Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

How to be sure your church isn’t confusing the Christmas message

2 December, 2019 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Christmas Star
A Christmas star may mean a lot to your church members, but be sure to explain its meaning to your guests.

How can the church confuse the Christmas message? Isn't it the secular world with its emphasis on spending and consumption, on parties and secular images the one confusing the Christmas message? We try so hard to make sure everyone knows "Jesus is the Reason for the Season!"

Isn't confusion over the meaning of Christmas a secular issue?

Not really. In many ways, the secular world no longer confuses the true meaning of Christmas. In the past it seemed that there was a sometimes uncomfortable mixture between the birth of Jesus and Santa—currently, almost every trace of Jesus has been erased in secular presentations of Christmas. In the various programs on TV this year, it seemed like the overarching themes had to do with "family" (commendable, but important all year) and something often referred to as "Christmas magic."

The secular world is quite clear that it wants nothing to do with Jesus at Christmas and there is little confusion about that.

Sadly, confusion about Jesus is often found in the church at Christmas though we certainly don't do it intentionally. The following are some thoughts to make sure that we are communicating the message we think we are communicating.

Our use of Christmas images

What can be wrong with that? The manger scene in front of the church or inside? Angels on the bulletins? All of the familiar and favorite images of shepherds and stars?

Please consider carefully that it is not the use of images that can cause confusion, but images without words that explain their meaning can be confusing. It is extraordinarily difficult for those of us who grew up in the church to imagine how someone who grew up completely without Christian teaching views the holidays. But here are some popular Christmas images and how people who did not grow up in the church might view them:

A star? That is the logo for Macy's for many people and is a reminder of  "christmas magic." Stars are magic at any time for many people and that could be a great conversation opener to talk about the Three Wise Men, who followed a star unlike any they had seen before.

The manger scene? Maybe something about a myth or some religious history if they know the story at all, but why the birth of Jesus matters at all is most certainly not something most secular people are aware of. Who the various characters are in the manger scene, why there anyway? Some people outside the church know that they have caused lawsuits, but they may have no understanding why.

Angels? Well, most everybody believes in angels today, so why were they anything special at Christmas?

Our challenge is to use words to EXPLAIN what we mean by our images.

If we don't use words to do that, our images alone can either have a meaning we do not intend or they will not be effective in communicating the message we want to share.

Explaining popular images can also provide a link to discussing the importance of them and the meaning of Jesus' birth.

It can also be a time to talk about the historical reality of Jesus. Though many miraculous things happened at his birth, God came into history in a specific time, in a real location—it isn't a fairy tale we celebrate, but a true historical event.

APPLICATION: Please explain Christmas

Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins, to fulfill the centuries of God's promises, to give us a life of meaning and purpose now and eternal joy—it is a message too wonderful to be contained in human images or words—but we should do the best we can.

Please explain the meaning of Christmas and give people ways to explore the Christmas message at every Christmas event you hold. It isn't enough to give people nice feelings and pretty images, we must give them the complete story for the true meaning of Christmas to be shared in your church.

As you go over the last-minute preparations for your Christmas services, ask the Lord to give you insight and understanding so you can see your message through the eyes of a family member who may have never been to church or a stranger who wanders in for the promise of free hot chocolate and cookies. Ask for wisdom to explain things so completely that even the person whose heart is very far away will come to know Jesus.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Tweet
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Filed Under: Christmas, Seasonal Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas confusion, Christmas images, Christmas message, yvon prehn

Please share your thoughts, comments, questions!Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Link to Easter Templates of all sorts

Seasonal Templates

  • OVERVIEW of TEMPLATES for Church Communicators, please read first
  • Valentine’s Day Templates
  • Lenten Templates
  • Easter Templates
  • Mother’s Day Templates
  • Father’s Day and Men’s Ministry Templates
  • Graduation Templates
  • Summer-related Templates
  • 4th of July, Canada Day, and GRACE for All Nations
  • See You At the Pole
  • Harvest Festival and Halloween Templates
  • Christmas Templates

Recent Posts

  • Social media images for Easter with challenging messages
  • From our vault: Everything you need for Easter: Templates, strategy, inspiration and encouragement for all your Easter communications
  • Why just “Come to Easter at Our Church” isn’t enough–FREE invitations with short, but powerful messages
  • ESSENTIAL Christmas Communication advice and free tools to implement it
  • A Free Template of the Christmas Story and short gospel presentation based on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing!”

Most read posts

  • Bulletin inserts or social media content for Father's Day; poetry, challenges, encouragements
  • A Prayer for Graduates, Free flyer, bulletin insert
  • An important reminder for Father’s Day that not all the men in your church are married Dads or Dads at all
  • Father's Day and Men's Ministry Templates
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES
  • Six Steps to Simple filing
  • Q&A: How to report church financials in the weekly bulletin

Misc. Church Communications Templates

  • Church Connection Cards
  • Business/Invitation Card Templates
  • Back to Church for Kids in the Fall Templates
  • Church Bulletin Template
  • Volunteer and Encouragement Templates
  • 2-page Senior Adult Print Newsletter Template
  • Misc. Church Templates
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
FREE Bible Verses and Sayings in both print and social media format at Bible805Images.com
  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • PODCAST
  • FREE PRINT TEMPLATES

Copyright © 2025 · Enterprise Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in