GBC Community Update: Christmas is a time to go

Good morning! I hope you’re making this a great week.  The church is decorated, my office is decorated and things look very festive. Its easy for me to get caught up in all the trappings of Christmas. I need to remember to pause in all the activities of the season and reflect on the meaning- Immanuel has come!
 
 
Community Carol Sing Update
As has been already shared, on Sunday December 19 at 7pm we’re having another outdoor community Christmas carol sing. Though we could do it inside, last year was a special night and we want to do it again. We’d also like to invites our neighbors (and your friends too!) to join us.  So, we’ll be distributing postcard invitations in the area starting next week. If you have some time, would like to get some exercise and would be willing to not only drop postcards in the area but pray for the neighborhood as you do it, I’d appreciate the help. Let me know if you can help out!
 
 
Join us on Sunday in-person or on our livestream for our Christmas series-Faithful
This Sunday at 11am we continue our Christmas series: “Faithful”.  We are looking at characters involved with the nativity and what it means to be faithful as they seek to serve or understand a faithful God.  This Sunday Patrick will continue to look at this.
Remember, you can join us as we gather in-person or you can connect through our website www.guelphbiblechapel.ca  our YouTube channel as well as Facebook LIVE.
 
 
Thought for the day: At Christmas, it’s go, not come!
One of my favorite Christmas carols is ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’. That invitation to the messiah, the savior to the world, is a cry from the heart.  But he HAS come (and is coming again!) so now that means we’re to GO!
The tendency during the Christmas season is to focus on inviting people to come, rather than going to them. We plan events and parties, inviting people to come to them. And often they do come. More people attend church at Christmas than any other time of the year. These events have an impact, no doubt. After Christmas though, many never return. So here’s where we see a need for balance in activities.
We invite people to programs, like our carol sing. That’s great, but its only the starting point.  It’s also not the same as making disciples. Could Christmas become more about disciple-making and not only about inviting people to church?
As I’ve been trying to purposefully think with more of an outreach mindset this past year a few thoughts have come to mind:
What would happen if instead of putting energy only into Christmas programs (still valuable!), we learned how to share the Christmas story with people around us as well?
If we’re honest, sometimes its easier to invite someone to come to something rather than to go to them where they’re at and stay with them on their journey.
What if we went and shared the Good News of the birth of Immanuel, God with us, with our friends, neighbors, and relatives? What if we went even further and offered to do something like a Discovery Bible Study with them, instead of just inviting them to our carol sing (Which is still an amazing idea, by the way!).  I know…I know…I’m getting carried away…but what if?
 
In His grip,
Pastor Chris