What you are about to read was first sent out as a Bible Bite back in 2006. But each year it is being updated with new ideas. December is approaching quickly and you may need to order supplies and make some plans and preparations over the next couple of weeks. A real evangelistic opportunity awaits us all again. This is not a regular Bible-Bite and 2021 has not been a ‘regular’ year. For many, it has been a very, very difficult year.

Perhaps you have found the year to have been particularly difficult even though you know Christ and your hope is certain and your future is secure. Can you imagine what your year would have been like had you not experienced the nearness of His Presence? How could we not intentionally share the good news of God’s grace with those who have no hope? This is being sent to you – to encourage you to seize the next six weeks as an opportunity to share Christ in a very special way.

Despite the risks and the restrictions due to the pandemic, perhaps some of you should get together safely in person or online over the next week to discuss the possibilities of sharing Christ with your community in a special way this December. You could have your own brainstorming, idea-generating session. Or, you could use the list below to discuss what could be done collectively or individually.

Why Evangelism in December? There are still millions of people around the world who ‘expect’ to hear something about Christ at Christmas time. In the spirit of the season, many are more pleasant and receptive in December than at any other time of the year. Some are new to your country and they know very little about the meaning of Christmas.

The ideas below were forwarded by many Christians from different parts of the world. I have tried to organize, consolidate and condense the suggestions. Some of the elements of enthusiasm and humour contained in the forwarded suggestions were lost in the editing process. At the end of this post, we’ve listed several Christian suppliers of Christmas-related material.

Live Updates for 2021 will be added to this Post

If you have additional suggestions after you read this, please email them to me and I will do live updates to the list below. Or, you can post your comments at the bottom of this post.



It may be too late for this Christmas, but this is a great idea for Gospel Christmas Ornaments to give to your neighbours, Sunday School homes, co-workers and others. Click here to email for help.  Get all the details, instructions and even links to order the supplies right here: Bible Verse Christmas Ornaments 

Baking, Cooking & Food

  • Bake some homemade cookies or Christmas ‘goodies’, package them attractively with a season-appropriate Gospel tract or a calendar enclosed. Neighbours, co-workers, and teachers enjoy these treats.
  • Prepare a muffin or cookie mix and put them in jars. Tie the jar up nicely / decoratively, attach a card and distribute it to the neighbours.
  • Make sure you are friendly at the door – not abrupt, wanting to ‘dash’ to the next house. Take time to introduce yourself and who you represent (if you are doing it as a local Christian fellowship outreach); ask them if everything is okay and tell them you hope they have a very nice Christmas and a fulfilling New Year. If they share a problem, illness or sadness with you, be sure to tell them you will pray for them – and make sure you do.
  • Attach to your baked goods your personal story of what Christ means to you, using the well-known Christmas verse: “you shall call His name Jesus for He shall save his people from their sins.”
  • Host a Neighborhood Cookie Exchange – everyone enjoys Christmas baking. People are always looking for variety, as well as something even better than they’ve tasted before. Invite neighbours over for a cookie exchange, coffee, apple cider and chit-chat. Building relationships is a critical first step to effectively sharing the Gospel with them.
  • As a group of Christians, make baskets of freshly baked goods for struggling families, with a personal invite to a Gospel supper held in your meeting facility around Christmas time.
  • Buy a few gift mugs and fill them with candy and attach a little card, fridge magnet or calendar that says what you want it to say.
  • Invite some neighbourhood kids over to your place and teach them how to make and bake Christmas candies and cookies – and informally speak to them about the meaning of Christmas.
  • Make some finger-food snacks and invite your neighbours over on a Saturday evening for an Open House to get acquainted. Where do you work? Where do you like to travel? Do you attend a church? You don’t have to send them home with tracts or a Bible – just being in your Christian home and seeing Scripture texts on your walls, a Bible on your table and seeing no alcoholic beverages offered and hearing the ‘giving of thanks’ for the refreshments – all of that makes a huge impact on first-time visitors to your home. Don’t overdo it in your zeal.

We had planned an open house for our street the very day this post arrived. It was a great afternoon. If you are considering hosting one, I’d say go for it!!  Three-quarters of our street came in and stayed beyond the 4-6PM time slot! But, best of all, they almost all said they had always wanted to do it. As for food, they just helped themselves. We didn’t do any preaching but had our bibles lying around! They left, already talking of a summer bbq! Do it. God will help you.

Booths, Displays at Malls

  • Give a Bible for Christmas promotion. Nice Bibles can be purchased in bulk at very good prices. Have a large display banner made up by a sign shop. “Give a Bible This Christmas – the Gift that Lasts Forever” Charge a nominal price for the Bible, e.g. $2 to $5. Have your computer set up to print-off personalized labels for the inside cover. (To, From, Date and a Comment). Wrap it attractively. Have some freebies to give out as well. Ensure you have a schedule for volunteers to take turns working at the booth.

Candy Canes

  • Have candy canes available especially for children with their parents with a few verses printed on the wrapper or perhaps an abbreviated version of the Gospel object lesson on the candy cane.

