Christmas celebrations were carried out last Sunday at Christian communities in China, according to the Gospel Times.
Many churches have marked Christmas in advance as Christmas Day, which falls on Wednesday this year, is not an official holiday in China. It is said that many house churches have celebrated the festival days or even a month ago due to safety concerns, while a large percentage of registered churches observed it last Sunday.
On December 19, a meeting point in a modest rural home in northern China held an early Christmas celebration. Typically, only about ten believers gather there.
A sixty-year-old female pastor delivered a sermon titled "The Birth of Jesus Is the Greatest Gift to Us." Between Christmas programs, a testimony-sharing session was held. One sister in Christ shared her experience of God’s healing during her illness. A husband expressed heartfelt gratitude, recounting how his prayers with his wife led to the healing of his shingles. Another brother in Christ spoke of his father’s miraculous recovery from a brainstem hemorrhage through collective prayer. A Christian woman shared how she remained steadfast in serving God despite her illness and experienced divine healing in a remarkable way.
On December 22, Penglai City Church in Shandong Province, held a 2024 Christmas worship service, attended by more than 800 people from across the region.
The sermon, titled "Welcome, He Has Come," recounted the birth of Jesus Christ, breaking through the barriers of time and eternity to bring salvation and hope. Forty-five seekers responded to the call and made a confession prayer.
Wuxi Church in Jiangsu had already donned its Christmas decorations on Sunday. “May the God of Immanuel be with us, granting us peace and joy,” Reverend Ji offered blessings before beginning the sermon. Following the Advent themes of “Awakening,” “Repentance,” and “Joy” in the previous weeks, this week marked the final Advent Sunday, themed “Love and Light.” Ji shared his sermon themed “Immanuel.”
He explained that the term Immanuel appears only three times in the Bible. Yet, from the beginning of creation to the end of the world, God is with His people. He noted that people often hesitate to open their hearts to God, instead filling their lives with “trash.” Addressing contemporary issues such as depression and the lure of extramarital temptations, Ji urged people to come before God for comfort, encouragement, and a life of blessing.
On the morning of December 22, Liushi Church in Yueqing, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, held its Christmas Sunday worship service.
With the sermon titled "The Birth of Jesus Christ," the pastor encouraged attendees to reflect on issues ranging from family conflicts to global wars. The pastor said the world was in chaos, disorder, and endless strife, so people needed true redemption, which was the mission of Jesus Christ's birth.
In Sujiatun District of Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, each member of Fengyang Road Church received a packaged "Christmas fruit," an apple symbolizing peace and the abundant fruit of the Holy Spirit as the pronunciation of "apple" resembles "peace" in Chinese.. This is a unique Christmas tradition of the Chinese church on Christmas Eve. The celebration concluded with the entire congregation joining in a chorus of "Jesus, Jesus," with people on and off the stage singing, clapping, and praising together.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
