Students gather to sing carols at their Christmas celebration festival, where they also performed skits on the birth of Christ.
Bible college students dressed up as Santa Claus get ready to sing Christmas carols on the streets.
Santa distributes Gospel tracts.
Children and the elderly welcome Santa at their home. |
All over South Asia, Christian believers celebrated the joy of Christmas and shared how the Light of the World had come to bring everlasting life to those perishing.
In one village on December 23, the joyous melodies of Bible college students singing Christmas carols heralded the Good News of Christ through its streets.
The town in Delhi, India, where they were spreading Christmas cheer has a reputation for being openly aggressive toward Christianity. But even in this place, the students were able to distribute 1,000 copies of the Gospel of John, 100 New Testaments and many Gospel tracts.
“Through this opportunity, we could become friendly with almost every household on those streets,” one student.
To add to the Christmas spirit, two Bible college students paraded the streets in Santa Claus costumes and presented the children in the village with candy and other sweet treats. This was the first time these children had ever seen someone dressed up as Santa Claus. Even the older people enjoyed Santa’s presence.
“We never expected such a friendly response from the residents in [this village] because this place is known for its hostility to the Gospel,” reported a GFA field correspondent.
The following day, the Bible college students visited another area to share the Christmas message with those who had never heard it. They went to every bus station, shop and house in the town and sang Christmas carols with a drum and guitar accompaniment. They met rickshaw pullers and all kinds of buyers and vendors in the local market. They were able to distribute 1,500 copies of the Gospel of John, 200 New Testaments and countless Gospel tracts.
Some of the students even put on a skit about the birth of Jesus Christ. This was the first time their audience had heard of the true meaning of Christmas.
“This time, the celebration was in a different tone than the previous years, as we thought of stressing the message of Christmas even more to these villagers through our skits, choreography, songs and message,” organizers explained. “We believe that we were successful to a great extent when we saw the audience’s faces.”
Santa Claus also made an appearance, bringing happiness to the children while giving them sweets. At the end of the night, there was a candlelight devotional as the hosts and audience sang the song “Silent Night” together.
“We thank the Lord that although these places were very remote to the Gospel and well populated, we could make the best of this Christmas occasion to acquaint these folks with the message of Christmas and cheer up their hearts with the promise of salvation in Jesus name who is the reason for this season,” our correspondent said.
