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The New Year is such a great time for resetting your compass, for evaluating your priorities and how you are spending your life and making some changes that will help you grow a bit more towards what God wants for your life in the coming year.

As we have been talking about in recent blogs, Christmas is a time of the year where people all around you are more open to talking about spirituality than usual. For most people around us Christmas is all about Santa Claus, Christmas trees and the giving of presents. But for us Christians it’s so much more than that. We have seen over the last few weeks some simple ways to introduce Jesus into a conversation at Christmastime and here’s another one.

You could be chatting to your friends, or even someone you don’t know, and say something like, “Do you know why this holiday is called Christmas?”  Or even something more lighthearted like, “Why do you think it’s called Christmas and not SantaClausmas?” For many people who aren’t exposed to church, they may never have even considered this. Some of the people you know probably have no idea.

The good news about this job is that in order to be a fisher of man you don’t necessarily need to enjoy the smell or taste of fish. So even if you are not a big fan of sushi you can still apply to be considered for the role of a fisher of men!

Remember the story of Arthur Stace? He was an Australian soldier who came home and wrote the words “Eternity” all over Sydney.  Then on New Year’s Eve at the turn of the millennium, this word was chosen as the centrepiece for the fireworks display on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and was lit up at midnight.

In his letter to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul responds to matters about which they wrote to him. 1 Cor 7:1 

Matters concerning their right to marry or remain single – chapter 7 and their right to drink and eat food that had been offered to idols – chapter 8

There was a famous German opera that lasted more than 12 hours whenever it was performed. As the story came to a conclusion, the character who sang the final piece was always played by a large woman wearing a helmet with horns or wings on top of it. As the long story unfolded, people would hopefully ask the person they were sitting with, “Is this the final piece?” The proverbial answer would come back, “It’s not over until the fat lady sings!”

It’s true that evangelism is not only about sharing the gospel. People journey towards Christ for some time before crossing the line to faith in him and we choose a narrow understanding of evangelism if we think evangelism only includes helping a person take the final step of faith.

Inviting non-churched people into our Christian circles of relationship is always a good idea.

Maybe that title seems very strange to you. After all, your life has been totally changed by Jesus Christ. Doesn’t the Bible say you have been brought out of the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son? Haven’t you been born again into a new way of life? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!