Why 500 Christmas Cookies?
Why would a family bake 500 Christmas cookies each year? I asked Ben, and here is the answer he gave. He also shares about the MyFriends Lifestyle, which you can learn more about at the end of this email.
Ben's Story
Hello, I’m Ben and I’m 15 years old.
For several years, my family has been doing a Christmas cookie outreach. It not only is beneficial for the neighbours, but for our family’s connection and growth. When we moved to our neighbourhood, we, of course, didn’t know anyone. As we looked at the MyFriends lifestyle, we knew the first step was for us to experience God’s love, to pray for those in our community, and to look for opportunities to care for others. At first, we started giving out biscuits as a way to simply learn people’s names so we could pray for them. Over the years, we’ve seen many of our neighbours open up and our family has been able to have lots of spiritual conversations.
When we visit a home, my siblings and I give out the packets and play with their kids to occupy them so the parents can have a good chat. If the kids are about our ages, we connect with them and see if we can have a spiritual conversation as our parents chat. Our job isn’t always fun and we aren’t perfect, but with God’s help, we persevere. I used to find it really boring, but as we see our neighbours’ faith grow, it has changed my perspective as I’ve witnessed how radically God can change people. After each day of giving out biscuits, we pray for each of our neighbours that they’ll get to know God better and start taking steps toward following him.
After initially meeting our neighbours, we found out more about them. We asked them questions about themselves, their family, and friends. Through this, we also found their needs. We continually pop over to our elderly neighbours and plant a little garden or do some weeding. Just little things, but they are touched by the acts of generosity. When we started the Christmas outreach, our neighbours would rarely even open their door to receive the gift. Now, after a few years, they invite us in for tea and we can chat and pray with them. Somehow, every year at the same time, there are always spiritual battles: getting sick, bad behaviour, etc. It’s always different and always challenging.
What have I learned from my family in giving out biscuits? We are one family, yet we give cookies to over one-hundred households each year. That means five people can make a difference in several hundred people’s eternal life. We might be the only Christians they ever meet, so if that means God can use me to impact where their life goes for eternity, I at least want to give them a proper chance to know God so they don’t come to the throne on the day of judgement and say that they didn’t get the chance to choose Jesus.
Your Turn
What ideas does this story give you about reaching out to your neighbours?
Let's Pray
Lord Jesus, thank you for the Christmas season. I know that many people ignore you and have no idea what they are celebrating. Please show me how I can help them discover the amazing salvation you offer. Give me creative ideas, like this family, to build relationships with my neighbours, friends, and relatives so we can have meaningful and spiritual conversations. Help people see me as a safe and caring person who genuinely wants the best for them. Use me to share your love and the story of what you have done in my life. Amen.
The MyFriends Lifestyle
The MyFriends lifestyle helps everyday Christians create opportunities for their friends and family to discover God’s story together. MyFriends encourages a community of believers to intentionally pray, love, care, and share Jesus with their non-churched friends, family, and colleagues. This approach is bearing fruit as people experience Jesus and begin to explore God's story in their own communities.
Online training sessions are available four times a year, and face-to-face training can be arranged in Australia almost anytime. For further details, visit https://powertochange.org.au/church-movements/myfriends/.
Have a great week preparing for Christmas.