Here’s the Legend: A Candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would help us remember who Christmas is really about. So he made a Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus. Hard candy to symbolize the solid rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promises of God. The candymaker made the candy in the form of a “J” to represent the name of Jesus. It also represented the staff of the “Good Shepherd”. The candymaker then included red stripes. He used three small stripes and a large red stripe to represent the suffering Christ endured at the end of his life. The candy became known as a Candy Cane – a decoration seen at Christmas time. The meaning has faded, but still gives joy to children young and old, whom Jesus loves and treasures.

Cards and Annual Family Newsletters

  • There are Gospel-themed Christmas cards available. Software also exists for making your own. If fewer friends and relatives now mail-out Christmas cards, perhaps this would be a great time for Christians to revive and re-double our mail-out efforts. There is a far greater chance our cards will be noticed and read.
  • If your supply of cards makes reference to ‘joy’ or ‘peace’ in the text, consider handwriting a thought-provoking question after those words such as: “I trust you have real peace every day of the year.”
  • If you send an annual family update, be sure to include references to how the Lord has been working in your life over the past year and the joy of knowing Christ. Avoid being preachy.
  • If you have poetic ability, write a poem about the true meaning of Christmas or about what Christ means to you. Set it up nicely on a piece of season-sensitive paper and include it in your card mail-out. Tell your friend you are sharing a poem you wrote. If you are the poet, they will read it.
  • Send Christmas cards to your local politicians and let them know you are praying for them and their families at this time of year. Be positive and nice.

Carol Singing and Gatherings

  • Visit senior’s complexes, special needs homes, group homes, addiction treatment centers and sing Christmas carols with the residents/clients. If you would like them to focus on the words of the carols, provide copies for them to follow along with. Make sure the print-font is large enough for people with poor vision. You may also want to include on each page a relevant Bible verse they might read as the carol is being sung.
  • Host an informal and casual community Christmas carol sing, with a short 10 minute PowerPoint Christmas message, followed by coffee, hot apple cider, sweets, etc.
  • Host a Christmas Eve service
  • Neighbourhood carolling – gather some friends together and spend a few hours going from door to door singing carols with Christ in them.
  • Teach your students some carefully selected Christmas carols. Even though you may not be permitted to promote your faith openly, you can more discreetly promote Christ through traditional carols that contain the basics of the Gospel message.
  • Have your young children memorize songs or Scriptures about the birth of Christ, then have them perform it at your family Christmas gathering.

Coffee with Acquaintances from the Past

  • Over the holidays is a natural time to connect with old friends. “I’m home for a few days and I was just wondering if we could get together for a coffee for old times sake.”

Conversations Starters

  • Encourage your circle of friends to individually bring up the subject of the Saviour’s purpose in coming to earth with at least one person they have never discussed this with before. Challenge each other and make sure you have a check-in afterward to talk about the encounters.
  • Let people know that Christmas is your favourite time of year (if it is!). When they tell you that it is often a very lonely and sad time of year, you can tell them you understand why it is that way for so many – but for you, it is a season dedicated to celebrating the BEST GIFT ever.
  • Ask a friend or co-worker: “How do you celebrate Christmas?” (expecting a reciprocating reply.) Ask your friend what they did for Christmas Eve and then tell them what you did on Christmas Eve.

Gift Exchange Family Traditions

  • If many in your family do not know Christ, start a family tradition of reading about the Birth of Christ from the Bible before the gifts are exchanged. Often family members love to sit with a hot chocolate, eggnog or coffee and listen to a reading of the Birth of Christ. Make sure the person selected to do the reading is a ‘good’ reader!

Gift Ideas

  • Books as gifts: Do some research on good Christian fiction that contains some Gospel truth. Some recommended This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti as an example. Someone else recommended Max Lucado’s Christmas Kids Books – knowing that the parents are likely to read the books as well.
  • If you find it difficult to order online, your local card shop probably may carry Hallmark’s “Card Books” which some have mentioned as suitable.
  • Bible: A nicely bound, easy to read Bible, with the person’s name and giver’s name inscribed on the inside cover by a hobby-calligrapher or done up tastefully using a suitable computer font. Consider hi-liting some suitable Gospel verses and using a few Post-It tags to make the Scriptures easy to find for people who know very little about the big book.
  • Although CDs are becoming rare, share a good Christmas Carols CD with your friend or acquaintance.

Gospel Calendar Distribution

  • Some are printing their own calendars annually, using local scenes with a Gospel verse for each month. The local scenes are appealing to the locals! If they like the calendar – it will be visible for 365 days.
  • Include a warm, friendly cover letter with the calendar stating who you are, a brief good news paragraph, and other pertinent details including an invitation to hear the Gospel. You could also invite them to contact you at any time if they ever feel the need for prayer or help due to life circumstances.
  • Make sure you are friendly at the door. Take time to introduce yourself and who you represent (if you are doing it as a local church/assembly outreach); ask them if everything is okay and tell them you hope they have a very nice Christmas and a fulfilling New Year.
  • Buy a supply of pocket calendars with Gospel verses on them and distribute them to your friends at school or college or at work. Or insert the pocket calendars in little arrangements of homemade goodies.
  • If you do a door-to-door calendar distribution, think about rounding up a bunch of young people to gather at each door to sing a couple of carols and then pass out the calendar as you are leaving for the next house.

