For many, Christmas is a season filled with opportunity to share the good news of Jesus in creative, welcoming and meaningful ways. Churches and ministries have been using Lifewords’ Bible resources to open conversations, build relationships and gently share the message of hope at the heart of Christmas.

At Torrance Parish Church just outside Glasgow, Lifewords’ resources have become a part of community outreach. Mhorag Murphy shared: “The Lifewords' resources have been a rich blessing to our church, village community of Torrance and beyond. The pocket-sized books have been an ideal way to gently introduce the Gospel to others during outreach activities and enable us all to be disciples of God in our every-day lives.”

She continued: "Last year, a joint initiative was recently organised with another church in the village to produce a Christmas card for delivery to over 1000 houses. A group of volunteers spent a lovely afternoon placing a Little Book of Advent inside each card while listening to Christmas music. The cards and booklets have been delivered and are another example of the many ways that Lifewords' resources can help us to share messages of hope, faith and love with our community.”

In Coventry, Lifewords’ resources have also supported a wide range of projects addressing practical and spiritual needs. Darren from Coventry City Mission shared:

“Many of our projects centre around food or common interests. Our ‘Pay what you can’ café, senior lunch club and men’s breakfast all provide food at no or little cost, but allow us to welcome our customers in, sit them down and get to know them. We also host groups with a more Christian theme like a weekly café church and bible study group.”

He explained how having Christian materials readily available makes a real difference: “We also offer help through listening, helping with forms, signposting or prayer. As we sit with people, it is always useful to have Christian materials around to offer or for those we support to take away with them. We meet many people who have an underlying interest in faith and being able to chat with them in a non-threatening way is really helpful.”

“Our most recent project is the Giving Tree, which for the last 30 years has provided Christmas presents for disadvantaged children across the city. All of the toys/gifts are new and donated by churches, groups, families and individuals. We were able to provide presents for over 600 families last year, which was a new record. We put on distribution parties where the families collect the gifts and can join in with craft activities and enjoy refreshments. Each family receives information about the work of the Mission alongside an invitation to our other projects and each family is offered a booklet that explains the Christmas story.”

Last year, the team shared Little Book of Advent, OUTSIDE/IN, The True Light, Meet the Cast and A Story for the Whole World. Darren reflected: “They were really appreciated. Because they are so varied in style and target age group it was really easy to get into conversation with people about them and we would see families take a number of different ones to give to different family members.”

He added: “Also, during December our projects have Christmas parties, carol services and Christingles and the Lifewords resources were once again helpful to give out and chat about. Even while dressed as an inflatable oven ready turkey at our café church carol service I was able to give Christmas resources out.”

This year, Hertford Baptist Church ordered copies of Meet the Cast to share with families at the Hertford Christmas Gala – a festive celebration including a Christmas market, music and theatre performances and a Christmas lights switch-on. The church hosted a stall and facilitated the community carol singing in the town square.

As Helen from the church explains: “This is something that our town council asks us to be part of, in order to have a Christian presence at the event, it’s a major outreach opportunity for our church.”

Similarly, In Gloucestershire, Stroudwater Team of Churches have been putting together goody bags containing resources like A Story for the Whole World to share at local Christmas festivals and events throughout the Advent and Christmas period.

Thank you to everyone who ordered and shared Lifewords Bible resources over the Christmas season, helping to tell the Christmas story and bring hope, faith and love in your communities and contexts.

‍

‍