Making Christ Known at Christmas
Ideas for Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ in December
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Think about it.
Why designate December as a special month for Evangelism?
A real evangelistic opportunity awaits us all again (individually and corporately) in less than a month and a half. Considering the darkness in our troubled world and the fear of what the future holds – how could we not intentionally share the good news of God’s grace with those who have no hope?
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Isaiah 9:6
The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 1John 4:14
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1Timothy 1:15
There are still millions of people around the world who expect to hear something about Christ at Christmas time. In the spirit of the season, many are more pleasant, receptive, and tolerant in December than at any other time. Others are new to our country and yours, and they know very little about the meaning of Christmas. December is a rare annual window of opportunity when more people are more receptive to hearing the good news about Jesus Christ.
Is there anything more to Christmas than the fabled Santa Claus? Let them know there is! And what’s this about beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree? Let them know about the Gift Who hung on a tree. And why are there millions of lights? Tell them about the Light of the World. Listen to them ask: “What about the miniature stable and manger ornaments? Is there something in your faith tradition that makes those things important to you? What do they symbolize?” Let’s find as many ways as possible to tell them.
Let’s leverage the month of December to maximize the spread of the good news of Christ!
At this point, there is no particular order to the list below. We invite you to email other ideas and help us grow the list. Click Here to email us your ideas, thoughts and experiences.
Ideas for Sharing Christ in December
Booths and Displays
- Give a Bible for Christmas promotion. Nice Bibles can be purchased in bulk at excellent prices. Have a large display banner made by a sign shop. “Give a Bible This Christmas – the Gift that Lasts Forever“
Have your computer and printer available to print personalized labels for the inside cover. (To, From, Date and a Comment). Wrap it attractively. Have some freebies to give out as well. Ensure you have a schedule for volunteers to take turns working at the booth.
Tell people about the benefits of having a Bible App installed on their phone. Help them download a Bible App and show them how it works.
Drive-Thru Hot Chocolate
Select a couple of the most trafficked hours on the street by your local church and set up a well-marked drive-through area. Make a huge sign reading: “Free Hot Chocolate! 1-minute drive-through. Merry Christmas!” You may be able to obtain permission to hold it at a highly visible location, such as a prominent corner of a large parking lot, as a one-time event. Purchase lidded disposable cups and hot cocoa ingredients with marshmallows, sprinkles, and whipped topping. Have a team quickly prepping the drinks and a separate team joyfully serving as cars drive through. Give each person a warm smile, a friendly greeting, a hot cup of cocoa, and a printed card with a suitable Gospel verse on it and a Christmas greeting. Have some cheerful Christmas music playing.
Christmas Crafts
- Gospel Christmas Ornaments can be given to your neighbours, Sunday School homes, co-workers and others. Click here to email for help.
Baking, Cooking & Treats
- Bake some homemade cookies or Christmas’ goodies’, package them attractively with a season-appropriate Gospel tract or a calendar enclosed. Neighbours, co-workers, and teachers enjoy these treats.
- Prepare a muffin or cookie mix and put it in jars. Tie the jar up nicely / decoratively, attach a card and distribute it to the neighbours.
- Make sure you are friendly at the door – not abrupt, wanting to ‘dash’ to the next house. Take a moment to introduce yourself and who or what you represent —if you are participating as part of a local Christian fellowship outreach. Ask them if everything is okay, and tell them you hope they have a very nice Christmas and a fulfilling New Year. If they share a problem, illness, or sadness with you, be sure to tell them you will pray for them – and make sure to do so.
- Attach to your baked goods your personal story of what Christ means to you, using the well-known Christmas verse: “You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.”
- Host a Neighbourhood Cookie Exchange – everyone enjoys Christmas baking. People are always looking for variety, as well as something even better than they’ve tasted before. Invite neighbours over for a cookie exchange, coffee, apple cider and chit-chat. Building relationships is a critical first step to effectively sharing the Gospel with them.
- As a group of Christians, make baskets of freshly baked goods for struggling families, with a personal invite to a Gospel supper held in your meeting facility around Christmas time.
