Shine Your Light is aiming to mobilise half a million Christians to share the gospel with five million people across the UK this Christmas, with more than 2,000 churches already signed up, organisers say.
Now in its fourth year, the campaign aims to mobilise 500,000 Christians from 5,000 churches to reach five million people with the gospel this Christmas. To help reach this target, new resources are being launched to support congregations in taking the Christian message into their communities.
The main campaign will take place over the weekend of 11 to 13 December, but churches can register outreach events all the way from Advent Sunday to Christmas Day.
Past activities have included carol singing and Christmas celebrations in streets, marketplaces and shopping centres, alongside visits to schools, care homes, pubs and social clubs.
This year’s campaign places particular emphasis on reaching people who may be overlooked during the festive season, including prisoners, people experiencing loneliness or homelessness, communities on housing estates, and refugees and asylum seekers.
Organisers are asking church leaders to show a new promotional video during services on Sunday 15 November, and to place their order for outreach booklets. A free downloadable toolkit is also being made available to help plan their activities.
The toolkit brings together information about Christian ministries, charities, support organisations and potential funding opportunities, alongside practical outreach ideas.
Pastor Jonathan Oloyede, from the Shine Your Light team, said churches should consider who might be missing from their usual Christmas activities.
“Christmas is a wonderful opportunity to share the greatest message of hope the world has ever known. But we must ask ourselves: who are we not reaching?”
He added: “We want churches to go beyond their usual activities and intentionally reach those who might otherwise be overlooked. Our new toolkit is designed to help churches turn that vision into practical action.”
Outreach booklets containing practical ideas, testimonies and encouragement are available free for orders of 25 or more copies, with churches paying subsidised postage and packing.
“We want to make it easier than ever for churches to get involved this Christmas,” said Pastor Oloyede. “We don't want cost to be a barrier to any church taking part.”
Adam May, the campaign’s Director of Strategy and Implementation, said: “Shine Your Light is about taking the message of Jesus into the places where people live their everyday lives.
"We’re confident, with God’s grace and prompting, we’ll see half a million Christians mobilised this Christmas, sharing hope, joy and love with five million people."
He added: “Christmas is an extraordinary opportunity for the Church to come together, serve our communities and to make Jesus known.”
