International (MNN) — The Advent season has nearly reached its climax with Christmas just three days away. As you ponder how to celebrate the birth of Christ, consider showing The JESUS Film at your Christmas gathering, or giving it as part of a gift to someone who doesn’t know Him.
(Photo courtesy of The JESUS Film Project via Facebook)
The staff at The JESUS Film Project has already heard stories of creative ways believers are using The JESUS Film in their own Christmas outreach.
Tiffany Berry with The JESUS Film Project shares, “There was a story from Michigan of a group of church volunteers who went Christmas caroling and as they interacted with people, they were able to ask how they could be praying for different individuals and offer them a JESUS Film resource.
“There was one family of 12 people who came out and they were listening to the carolers sing, and the carolers at the end of their songs, they were able to pray with them and engage in conversation about Jesus. It turned out the man they were talking to…he was very interested in getting to know this Jesus he had heard about, but didn’t know too much about. So the team was able to give he and his family a JESUS DVD in their heart language, Arabic, and then the team followed up with their local church in an effort to get the family connected.”
(Image courtesy of The JESUS Film Project)
Berry continues, “We’ve also heard of people who [have] Christmas parties or film nights where you can get together with friends and loved ones and watch The JESUS Film or other JESUS Film Project short films and then talk about them.”
This year, The JESUS Film Project has also gone a step farther in trying to reach non-believers with a new media campaign on social media. Berry works with the social media campaign and explains:
“The main campaign we’ve been supporting this year is actually a digital initiative through social media. So our film production here created two quirky videos that really touch on the commercialization of the Christmas season in a light-hearted way that could reach a non-believer where they’re at.”
The second quirky Christmas video will be posted on The JESUS Film’s Facebook page later this week. But click here to watch the first clip!
“On our social media channels, as we’ve posted these videos, we’ve gotten the chance to interact with several viewers who’ve commented on the videos. One of the viewers commented on the video with the Santa Claus figure. A little bit of a spoiler alert, but in the video with the Santa Claus figure, the man is offered a gift of either a new motorcycle or world peace, and he chooses the shiny new motorcycle, and it becomes really clear in this video that Santa is not so happy about that. So we had an individual on our Facebook page comment something to the affect of, ‘What’s wrong with picking the more realistic option?’ We were able to explain that we wonder what the world would look like if we focused our thoughts on helping others and on finding deeper meaning during the Christmas season.”
Included in the quirky video post is this call to action: “Find meaning this Christmas” with a link to another JESUS Film video that presents the Gospel message.
“So far, we’ve seen some really amazing results,” says Berry. “The campaign has been going for almost three weeks, and people have clicked through to the second video, the Gospel presentation, over 12,000 times now.”
This Christmas, think of some people by name who need Jesus in their lives and pray that God would make Himself known to them this next year — and if it’s His will, to use you in the process. Then, start a conversation about Christ by sharing The JESUS Film with that person!
Whether it’s Christmas caroling, social media, gift-giving, or prayer, there are so many avenues we can use to share in God’s redemptive plan for the world.