“The local assembly is putting together approximately forty food and goodie baskets for Sunday School families. We will have our usual Christmas program, where the Sunday School kids will quote verses, narrate the Birth of Christ, and serve a Christmas dinner.” December 2024
- Buy a few gift mugs and fill them with candy and attach a little card, fridge magnet or calendar that says what you want it to say.
- Candy canes are primarily for children. Maybe include a few verses printed on the wrapper or perhaps an abbreviated version of the Gospel object lesson on the candy cane. Candy symbolism: White = sinlessness of Jesus; Hard candy = solid rock Christ Jesus; “J” shape = Jesus’ name & Good Shepherd’s staff; Red stripes = Christ’s suffering at the Cross
- Invite some neighbourhood kids over to your place and teach them how to make and bake Christmas candies and cookies – and informally discuss the meaning of Christmas with them.
- Make some finger-food snacks and invite your neighbours over on a Saturday evening for an Open House to get acquainted. Where do you work? Where do you like to travel? Do you attend a church?
You don’t have to send them home with tracts or a Bible – just being in your Christian home and seeing Scripture texts on your walls, a Bible on your table offered and hearing the ‘giving of thanks’ for the refreshments – all of that makes a huge impact on first-time visitors to your home. Don’t overdo it in your zeal.
We had planned an open house for our street the very day this post arrived. It was a great afternoon. If you are considering hosting one, I’d say go for it!! Three-quarters of our street came in and stayed beyond the 4-6PM time slot! But, best of all, they almost all said they had always wanted to do it. As for food, they just helped themselves. We didn’t do any preaching but had our bibles lying around! They left, already talking of a summer bbq! Do it. God will help you.
Christmas Parade
“This year, we once again entered a float in the local Christmas Parade. The community seemed to appreciate our effort, and we received a positive response to the Christmas-themed items that our volunteers handed out along the parade route.” December 2024
We have done this very successfully in our hometown. Once we didn’t build a float once and just walked, sang gospel songs [carols], and handed out gospel tracts with candy in a bag with a coupon for hot chocolate at a booth on the street we set up! Very busy! November 2025
Cards, Newsletters and Family Pictures
- There are Gospel-themed Christmas cards available. Software also exists for making your own. Each year, people receive fewer hard-copy cards in the mail. That means if you start sending cards now, yours will be noticed and appreciated more than they were in the past, when so many cards were delivered to our mailboxes. This is an excellent time for Christians to revive and re-double our mail-out efforts. There is a far greater chance our cards will be noticed and read.
“In an era where many no longer send out Christmas cards, we’re sending out 200, each with a clear gospel message on the back, featuring several great verses. We have obtained a supply of a small booklet that is theologically sound and uses only Bible verses and beautiful graphics to tell the story of Jesus and salvation. It is called “Peace With God.” We give them out at gas stations, restaurants, drive-throughs, hotels, and have never had one refused. The assembly has reprinted five tracts we have written and used in the past, and the believers each have a supply to pass out. Somewhat related, at Halloween, we gave out 325 bags to those who came to the hall, packed with the Gospel in various ways.” December 2024
- If your supply of cards refers to ‘joy’ or ‘peace’ in the text, consider handwriting a thought-provoking question after those words such as: “I trust you have real peace every day of the year.”
- If you send an annual family update, be sure to include references to how the Lord has been working in your life over the past year and the joy of knowing Christ. Avoid being preachy.
- People love receiving hard-copy family pictures! If you send out an annual family picture, spend an extra dollar or two for double-sided printing. Colour on one side, black and white on the other. Include a beautiful text, such as John 3:16, on the back of it, along with your email address and a gospel-focused website. Don’t just send your family picture to Christian friends — try focusing on old friends and old acquaintances in your past who probably don’t know Christ. Surprise them with a hard copy picture of your family. A beautiful way to let them know you are a Christian when they see a Bible verse on the card.
