Christmas is a time that brings people together. It’s a time of great celebration of the birth of our Savior, but it can also be a time when hearts that are sad and alone are opened to the love of Christ for the first time. In the story below, different ministries came together to provide a safe and loving environment for this to happen. In this safe environment where the Gospel was shared, the church family came together to serve and pray for those dealing with hardships. This time together greatly impacted all.

SGA Storyteller Dominika shares about how her heart was impacted as she prayed with a couple of single moms. “I was deeply moved by the story. . . .” Later in the week, the fruit of this time together had already been seen, as one of the teenagers attended the Christmas Eve service just a few days later. God is faithful to bring people and hearts together through celebrating the birth of His son, Jesus Christ. Please pray for the SGA-supported Immanuel’s Child celebrations as they continue to share the story of the Gospel in the days ahead.

Christmas is one of the best opportunities to share the Gospel with people. In Poland, it is a deeply celebrated season, despite the rapidly growing secularization. Even non-religious families and young people attend church during this time. We strive to make the most of such opportunities.

As a result, we organized an important event with the financial and also prayer support of SGA at our church. A part of our congregation is a couple, Michał and Olga, who run a charity ministry among the poorest families living in downtown Bydgoszcz. They manage a community center, organize various forms of assistance, lead a children’s choir, and share the Gospel in all they do. We decided to join forces and prepare a joint event in our chapel.

As a church, we raised funds among ourselves for this purpose, combined them with the support received from SGA, and prepared packages filled with everything families might need to celebrate Christmas and the weeks afterward with dignity. The packages were supplemented with Christian literature, including books on dealing with daily struggles, copies of the Gospel of John, Christian calendars for both adults and children, children’s Bibles, and several evangelistic tracts. Each package also contained a Bethlehem star, provided by SGA, along with information about the family that supported the effort. Additionally, every child received a gift that included toys and items to aid in their learning.

We invited all the families—a total of about 70 people—to a joint event on December 21 in our chapel. We removed all the chairs, set up tables with white tablecloths, and placed cakes baked by members of our church, as well as fruit and beverages, on them. At each table, there was at least one church member tasked with talking to the families seated nearby and praying for them at the end of the event.

The program included singing Christmas carols together, a trivia about the biblical account of Jesus’ birth, and, most importantly, listening to a short evangelistic sermon delivered by Pastor Samuel  based on John 1:14. After the official part of the meeting, additional activities were prepared for the children, allowing parents to talk freely at the tables.

I was one of the people engaging in conversations. I was deeply moved by the story of a mother raising five children alone, two of whom are disabled. She recently moved from a village to the city center to ensure her children could attend schools suited to their needs. However, in doing so, she lost her job and has been unable to find a new one. Praying with her to God about her needs was incredibly moving. Another woman, also a single mother raising her son, shared that she had no one with whom to safely spend Christmas Eve—a night traditionally celebrated with family in Polish homes. I thank God that one of the families from our church invited her to join them for this special evening. This day was truly touching! The first fruit of it was one of the teenagers who joined us for the Christmas service a few days later.

Dear partners at SGA, we are deeply grateful for your generosity and support, which allowed more people to hear the Gospel in our city. We thank you for your prayers for this and similar events and for the financial support that made Christmas much happier for these families. Please continue to pray for them, for the seeds of the Gospel that were sown to grow, and for us—that we may continue to minister to these families.