What’s Happening at Christmas (December Prayer Focus)

The Christmas season is here — and that means great outreach opportunities for missionaries. 

In many cultures, Christmas opens people up to the idea of faith in God. The decorations, the music and the events are all constant reminders that something important is going on. It makes people curious. 

With this in mind, missionaries around the world will host Christmas parties at their churches and homes. They’ll hold choir concerts where unsaved neighbors can hear the Gospel. They may even invite friends to celebrate the actual holiday together.

Even if Christmas isn’t celebrated in a culture, missionaries can share about the holiday’s meaning as a way of sharing their own culture. The Christmas season opens up doors for conversation that may have been closed at any other time of the year.

Please pray with us this month that God will work powerfully through Christmas outreaches worldwide. Ask Him to transform lives as people hear His story of love.

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1. Ask God to open people’s hearts and minds to the real meaning of Christmas.

Planning Christmas parties, hosting events, organizing programs — these are all great ways to show people the meaning of Christmas, but none of it matters if people aren’t open to hearing it. And we know that only God can change people’s hearts. 

Pray that the weeks and months of planning missionaries have put in won’t be in vain.  These programs draw in people who wouldn’t normally attend church. A Christmas pageant may be the first time a child — or their family — has the opportunity to hear the Gospel. Not only that, but these programs help people feel familiar with the church — and more likely to return for a regular service. 

This month, ask God to open people’s hearts to the true meaning behind the holiday. Pray that God will help missionaries handle conversations in ways that glorify Him and draw people into long-term relationships with the local church.

Christmas pageants are one of the many ways missionaries engage with the community during the Christmas season.

2. Pray against sickness during this season

Missionaries get sick just like the rest of us, but missionaries’ seasonal illnesses can lead to canceled programs — or make things harder on the teammates who keep things going. 

Sickness can also affect the people missionaries are trying to minister to. A sick child means parents can’t go to the Christmas party the missionaries are hosting. It may mean that they can’t receive missionaries as visitors in their homes. And ultimately, they may miss out on meaningful conversations about why Jesus came to Earth. 

Pray that missionaries will stay healthy so they can effectively minister to their communities. And pray that community members will stay healthy so they don’t miss out on anything that would point them to Christ.

3. Pray against holiday homesickness for missionaries far from home.

Missionaries often experience feelings of loneliness. And the Christmas season can intensify these feelings. Being far away from people you love, not being able to participate in your normal Christmas traditions, and being immersed in a culture with different traditions can lead to homesickness. On top of this, the stress and busyness of Christmas outreaches can exacerbate their homesickness. 

Ask God to comfort missionaries and their families through the Christmas season. Pray that He will lessen their stress and that they will find new traditions that remind them of their home culture, while also embracing their host culture.

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