- If you have poetic ability, write a poem about the true meaning of Christmas or about what Christ means to you. Set it up nicely on a piece of season-sensitive paper and include it in your card mail-out. Tell your friend you are sharing a poem you wrote. If you are the poet, they will read it. If you are not a poet, share a seasonal poem you enjoy. Many enjoy a short poem.
- Send Christmas cards to your local politicians and let them know you are praying for them and their families at this time of year. Be positive and nice.
Home Decorations and Messaging
We live in a neighbourhood where there are many walkers who walk past our home. We purchased two LED message boards (similar to what you might see in a restaurant displaying the day’s special.) They can be sourced online and are inexpensive. They are lit and come with a set of markers. We bought a stencil that has the words “Immanuel — God with us” on it and put this on the boards. We hung the boards in a visible places — one was inside and one was outside. The words can be written by hand and changed as often as desired. The board can be used at other times of the year, such as Easter. (see image below of the two LED Message Boards) January 2023
We had a new 10-foot banner made three years ago for a Christmas display in front of our house on the road. The banner shows an empty cradle, an empty cross and an empty cave—birth, crucifixion and resurrection. November 2025
Carol Singing and Gatherings
- Visit seniors’ complexes, special needs homes, group homes, addiction treatment centers, and sing Christmas carols with the residents/clients. If you would like them to focus on the words of the carols, provide copies for them to follow along with. Make sure the print font is large enough for people with poor vision. You may also want to include on each page a relevant Bible verse that they might read as the carol is being sung.
- Host an informal and casual community Christmas carol sing, and if appropriate for the venue. Share a short 10-minute PowerPoint Christmas message, followed by coffee, hot apple cider, sweets, etc.
“We have an acre of grass next to our building so we set up a 20×30 shelter alongside the building and advertised an outdoor carol sing. We had hay bales for the young and plastic chairs for the seniors. We brought half a dozen propane fire pits and roasted wieners, marshmallows and s’mores with desserts and hot chocolate available inside. We strung lights around the tent and laid LED light strings up the sidewalk. The atmosphere was very cozy! We advertised it on Facebook with signs and flyers. 40+ friends, neighbours and relatives came – it was most encouraging! We followed that up with a turkey dinner the next weekend in conjunction with our children’s program. Again, about thirty friends, neighbours and relatives came.” December 2024
- Host a Christmas Eve service
- Sunday Gospel Service immediately before Christmas Day
“We are hosting a carol sing preceding a Christmas gospel message on Sunday, December 22, with holiday refreshments to follow. The carols are illustrated and will be displayed on PowerPoint (with the background provided for some of the carols before they’re sung. There will be just one speaker, who will deliver a 15- to 20-minute Christmas PowerPoint gospel message focused on the Saviour’s birth and fulfillment of prophecy. We will advertise on Facebook to specific communities and groups we have been working with, as well as those in our immediate community. We will have the advertisement attached below on a sign outside our hall.” December 2024
- If you are confident that there will be a special seasonal Gospel message during Christmas week (as announced), invite a friend. Many people who never attend church will attend on Christmas Eve or during Christmas week for just one hour. Invite them to come and hear the good news about Jesus Christ coming into the world.
- Neighbourhood carolling – gather some friends together and spend a few hours going from door to door singing carols with Christ mentioned in the lyrics.
- Flash Mob Carol Sing – there are some excellent Christmas Flash Mob recordings. Don’t let the famous one you watch at the link provided discourage you. Yours can be a more scaled-back version, but it should still be highly memorable to all the shoppers and their children. Select some strong and talented Christian singers in your fellowship and let them lead. If you need more, invite some of your Christian friends from other areas to join and help out. Practise beforehand. Check out this famous Christmas Flash Mob link and let your heart be warmed.
- Teach your students some carefully selected Christmas carols. Even though you may not be permitted to promote your faith openly, you can more discreetly promote Christ through traditional carols that contain the basics of the Gospel message.
- Have your young children memorize songs or Scriptures about the birth of Christ, then have them perform it at your family Christmas gathering.