Gospel Tracts

  • Take some time to sample Christmas Gospel tracts available from various publishers/suppliers. Select tracts you are comfortable with.
  • Insert attractive and appropriate Christmas Gospel tracts in your cards to friends and acquaintances.
  • Carry a supply of Christmas Gospel tracts with you during December. When people ask you how are your preparations for Christmas are going – share your hectic tales of crazy shopping and then tell them the bright spot in Christmas is the remembrance of Christ. And give them the little tract. Don’t ask them if they would like to have the tract. Just say: “Speaking of Christmas, here’s a little paper on the meaning of Christmas. I hope you like it.”
  • People who would never accept a tract during the other 11 months of the year are likely to accept your tract in December because they are supposed to be ‘nice’ at Christmas time.

Invite them to accompany you to hear the Gospel

  • If you are confident there will be a special seasonal Gospel message Christmas week (that has been announced) invite a friend. Many people who never attend church will attend church on Christmas Eve or Christmas week for one hour. Invite them to come and hear the good news about Jesus Christ coming into the world.

Local Newspapers and Websites

  • If your local assembly can not help in buying some space in your local paper, consider setting some of your own money aside once a year to insert a little thought or story about the Saviour with a brief Gospel message/verse included. Or you and your friends go together in buying some space.
  • Send a letter to the Editor about the true meaning of Christmas. Be careful not to sound like a nag condemning store owners and manufacturers for the profit motive. If you need to go there, be careful how you say it. Take the high road and remind people about the Virgin Birth and the difference Christ still makes today.
  • If you are active online, make sure you use Christmas images and short posts about the meaning and relevance of Christmas. Include links to blogs or websites that feature more on the Birth of Christ and His purpose for coming.

Other Ideas

  • Pick up hitch-hikers if you feel safe doing that and tell them you give all hikers some homework – the homework is to read a tract.
  • Go out for a walk alone and pray for your family, friends, and neighbours.
  • Don’t stop doing good deeds throughout the month of December. Keep volunteering. Keep on helping seniors shovel their snowy sidewalks or putting out their garbage or help them put up their lights. Don’t fall off the roof!
  • UPDATE – November 2019  “I am getting old but with the Lord’s help … [I try to do a little] … I have invited an 18 yr-old daughter of Christian parents who is drifting away and not attending much, to meet me for lunch and will then take her out and let her choose a gift, probably clothing, as they have very little. They are from another culture and the father is rather strict, so I doubt if they even celebrate Christmas.”
  • UPDATE – November 2019 “…sending many boxes of food and medicines to Venezuela, so the Christians can distribute little tins of food, children’s liquid acetaminophen, cookies, markers, pencils, and erasers, etc. to the unsaved as an encouragement to attend gospel meetings.”

Programs and Suppers

  • Have a Sunday School Christmas Program before Christmas. Sunday School classes can recite verses, poems or do songs or brief skits related to the Gospel with a special focus on why Christ came into the world.
  • Have a meal before or after the Christmas program. Invite parents and neighbours to the event.
  • Rent the local school gym as a neutral space. Host a neighbourhood traditional Christmas dinner with all the trappings. Have the Sunday School students put on a play with a Christmas theme. Include some Christmas carol singing; read the Biblical account of the Birth of Christ, etc. The emcee doesn’t have to ‘preach’ the  Gospel. Good emcees will be able to nicely fit one or two-line statements about the love of God for sinners as they introduce each item on the program. Give out a Christian Christmas DVD/CD for a door prize.
  • Check with your local multicultural society to see if there are new immigrants arriving in your town who may not be familiar with Christianity. If there are, host a special supper for newcomers to your country and have a program that explains to them who Christ is, when and why He came the first time, etc.
  • Update – November 2019: “We have had Christmas dinners for new immigrants either as organized community events complete with Christmas tree set up, turkey dinner, and Christmas message or as having some new immigrant families into our home to share our Christmas with us. At any of these events we would share the Christmas story and the history of Christmas traditions (e.g. Christmas tree -> the trees in the life of Christ, manger/palm branches/cross; candy cane -> red=blood; white=cleansed; green=growing; St. Nicholas and gift-giving -> the greatest gift of Christmas).”

Websites, Blogs, Social Media

  • Ensure the content displayed on your website or in your blog for December takes advantage of the season. Consider making available material such as: Frequently Asked Questions about Jesus.
  • Provide a forum for people to submit questions about Christmas, Christ and Christianity and provide timely responses.
  • During the month of December post Christ-centered verses
  • Do a ten-day countdown to Christmas on your social media accounts – post one Christmas-related Bible verse each of the ten days.

WEBSITES for Christmas Cards, tracts, calendars, and other supplies for the season

Gospel Folio Press

Moments With The Book

Bible Truth Publishers

International Bible House

Paul Trimble Printing (UK)

There is a collection of Christmas Gospel Outreach posts – where Christians provide logistical details of what they are doing during the month of December to share Christ with the community. If you would like to browse through these posts click on this link:

LostSheepfinders.com 

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