By Linda Reed
Editor’s Note: While Christmas 2019 is behind us, some of us still look back with nostalgia. Further, there may be lessons from Christmas that can apply throughout the year. We are publishing this Christmas-related article now because it may encourage and edify us in our ministries throughout the year.
Sometimes ministry is overwhelming. And as we reflect on certain situations, like Christmas, we may feel overwhelmed.
Adding a Christmas event to an already full Fall ESL schedule can seem overwhelming. This past year, our Christmas event threw us completely on God. Only He can handle overwhelming.
We started off with “no room in the inn.” The church that previously hosted this event said, “The ESL group is now too large for our facility.” There was no room.
At the same time, the number of ESL students kept increasing. This event, combining the four library ESL groups in Cambridge, Ontario, with additional local church ESL programs in Kitchener and Waterloo, made the potential for an overwhelming success in numbers while also facing an overwhelming impossibility for hosting.
The usual leaders also fell one by one. The main coordinator and the main host both faced family health crises that took them to the hospital. The student leaders from Heritage College had exams.
But the gospel was at stake. A wide door for effective ministry (I Cor 16:9) presented the opportunity for just a few people to make a difference. We asked all our groups to bring extra food for an international potluck (last year we ran out and called KFC, later learning this is a Japanese Christmas favourite!).
God opened a room at Heritage College and we asked students from Heritage with an international background to sing, play, or present. We made a PowerPoint of a beautifully illustrated children’s book with the words directly from Luke and Matthew 2 and had our ESL students as readers. We led simple carols, and with a PowerPoint clearly explained the gospel. The décor was a simple cradle and a cross. We gave away everything we had in Bibles, books, resources, and we gave everything of ourselves as well.
And God blessed. He is still able to do immeasurably more than we dream or imagine (Eph 3:20-21). Not because we are mighty. Not because we are many. Not because we weren’t overwhelmed. But because His story is still worth telling to the nations. Even if it costs us everything.