Christmas is upon us.

My festive and overachieving husband has put 11,040 twinkle lights on our house. My children are practicing carols on the piano. The oranges on our tree are changing color (it may be snowing where you live, but here in Phoenix, Arizona ripe oranges herald the season).

For some of us, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of year. For many others, Christmas is hard—perhaps we grieve for lost loved ones, have to deal with broken and strained family relationships, or we simply struggle to find balance and to focus on Christ in the midst of all the season’s obligations. Wherever you are in this spectrum, whatever your experience this year, I pray you know God’s presence and care in the midst of it.

Meanwhile, while my American friends are struggling or celebrating (or a little of both), my international friends generally have a very different experience of Christmas. For them, Christmas doesn’t involve Secret Santa, way too many parties, and mountains of credit-card-bought presents. Rather, they see it as an opportunity to share their faith with non-Christian friends, neighbors, and family. Our friends at Rahham and In His Image are hosting community Christmas celebrations. The students at WDC will have critical conversations with friends and family while they’re home for winter break. Most all of our 8,000+ TCT partner churches will hold special Christmas services. This is just a small sampling of the evangelism efforts of millions of Christians and churches around the world this time of year. Maybe your church is one of them.

As you can probably imagine, in places that are hostile to the gospel, these Christmastime evangelism efforts carry significant risks. Programs may come under government scrutiny. Families often reject or disown members who have converted. Evangelical events may be the target of violence. Evangelists can go to jail. As we count down to our own Christmas celebrations, let’s pray for all the evangelism happening this month, and especially for those who may face persecution because of sharing their faith.

  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare people to hear the gospel, so that they will be convicted of their need for a Savior and will joyfully accept Jesus’ free gift of grace.
  • Pray that evangelists’ words and methods would reflect God’s love, forgiveness, and power to heal. Pray that God would take away any fear and give them insight about who to talk to and when, as well as what words to say.
  • Pray for evangelical Christmas events—that missionaries, ministry leaders, and pastors who are organizing them, for all the logistics to come together smoothly, and for protection and provision for events. Ask God to draw people to those events whom He has chosen and prepared to hear the message.
  • Pray for new believers to have opportunities for wholistic discipleship. Pray that they would know how the gospel applies to every area of life—from gardening to business to parenting to health. Pray that this would be truly good news that both gives people hope of Heaven and helps them experience abundant life on earth.
  • Pray that those experiencing persecution will also experience God’s presence and favor. Pray for persecutors to be released from fear and hate, and that they would hear and receive the message of salvation. Pray for governments to uphold freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and for local leaders to see the Christian presence in their community as positive.

Subtle hint: you can print out our December Prayer Mailing and stick it on your fridge to remind you to keep praying between now and Christmas.

We also have a free in-depth guide on Praying for the Persecuted Church designed for small groups and intercessors. Get it!