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Christmas at School

The school in the west of Taichung was beautifully decorated: Christmas lights, trees, plants, cards, Christmas blessings….., but how many of the 4,000+ students there really knew what Christmas is all about? Of course, Santa Claus was there too! There was a special atmosphere at the school, in spite of all the pressure of studying hard for each day’s exams.

The school has a strong Christian teachers' fellowship. “Do the students know what Christmas is all about?” was the question they discussed at the beginning of December. They felt that because everyone in the school believes the nonsense about Santa Claus, as teachers they have the right and responsibility to do something to help the students get the facts about Christmas right. They wanted to let the students know the truth of Christmas, which is Jesus Christ, the Savior, coming into this world. Because they wanted to “get the facts right,” school leaders were positive about their plans.

The passion to share God’s love was burning in their hearts. They discussed lots of creative ideas. There was a real excitement and a growing boldness not to be ashamed of the gospel. As I prayed and prepared together with them, the activity plan had to be run through the different offices to get approval. Everything went smoothly.

Covered with prayers, we began the week before Christmas. Every day while the students ate their lunch in their classrooms, they listened to Christmas songs, which we broadcast via the school sound system into each classroom. On Friday it was not only music, but also a story about a girl from the school who went to see Santa Claus in order to celebrate his birthday. Santa Claus was quite upset that she thought that he was the reason for Christmas. Then Santa Claus gave a clear and very creative presentation of the gospel.

School was out at 4 pm. The Christian teachers all dressed up as Santa Claus and stood at the main gate of the school. Noisy Christmas music created a joyful atmosphere. As the students came out, each one of them was given a specially printed Christmas card and a piece of candy from the teachers. Merry Christmas!

It’s a very different scenario from that day 2,000 years ago when the shepherds on the fields heard the angels singing and proclaiming the good news of Jesus’ birth. But the message has been the same and the young people are as needy as the shepherds. They need Jesus! Our prayer is that, like the shepherds, these young people would hurry to find Jesus!

Beate Harr, Taichung