Coffee with Acquaintances from the Past
- Over the holidays is a natural time to connect with old friends. “I’m home for a few days, and I was just wondering if we could get together for a coffee for old times’ sake.”
Conversations Starters
- Encourage your circle of friends to individually bring up the subject of the Saviour’s purpose in coming to earth with at least one person they have never discussed this with before. Challenge each other and make sure you have a check-in afterward to talk about the encounters.
- Let people know that Christmas is your favourite time of year (if it is!). When they tell you that it is often a very lonely and sad time of year, you can tell them you understand why it is that way for so many – but for you, it is a season dedicated to celebrating the BEST GIFT ever.
- For friends who do not identify with the Christian faith, ask them about theirs. Ask when and what their religion’s most significant celebration is. Listen carefully and respectfully without any pushbacks. Then tell them about why Christmas and Easter are two very special times of the year for you.
- Ask a friend or co-worker: “How do you celebrate Christmas?” (expecting a reply.) Ask your friend what they did for Christmas Eve, and then tell them what you did on Christmas Eve.
Gift Exchange Family Traditions
- If many in your family do not know Christ, consider starting a family tradition of reading about the Birth of Christ from the Bible before exchanging gifts. Often, family members love to sit with a hot chocolate, eggnog or coffee and listen to a reading of the Birth of Christ. Make sure the person selected to do the reading is a ‘good’ reader!
Gift Ideas
- Books as gifts: Do some research on good Christian fiction that contains some Gospel truth. Someone recommended Max Lucado’s Christmas Kids Books – knowing that the parents are likely to read the books as well.
- If you find it challenging to order online, your local card shop may carry Hallmark’s “Card Books” which some have mentioned as suitable.
- Bible: A nicely bound, easy-to-read Bible, with the person’s name and giver’s name inscribed on the inside cover by a hobby-calligrapher or done up tastefully using a suitable computer font. Consider highlighting some suitable Gospel verses and using a few Post-It tags to make the Scriptures easy to find for people who know very little about the big book.
- Create your own favourite Christmas playlist with Gospel in the carols and save it to a flash drive. Give it to a friend to add to their collection of Christian music.
Gospel Calendar Distribution
- Some are printing their own calendars annually, using local scenes with a Gospel verse for each month. The local scenes are appealing to the locals! If they like the calendar, it will be visible for 365 days.
- Include a warm, friendly cover letter with the calendar, stating who you are, a brief paragraph of good news, and other pertinent details, including an invitation to hear the Gospel. You could also invite them to contact you at any time if they ever need prayer or help due to life circumstances.
- Make sure you are friendly at the door. Take a moment to introduce yourself and the organization you represent (if you are participating as a local church/assembly outreach); ask if everything is okay, and express your hope that they have a very nice Christmas and a fulfilling New Year.
- Buy a supply of pocket or wallet calendars with Gospel verses on them and distribute them to your friends at school, college, or work. Or insert the pocket calendars in little arrangements of homemade goodies.
- If you do a door-to-door calendar distribution, think about rounding up a bunch of young people to gather at each door to sing a couple of carols and then pass out the calendar as you are leaving for the next house.
“Last year we did this, and it gave us great joy: Take a box of International Bible House calendars to the orchestra and singers of a Handel’s Messiah concert. Decorate the inside of the top flaps to make an attractive self-contained display, with a note such as: “Thank you for the concert. In appreciation, please accept a free scripture calendar.” Note: Unless arrangements are made prior to the concert, speak with an usher as to what protocol should be followed to gift the conductor with the box after the concert. May God bless such efforts to show how scripture is treasured, not only in concerts but in printed calendars as well.” November 2025
Gospel Tracts
- Take some time to sample Christmas Gospel tracts available from various publishers/suppliers. Select tracts you are comfortable with.
- Insert attractive and appropriate Christmas Gospel tracts in your cards to friends and acquaintances.
