Cancel Christmas but Celebrate Advent

Cancel Christmas, But Celebrate Advent

by Franklin Dumond, Director of Congregational Ministries

Long before Christmas became a commercial event that began appearing in retail outlets alongside Halloween, the church developed an approach to Christmas that made it a season of anticipation and preparation in the weeks before the holiday.

As a young pastor, I remember struggling with how to fit all the favored carols and all the special programs of Christmas into the one Sunday before December 25. That was what I remember of the Christmas celebrations in my rural home church. Then I stumbled onto Advent and learned not only the joy of anticipation and celebration but also the beauty of preparing a congregation for that special time of the year.

Advent is the season marked by the four Sundays prior to December 25, climaxing with Christmas Day and the wonderful good news, “unto you is born a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”

Many churches mark Advent by using an Advent Wreath composed of greenery and five candles. Artificial greenery is much to be preferred over live greenery, which may present a fire hazard in the later weeks of Advent. Pillar-type candles provide the safest use of candles, as only rarely do they drip or spill.

Lighting the candles one each Sunday allows children to excitedly count the Sundays before Christmas as one candle burns on the First Sunday of Advent, two on the Second Sunday of Advent, three on the Third Sunday of Advent, and four on the Fourth Sunday of Advent to remind everyone that Christmas is almost here!

Many churches will use traditional themes of Advent, but I always enjoyed using Advent to tell the Christmas story in small parts.

The four traditional advent themes for the four advent Sundays are:

  • The Candle of Hope.
  • The Candle of Peace.
  • The Candle of Love.
  • The Candle of Joy.

As a Baptist pastor, I always found telling the story of Christmas leading up to the birth of Jesus was well-received by the congregation and a special treat for the children who hurried to the Advent Wreath for the Children’s Message. Because I used a nativity set with a variety of figurines, the children could help place one or two figures in the scene each week as we explored the Christmas story.

Advent could be organized around some of these elements of the Christmas Story:

Nov. 29 First Sunday of Advent Prophets and Bethlehem
Dec. 6 Second Sunday of Advent Angels
Dec. 13 Third Sunday of Advent Shepherds
Dec. 20 Fourth Sunday of Advent Mary and Joseph

Friday, December 24, Christmas Eve, will be a good time to light the Christ Candle since very few churches have services on Christmas Day. If a Christmas week service will not be held you might consider lighting the Christ Candle at the conclusion of the worship service on December 20. (Additional details for using the Christ Candle at the Christmas Eve Service are included in the Christmas Planning Pack available by request.)

While Baptist churches do not generally celebrate Epiphany and the arrival of the Wise Men, it is easy to introduce them as a kind of epilogue on the Sunday following Christmas which will be December 26, 2020.

It’s Worth Mentioning

Even if you are not using Advent in your church it is worth using the Sundays of Advent to mention some aspect of the Christmas story. The more often Christmas is connected with the church the more often we are able to develop and reinforce a Christian worldview.

Even worship plans and sermon themes that are unrelated to Advent can be given an Advent flavor by adjusting an illustration or changing a song title. While some church leaders do not believe Christmas deserves 1/12 of the annual emphasis in a church, others who recognize the overwhelming significance of the Incarnation believe that the message of Advent cannot be restricted to just one month of the year.

Ready for the next step? Then download our e-book “2020 Christmas Planning Pack”. The 2020 Christmas Planning Pack is a Church Talk Publication designed to help stateside General Baptist leaders cope with the “new normal”.

Saipan Community Church Celebrates 70 Years

Saipan Community Church Celebrates Seventy Years

by General Baptist International Missions

Saipan Community Church and SchoolSeventy years ago, the year 1948, marked an important milestone in the history of General Baptists. Just a few short years after the end of World War II, which had seen the almost total devastation of the small island of Saipan, Missionary Ed Stevens finished construction of a mission church and launched a mission congregation on this little island in the middle of the ocean. General Baptist missions had served Guam since 1911, but the work there was inherited from another denomination. The work of Ed Stevens on Saipan effectively makes Saipan Community Church the first mission started by General Baptists and the first and oldest Protestant Church on Saipan.

