Sharing Your Faith in Ordinary Ways this Christmas

Good Christian girls like us know we should be sharing Christ at Christmas. Yet for a long time, I never thought about doing it, perhaps because outside of church no one had ever role-modeled for me sharing the gospel. Plus, all my friends were already Christians. 

Then one day, I was in the backseat of a taxi on a rainy night in the Middle East when out of nowhere my friend Miriam, a Syrian refugee, asked our Muslim driver if he knew Jesus. 

“No,” he said. “Who is Jesus?” 

I was stunned she asked that and all I could think was “We’re going to get killed!” 

I don’t know how you might have handled the situation. I panicked. Once I realized we were safe and that our driver was curious, I settled in and listened to the spiritual conversation unfolding. It was a holy moment. Before we stepped out of our taxi, Miriam had shared the gospel of Jesus and connected him with fellow Christians. 

Did I Want to Share Christ?

Her bold witness challenged me because Miriam was not some super-Christian missionary. She was an ordinary believer like me. The only difference between us was that she was motivated to share her faith. I wasn’t. 

That moment with Miriam was a reckoning. I saw her take to heart Jesus’ command to be His witness and tell non-believers around her the good news (see Acts 1:8). In contrast, I hadn’t been thinking about it. The Lord might have been wooing people to Himself all around me and I never noticed. I was doing all the good-girl things like taking Bible studies, raising my family, and pursuing the American dream. I didn’t think I had the bandwidth to tell someone about Jesus in my daily life, especially at Christmas. I was wrong.

Changed thoughts. Changed actions.

God used Miriam as a catalyst to grow my faith. I began to think that if Miriam could live as an authentic Christian witness around her daily life, maybe I could, too. A lot has happened since that taxi ride. Now I’m boldly sharing my Christian faith and helping others do the same.

I don’t know where you are on your faith journey. Maybe you’re already sharing Jesus in your cul-de-sac, like Miriam. If that’s you, I’m cheering you on. 

If not, that’s okay. Give yourself grace and start now. Christmas is an especially easy time to begin. You can model sharing Christ for your children or grandchildren. Plus, your intentional, humble witness can have eternal significance for someone who doesn’t know about Salvation in Jesus. 

Follow these three steps to authentically share Christ this Christmas. In the process, you just might start a new Christmas family tradition.

• Invite an immigrant, international student, or refugee family to be your guest at a Christmas Eve service at your church, followed by dinner with your family. God is bringing people here from the world’s least-reached nations. They are raising up their children to follow God as they know Him. It’s easy to forget that many don’t know the reason behind the Christmas season. You can change that. Don’t know who to invite? Your church, local refugee resettlement agency, or international study organization can help.

• Next, put your guests at ease by telling them what to expect. Explain what to wear and what they will experience when they attend the Christmas Eve service with you. Plan to invite them to your home before the service so that you can ride to church together. During the ride cover things like, “Families will be sitting together. There will be music. Our pastor will share a message from the Bible about why Jesus came to earth.” It’s helpful to share a preview of the gospel by reading, then briefly unpacking the Christmas story in Luke before they hear the message at church.

• Debrief the experience together. It’s fun to watch other-faith friends experience the Christmas message through fresh eyes. Over dinner after the service, ask curious questions like, “What stood out to you?” Rely on the prompting of the Holy Spirit to guide your steps. 

Be encouraged. God has been using women like you for thousands of years to contribute to the spread of the gospel. Most didn’t move across the world. They started small right where they lived. Now it’s your turn. I’m cheering you on.