- Carry a supply of Christmas Gospel tracts with you during December. When people ask you how your preparations for Christmas are going, share your hectic tales of crazy shopping and then tell them that the bright spot in Christmas is the remembrance of Christ. And give them the little tract. Don’t ask them if they would like to have the tract. Just say: “Speaking of Christmas, here’s a little paper on the meaning of Christmas. I hope you like it.”
- People who would never accept a tract during the other eleven months of the year are likely to take your tract in December because they are supposed to be ‘nice’ at Christmas time.
Christmas Gospel Messenger Postcard
- Once again, International Bible House is offering a new Christmas Gospel Messenger postcard for customization and distribution in your local area.
This is a 5.5-inch x 8.5-inch postcard, double-sided, printed on heavy glossy cardstock, fully customizable with your local assembly or personal contact information. Many people around Christmastime are willing to accept literature related to the season, making it a good time to share the gospel message.
The Christmas Gospel Messenger can be used to advertise a specific Christmas event you are hosting, your regular meetings, or any other purpose you may have. A sample of the Gospel Messenger (front and back) is displayed below.
We’re offering to print these at no cost with custom contact info for assemblies or individuals for distribution. Just let us know how many you can use, along with the information you would like included for the customizable area on the card. Printing is available only in the following set quantities: 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2500, 5000. If you are thinking of another quantity, please contact us to discuss available options.
The postcards will be ordered for you after approval of your customized draft and shipped directly to your address. We will accept orders until November 24, allowing for printing and delivery in time for distribution before Christmas. Click here for more details.
Websites, Social Media and Online Posts
- If your local fellowship has an online presence, prepare a suitable Christmas post and then elevate or boost it as an advertisement targeting the area you are interest in.
- If you are active online, make sure you use Christmas images and short posts about the meaning and relevance of Christmas. Do your research beforehand and find short videos or reels that you are comfortable sharing. Include links to blogs or websites that feature more on the Birth of Christ and His purpose for coming. Be prepared to go public starting December 15. Have your game-plan for posting Christmas material strategized beforehand.
- Ensure the content displayed on your website or in your blog for December takes advantage of the season. Consider making available material such as: Frequently Asked Questions about Jesus.
- Provide a forum for people to submit questions about Christmas, Christ and Christianity and provide timely responses.
- During December, post Christ-centered verses
- Do a ten-day countdown to Christmas on your social media accounts – post one Christmas-related Bible verse each of the ten days.
Other Ideas
- Go out for a walk alone and pray for your family, friends, and neighbours.
- Don’t stop doing good deeds throughout December. Keep volunteering. Continue to help seniors shovel their snowy sidewalks, put out their garbage, or assist them in putting up their lights.
Programs and Suppers
- Have a Sunday School Christmas Program before Christmas. Sunday School classes can recite verses, poems, or perform songs or brief skits related to the Gospel, with a special focus on why Christ came into the world.
- Have a meal before or after the Christmas program. Invite parents and neighbours to the event.
- Rent the local school gym as a neutral space. Host a neighbourhood traditional Christmas dinner with all the trappings. Have the Sunday School students put on a play with a Christmas theme.
- Include some Christmas carol singing; read the Biblical account of the Birth of Christ, etc. The emcee doesn’t have to ‘preach’ the Gospel. Good emcees will be able to nicely fit one or two-line statements about God’s love for sinners as they introduce each item on the program. Distribute Christian Christmas materials as a door prize.
- Check with your local multicultural society to see if new immigrants are arriving in your town who may not be familiar with Christianity. If there are, host a special supper for newcomers to your country and have a program that explains to them who Christ is, when and why He came the first time, etc.
“We have had Christmas dinners for new immigrants either as organized community events complete with Christmas tree set up, turkey dinner, and Christmas message or as having some new immigrant families into our home to share our Christmas with us. At any of these events, we would share the Christmas story and the history of Christmas traditions (e.g. Christmas tree -> the trees in the life of Christ, manger/palm branches/cross; candy cane -> red=blood; white=cleansed; green=growing; St. Nicholas and gift-giving -> the greatest gift of Christmas).”