The Christmas Caroling Project

 



Here is my vision for an evangelism opportunity during the Christmas season. I have always wanted to give away gifts to people and here is one opportunity to do just that. We get to sing the old Christmas songs that have Biblical meaning. When we sing these songs, people are hearing the message of the Gospel as God gave His most expensive gift to us, 2,000 years ago. Christmas began in the heart of God. Americans people in the 21st century have distorted the holiday. We have used it to serve our selfishness and idolatry, many times. But, we can use this holiday to tell the best news ever! That God sent His Son to earth, to live a holy life, and become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins! So we sing about this event during the month of December (or if you are like my daughter, it could be any month of the year!).
What does the Christmas Caroling Project look like? Sometime during the month of December, a group of people from Metro Life Church will choose a host house in a neighborhood, in the proximity of the church building. The closer, the better, but that is not always possible. Hopefully, there will be houses in the neighborhood, and people will be home when we come. We have found that Friday nights in December do not provide many families at home! Musicians are welcome to play instruments in the group. If there are several people, we can divide into two groups.

                                         
We gather at the house of the host. We practice the songs a couple of times, and make sure the musicians are playing the songs in the same key. Then we visit the homes, one house at a time. We pick out two or three songs to sing at each house. We have a child knock at the door, and bring up a gift bag (see gift bags, below). Most of the time, if someone is home, they will listen and smile. We have had people cry, smile, or occasionally, get angry. It's ok! We did our part to show hospitality, The ball is in their court. If they are angry because our presence reminds them of God, and they are reacting in anger because of their hatred of God, so much the better! Many times it is that very thing that ends up reaching a person with the Gospel!
Gift bags: This is where we try to be creative. I tend to go overboard and used to make all sorts of baked goods, soap, toys, and other things, but I am trying to scale back a little, especially on the baked goods. People might be skeptical about eating homemade goodies, plus they took a lot of time to bake. We also have a book available, usually a John Piper one, or Josh McDowell's book 'More Than A Carpenter'. We are open to suggestions as well to add to the bags. Also, we have had some friends that do crochet, make some bookmarks. Like I said before, we are open for more suggestions too. And we can't forget the toys! Either a beach ball, or maraca, or some other fun toy with Scripture or a message on it.
And I am always looking for ideas to improve this project. One thing we learned is that it can be really cold out there, so if the weather is cold, please wear heavy socks. If the weather is hot, dress more lightly. Sunday evenings are better than Fridays. Have the bags ready before the event.
If the host of the host house is willing, we can go back and have some hot cocoa and baked goods! What do you all think?