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  1. In our Awana club, we never emphasize the secular part of Christmas but we do have an annual “Birthday for Jesus” theme night that is one of our most cherished events of the year. In addition to the Awana GO/Adopt-a-Club international missions programs, we use this theme night as our local missions program. We serve a three layer “wordless gospel” Jesus Birthday Cake (brown/red/green/white frosting). Our children bring “presents”, which are actually items from the wishlist of a local non-profit that are subsequently donated to them. We also give them party favors to take home such as the Fruits of the Spirit mini-books from Dollar Tree.

    That being said, this year we are actually going to address the secular side of Christmas via Phil Vischer’s latest DVD/book release, “Why Do We Call It Christmas?” Through those materials, we will address some of your primary concerns such as the fact that Jesus was not born on December 25th.

    On a personal note, I am certainly a proponent for Christ in Christmas and generally refrain from saying “Happy Holidays”. I am likely a product of my church, which does the same but also sings Christmas Carols on the steps of the church such as “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Silent Night, etc.). Nothing about Rudolph, Frosty, or Santa. However, we do not eschew Christmas Trees. As a matter of fact, our Christmas “Tree of Lights” is the centerpiece of an outreach program where the names of needy children our solicited, correlated with a number on a tag, and the tag is placed on the tree. Members of the congregation grab a tag and purchase the gift that is associated with it. Names of those nominated do not have to be members of the church and don’t even have to be saved. The best way to reach those who are not saved is to meet them where they are (forgive the jargon), even if it is at a Christmas tree. It provides yet another opportunity for evangelism, much like presenting the gospel at an Awana Grand Prix.

    • Carlton Willis

      I didn’t want to comment on my own post but I can’t seem to edit out the grammatical typos, so this posting is merely an apology for them. 🙂

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