Thursday, December 15, 2011

Happy Birthday Jesus Celebration

In the very early days of my ministry there was a family who celebrated Christmas by having a big “Happy Birthday Jesus” celebration and, while they made it a lot of fun for the kids, they thought the best present to give would be an additional offering to the church that their family all contributed towards. When I heard about this and thought it through…and then considered the time that this family took in going about this, I felt it would be a great idea to introduce this to our church. I began this in about my second year of being a Pastor and it has always been a special time for our family and fellowship. Last year, our fellowship had a wonderful time doing this and I believe this year will be even better. On Sunday night we will have a very unique worship service then we will have a time to bring our gifts to the altar as a family. I want to encourage you to use this week to allow your younger children to make cards to package your gift and use this as a teaching time to explain what this holiday is all about. Share with them the importance of the cradle because it led Christ to the cross. Use this to herald the gospel to your children! This is a holiday which the world, Santa Claus and parties have all clouded the great gospel message. Don’t waste the opportunity we have as a church body to have fun, but also focus on Christ during this all too busy time of the year. Don’t forget to be here Sunday evening as we will have a time worship, praise and food at the end of our service. I am looking forward to how God is going to use this time in our fellowship at Trinity!