Christmas Evangelism
21/10/2009 9:00 am <>
On the first of November each year, giant inflatable Santa Clauses and synthetic Christmas trees replace Halloween costumes in the window of the LED shop on Taichung’s Wen Hsin Road. Other shops soon follow with Christmas tree lights and festive cards. Starbucks begins to offer seasonal Toffee Nut Lattes and pipe Christmas music to its customers. By early December massive Christmas trees dominate the entrance malls of department stores. On Christmas Eve itself up to 10,000 students from all over the city gather at Tunghai University for an outdoor disco. Many similar activities occur across Taichung and, indeed, the whole Island
Though it is possible to decry this commercialization of Christmas, in practice the raised public awareness creates a tremendous opportunity for churches to reach out with the gospel. People are much more open to invitations to Christian events and most congregations are successful in inviting friends to carol services where there is usually a lively program and a full-house. Even at the Tunghai University dance the Chaplain’s office is given a short spot to explain the meaning of Christmas.
This has meant good sowing of the gospel seed over the years but in many cases there is not much immediate growth in church membership after Christmas. A number of factors are at play, including the fact that Chinese New Year follows soon after Christmas. One factor may be that so much energy and planning goes into inviting and rehearsing the program that little is left for follow-up.
Early in its life, 11-12 years ago Banner Church Taichung began to seek ways to overcome this phenomenon. When the congregation size was only around 70 they were able to hold a Christmas event for 1000 people. Rapid follow-up meant that 50 newcomers attended ‘abundant life’ groups in the weeks immediately following and half a year later 25 of these were regularly attending church and many had been baptized.
This year Banner Church, with attendance of over 2000 has already begun its build-up to Christmas. Evangelistic cell groups have run from October and Thanksgiving has been ‘borrowed’ from American culture to provide an opportunity to invite friends to hear testimonies. From December 19-27 it is hoped that 7000 people will attend ten special evangelistic services. The weekend after will see the church’s 15th anniversary where hopefully many of the Christmas attendees will join us for a celebration of what God has done. An abundant life series leads up to Chinese New Year and then new evangelistic groups will seek to reach the relationship networks of those who have settled in the church.
For Sharon Huang, Christmas will always be a special season. A few years ago she responded to the Christmas message at Banner’s Kaohsiung church. At her baptism the following Easter her sister and a friend gave their lives to Christ and a while later her mother, a Taoist temple worker, also believed. Her sister is now on the staff of another church and, after a year’s training in Taichung, Sharon has returned to be a full time leader in Kaohsiung. This Christmas she will be sharing the good news to many as part of the Christmas outreach there. May Sharon’s experience be repeated many times this year through the outreach of churches across Taiwan.
Andy Wilson
Back