Christmas is our massive outreach opportunity

With carols, theatre, Santa and hampers, Rugby Elim is all set for Christmas. Pastor Jonathan Skelton explains how the church is going all out with its festive outreach.

“Paul tells us to make the most of every opportunity. For us, Christmas is a brilliant time to do that,” says Jonathan Skelton.

Jonathan is knee-deep in festive preparations at Rugby Elim, getting ready to host a raft of activities for the church’s community.

“Christmas is massive for us,” he says. “We go all out because people always seem more open to hear the good news message at this time of year.”

For nine days, he explains, the church takes over a venue in the centre of Rugby that is part of Rugby School.

“We’ll have carols twice one Sunday where we’ll invite people in and present the good news of Christmas. We’ll have a joint evangelistic event with neighbouring churches too.

“Then we have 4Front Theatre coming to perform. We’ve opened this up to local schools and again it’s a chance to present the gospel in a way that’s real and relevant.

“We’ll also have Santa giving a gift to every child. Things like this are great for families who might not otherwise be able to afford a theatre trip or a visit to Santa. We had a fantastic time last year doing this.”

In the current climate, another successful project to be repeated from last Christmas is gifting hampers to struggling families.

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