Being bold with the gospel

There is no better time than Advent and Christmas to be bold in telling others about the gospel. Most people in Australia and New Zealand celebrate Christmas – whether Christian or not, they seem to resonate with the baby born in the manger.

We love singing carols and enjoying the peace the season can offer – when we’re not overwhelmed by the frantic nature of a secular Christmas! We also have a great opportunity to share God’s word and Jesus’ love among a world desperately needing his love and peace.

Lutheran Tract Mission (LTM) has produced new resources for Advent and Christmas. There are things for children, including our popular magnetic nativity and sticker Advent calendars, along with a new ‘Christmas Chatterbox’. Children can make the ‘chatterbox’ and adults can then play it with them – it’s an easy way to share God’s story.

There is also a new Advent downloadable devotional entitled ‘In God’s Family’ for your congregation to copy and share – even with neighbours and friends. One of our new Christmas bookmarks – ‘Joy to the World’ or ‘For you … Jesus was born’ – go well with the Advent devotional. You may also wish to add the leaflet ‘Born in a Manger’ to explain the significance of Jesus being born this way.

As Christmas approaches, congregations may wish to put the new LTM colouring-in nativity postcard in letterboxes to inform locals of your Advent and Christmas worship times. You could also add a text card – ‘Jesus is the Reason for the Season’ or ‘A silent night’ – with homemade biscuits to give to your neighbours.

LTM has more than 950 resources to be used to share God’s love, joy, comfort and peace – at Christmas and year-round. Check out the website: www.ltm.org.au

Anne Hansen is LTM Development Officer. LTM is an outreach ministry of the LLL.

• Visit www.lca.org.au/spread-the-word to find promotional materials (A5 flyers, PowerPoint slides and social media posts) to help you spread the word about our Story of the Week.
• Read the full Story of the Week and others like it in The Lutheran. 11 editions/year. Only $30 (digital) or $45 (print or print & digital – Aust), $47 (NZ). Gift subscriptions available. To subscribe: online www.thelutheran.com.au email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au phone 08 8360 7270.