This was not an easy road for Rev. Stevens. He faced many trials to acquire the right property, get the right supplies, and find the right help. The plan was to have the first service at the mission on Easter Sunday in 1948. However, the church building wasn’t finished, so on the 4th of April, 1948, Saipan Community Church officially launched. That first service was mostly attended by U.S. military personnel and their families.

This was also the week the first small group met and a man named Vincente Silencino, a Filipino contract worker, accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Vince, as he was called, later accepted his call into ministry and eventually attended Oakland City College. After seminary, Vince became the first General Baptist missionary to the Philippines. This part of the story reminds us how important Saipan can be for sharing the Gospel to the rest of the Asian world.

Ed Stevens Student Ministry CenterSeventy years later, the Saipan Community Church is still a strong and vibrant ministry. With over fourteen different small groups and four services including a morning service with a variety of nationalities, a Filipino vesper service, and two other worship services targeting residents from nearby Pacific Islands on Sunday, the church is still strong and spreading the gospel.

While the first service was primarily U.S. military families, currently at least 17 different people groups participate in the morning services. This demonstrates the awesome capacity this unique church possesses to reach out to all of Asia. It has also inspired the church’s motto of “reaching an island to reach the world”.

In 1988 the first missionary from the Philippines, Ben Porcadillia and family, arrived on the island to minister to Filipino residents. The Porcadillias were also instrumental in starting the Saipan Community School which is the first and oldest Protestant school on Saipan.

This spring Saipan Community Church will celebrate its 70th anniversary on Easter Sunday. We will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of both our Filipino worship service and our K-8 School. This will be a great year of celebration as we look to our past with joy and to our future with hope and excitement. The congregation is currently served by Pastor Josh and Rachael Slater and family.

Celebration Update!

Saipan Community Church celebrated its 70th anniversary on Easter Sunday with 450 in attendance and two baptisms according to Pastor Josh Slater. Rev. David Stevens (son of founding pastor and missionaries Ed and Gertie Stevens) and wife Lois were in attendance. Ed Stevens established ministry outreaches on Guam, Saipan, Tinian (a leper colony after WWII), and Chi Chi Jima. According to Pastor Josh, “David looked like a kid in a candy store, we were even able to go to Tinian.” This was the first time that David has returned to Saipan since his father’s passing in 1953. GBIM was honored to partner with Saipan Church and Yigo Church (pastored by Bob Murphy), Guam to facilitate this trip for the Stevens.

GBBC Update

GBBC Update – Growing Bolder and Braver Conquerors

By Joyce Porcadilla, President of General Baptist Bible College, The Philippines

Happy new year! We do hope all of you had a blessed Christmas celebration and that you are excited to embrace whatever the Lord has in store for all of us this 2017!

Here at GBBC, Christmas has always been a grand celebration. We started off with our annual Christmas missions outreach in a very remote elementary school where the students and staff of GBBC held a Christmas program, served a meal, and gave out gifts. This was held on December 6th. It is always encouraging to see our students voluntarily put their resources together and share their blessings to the pupils and their families, as well as teachers of the said elementary school. But more importantly, it was a great blessing to see the joy in them because of the love they felt that no matter how simple the celebration was, we were able to make known to them the real meaning of Christmas and the reason of the season we are celebrating—Jesus.

Furthermore, on December 12th, the college students went around the neighboring communities to share the Christmas story through giving out candy canes. The students had the opportunity to share the Gospel and pray for and with various families and even those they met along the streets.

Before we finally ended year 2016 and before everybody went on a brief Christmas break, the entire GBBC family came together on December 14th for its annual Christmas program dubbed as “Christmasensation 2016,” with the theme, “Christmas is Within Us.” It was truly a celebration with friends and family, but above all a grand celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. The program was highlighted with various musical presentations that revealed the true meaning of Christmas, giving emphasis on God’s amazing love towards us that caused Him to give us the greatest gift we could ever receive. As we have received and experienced that love, GBBCians made sure that we also share and demonstrate that love to others. Continue reading