Affinity Evangelism

Now there was a small church with a great facility and a skilled chef as a parishioner who planned a fabulous breakfast with Santa.  The program ran from about 9:00 am to 11:30 am on a Saturday morning just three weeks before Christmas.

As people entered the facility teens were dressed like Christmas elves to welcome everyone.  The church held a prize drawing that day so there was a registration table that collected people's contact information as they entered.  Their fellowship hall was decorated with lights and snowflakes to make it a festive space.

A delicious pancake breakfast was served by the church youth group.  People were served individually instead of buffet-style to make as much people contact as possible.  The church pianist played Christmas carols as background music though some people sang along for some of the songs.

During breakfast, the church used their video projector and ran an announcement loop with some interesting facts about Christmas, some humorous slides about the church and a schedule of holiday services.

After breakfast, the pastor gathered all the kids together and read them the legendary story about the making of candy canes.  The room fell silent and kids and adults alike listened intently.  As he finished the story, the pastor stood and addressed the whole room.  He retold the Christmas story from the Bible and shared the gospel message that this baby Jesus would grow to become the savior of the whole world.  He explained why Jesus is really the reason for the season and invited people to pray with him to receive Christ.  As he finished praying, the pianist played Joy To the World (with the words projected on the wall).

At last the moment all had been waiting for, Santa came out to greet everyone with candy canes and a sack of prizes to give away.  His chair was set up near the Christmas tree and the kids were given opportunity to get their picture taken with Santa.  All promotional pieces encouraged people to bring their camera but the church took pictures for people who forgot theirs or didn't have one.  After pictures Santa drew three names for the prize drawing and sent home some kids with early Christmas presents.

The pastor then closed the event by thanking everyone for coming and inviting them to Christmas services.  The teens handed out invitations.

As a last minute idea they invited people to stay and watch the Veggietale video The Star of Christmas projected on the wall.  The adults had planned to show it for their kids to keep them occupied while they were busy cleaning up.  (It made sense to them to invite everyone to watch it though that may have violated copyright laws.)

Now there are some who don't like promoting Santa in church because it is myth and for them it makes the church complicit in promoting Santa instead of Jesus.  I think they have a valid point.  But many people are going to go some where to take their kid to get their picture with Santa -- a department store, the mall, the library, the VFW, somewhere!  So why not utilize this opportunity to bless people and share about Christ?

The church mentioned above offered this event free of charge and spent less than $500.  In the weeks following they received thank you notes and calls from new friends who had a wonderful holiday experience.  And as they hoped a number of the visitors came for Christmas Eve services and heard the Gospel yet again.