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osted by Christine Hall
Most of us have a desire to share the Gospel, but we don’t know how. A very easy way to do that is by hosting an evangelistic Christmas Gathering—a holiday party featuring seasonal treats, sharing of Christmas traditions and a brief, non-threatening gospel message.
When I began my walk with Christ I attended a Bible study that came out of a Christmas Gathering. I had never studied the Bible before and the materials were very easy to use. I have since hosted Christmas Gatherings for co-workers, neighbors and mothers at my children’s school. This year my husband and I are hosting one for an apartment complex in our city. I am convinced that hosting a Christmas Gathering is one of the easiest and most effective ways to share my faith.
I will say that I don’t know if sharing my faith is ever comfortable for me. But it is worth it. I’m glad someone took the risk to tell me about Christ. I was very afraid to share Christ with the people I knew. But I had to be willing to risk what other people thought of me if I really cared about them and where they’re spending eternity. Are you willing to risk your reputation for the sake of the gospel?
We provide training, which will be held from 6:15-8:30p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9th at Sonshine Center in Menasha. You will see a demonstration of what actually happens during a Gathering and discuss everything from spiritual preparation to follow up. The cost is $12 and includes a detailed instruction manual.
A trained speaker will be provided for your Gathering (or you can choose your own speaker and have them attend training the same night). Speakers are given a clear presentation of the gospel which they personalize and share at your Gathering.
To register, please call Doris Steinberg at 751-3855 or pick up a brochure at the information station in the CTR lobby.
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2 responses so far ↓
Rob // November 10, 2009 at 10:16 am
Thanks Christine! I’m a small group leader in a church on the outskirts of Toronto, Canada. I’ve been looking for a group missional activity for this Christmas and your idea sounds great! Is there a link from Campus Crusade or any other resourse that explains the nuts and bolts of an effective “Christmas Gathering” outreach program?
From your experience, perhaps you could suggest the most important aspects to focus on when hosting a Christmas Gathering for non-believers & believers (ie things you found worked well or things you would do differently now that you’ve done this a few times).
Also, how are you promoting/marketing your “apartment complex” gathering this year?
Finally, how do you transition interested seekers from the Christmas Gathering to a small group, or church, etc.
Any other tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for all your help!!
Chris Hall // November 10, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Hi Rob,
I’m excited about your interest in Christmas Gatherings. I’ll try to answer each of your questions as best I can…
Everything you need to host or speak at a Gathering can be found on their website at http://www.christmasgatherings.com. I attended live training in my area, but the website contains a DVD training for hosts and speakers and the resource manual provides very thorough and in depth answers to just about any question you could have.
I think the most important aspect to focus on is prayer. Pray for who to invite, for your speaker, for God to remove obstacles…bathe the whole thing from start to finish in prayer and leave the results up to Him as well.
I think it works best to invite a group of people who have something in common. My first Gathering consisted of women in my life I had been praying for, but the only thing they had in common was that they all knew me. I would still do it the same though because I had really prayed over who to invite, but it was a little socially awkward in the beginning.
Also, in training they suggest having a helper during the Gathering, that way you can focus on your guests and the helper can focus on refreshments.
As far as the apartment Gathering, we have a relationship with some people who live in the complex. We have been blessed with fruit trees and this fall we brought over pears and apples for the people in the complex and were able to at least say hi to a few others. We plan to go door to door to hand out invitations and we rented a room at a nearby bowling alley so we would have a large enough area to accommodate a big group. However, even if no one shows up, I still believe we are planting seeds and the Lord will do with it as He sees fit.
As far as transitioning people to a small group, they cover that in training as well. Hosts usually offer to begin a follow up Bible study with anyone interested. Stonecroft Ministries has some great Bible study materials for people who’ve never studied the Bible. I know first hand that they are easy to use if you’ve never studied the Bible because I was one of those people!
I’m excited to be a part of what God is doing in Canada. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions you may have, but I think they will all be covered in depth in the resource manual.