Christmas Eve at Church

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          It started at a culture class Christmas party. 

Well actually, it started almost a year earlier when a Christ-follower began a class to help internationals understand American life. 

          But it became obvious at the Christmas party.

There were Christmas cookies and an explanation of their shapes. There were gifts exchanged, piles of party food eaten, and a discussion of Christmas in America. 

But the party also went beyond culture to the Truth of Jesus Christ in the form of a PowerPoint based on Luke 2. The teacher introduced it as an explanation of what she believed and why we really celebrate Christmas. She stressed the virgin birth (awkward in any group, but especially among Muslims) and the Sonship of Jesus. The students listened out of respect, but none of them responded afterward.

          Still, that’s where it happened.

The teacher went home, continuing with her family’s traditional Christmas plans…until about ten o’clock on Christmas Eve morning.

One of the students from her culture class texted: “Will you take me and my daughter to a church so she can hear the story of the birth of your Jesus?”

          "the birth of your Jesus"

“Of course,” the teacher answered.

By the time she found a church with an afternoon service, connected with a volunteer, and drove to the apartment complex, the two interested people had become ten! Three Arabic women and seven children piled into two cars and headed toward a nearby church, where a simple Christmas service was about to begin.​

Church members looked past scarf-wrapped heads and heavy accents. They welcomed all ten visitors and made sure the kids got goodie bags. All the words for the Christmas carols were on the big screen. The women could understand bits and pieces, and they tried to sing. But the children understood everything.

          This celebration was for a Baby who was also a King.

READY TO GET INVOLVED?
It takes time (months, usually) and it means adjusting your routines (maybe even your traditions), but internationals in metro Knoxville want to hear about Jesus, and they want to hear it from you! Let KIN connect you with an international family or a class of adults, and watch your life be disrupted in the best possible way.