Editorial:
December issue
It’s bizarre trying to get into the
Christmas spirit while it’s still light in
the evenings.
But we manfully turned a
blind eye to October’s Indian summer,
stuck a few carols on the jukebox,
cracked open the mince pies and set
out to bring you the most shamelessly
Christmassy issue of the mag we
could. Here’s what I thought about as
we did:
1. Christmas starts with Christ. We
borrowed the slogan for our front
cover from this year’s Churchads.net
campaign, running in association with
Premier Christian Media, because we
thought it was brilliantly effective, and
communicated exactly what we
wanted to say about Christmas. Look
out for the posters, which will be
coming to a bus shelter near you, and
donate to the campaign online at
christmasstarts.com.
2. Christmas is one of the best
evangelistic opportunities we have.
Many friends who wouldn’t dream of
darkening the door of a church at any
other time of year love going at
Christmas to sing a few carols. So how
are you going to make the most of it?
Turn to p33 for Greg Downes’ hints
and tips on mission at Christmas.
3. It’s hard work. Lots of church
leaders despair about Christmas.
There is so much more to organise
than usual, they have to think of a
new way to tell a story which
everyone thinks they know already,
and are under enormous pressure to
put on the best service of the year. So
be good to them.
4. Not everyone loves Christmas.
Research shows that people with
family, mental health or financial
problems find these things can be
exacerbated at Christmas. Turn to
p38 for Heather Tomlinson’s
investigation.
5. It’s totally ok to wear snowman
jumpers and listen to Cliff Richard.
Read our profile of the man himself
on p20.
• After three years, it is time to say
goodbye to Paul Woolley and Joel
Edwards, our news comment
columnists. I have enjoyed their
humour, intelligence, as well as their
willingness to engage with any topics I
threw at them. As a magazine, we are
committed to the ethos of engaging
with the world around us, and not just
getting sucked into a Christian bubble,
which is why we have news comment.
We are equally committed to hearing
from a variety of voices. Watch out for
some new columnists next month and
let me know what you think of them…
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