Christmas parties have always been a good opportunity to reach out with the gospel. Pastor Jan Blom said that the first time he came to Word of Life, it was for a Christmas party organized by the youth in our church. At the Christmas party he was given a book written by Sandy Brown, which he then devoured at home. At the end of the book was a prayer of salvation which he then prayed – and we know the rest of the story!

The International Christmas Festival is a great opportunity to do mission at home. Now we don’t have to fly far away to do missionary work as people from other countries come to us in large numbers.

The International Christmas Party has grown to become a major evangelistic effort in our parish, where many people from different nationalities get to hear the Gospel, eat good food and socialize. Various national dances are also a popular feature of the evening.

It is a low threshold to invite people to a Christmas party.

This year there were over 500 people who came and of them about 100 children, it is probably one of the largest Christmas parties we have had and perhaps Uppsala’s largest Christmas party? We estimate that 60-70% of these people don’t usually go to church and about 50-100 people have never been to a church, so this is a great way to reach out. When these people come to our Christmas party, they get to experience unconditional love, without any demands back, we invite everyone who comes to food.

We have our own fun activities for all the children and the adults can come into the church hall. We sing some Christmas songs and carols, then a short evangelistic message about Christmas and why Jesus came to this earth.

Over the years, we have seen many come to faith on this night!

/ Robert Johansson

Pastor, Word of Life