas.  

4. Invite someone to SCC this year.

Christmas Eve Services – Christmas Eve is coming up.

Don’t come alone. Invite somebody to come with you. Take one of the

invite cards and say, “you want to come?”  

People are often looking for a place to go on Christmas Eve, for

their family to go. Invite them. During this time of year people are the

most open to attending a church service (where they will hear the Good

News by the way) because they are either searching for hope or don’t

want to spend it alone.

Plus, it’s a great event to invite your believing friends and your

non believing friends. Every year we make it snow in the parking lot.

Even if you have never invited anyone to a church event before, make a

choice this year to be bold and invite someone who needs to hear a

message of hope. Bring your friends!

These are just

a few ideas. You could probably come up with four or five more. You

don’t have to do all them all. You could do one or two of them.  The

point is plan. Plan to do something to share the Good News this Christmas.