Prior to Christmas, King Charles expressed his support for the “Shine Your Light” campaign that galvanized 100,000 Christians in the U.K. to take part in pop-up carol singing, Nativity plays and other creative efforts to help people know Jesus is the King of Kings. In a letter sent to the organizers, the king expressed “warmest good wishes” and lauded the efforts to “bring many Christian denominations together and share in faith this festive period.” The letter, made public on the Shine Your Light campaign website, added that Charles had been “most touched” by the success of the previous campaign in 2023 and sent his “wishes for a Happy Christmas and a peaceful year ahead to all who attend this year.” Some 75 church leaders publicly backed the campaign with 1,000 events held nationwide, according to Rachael Heffer, head of mission at the U.K. Evangelical Alliance and Jonathan Oleyede, convener of the National Day of Prayer U.K. Heffer said the aim of the campaign was to call on every local church to take the Word onto the streets throughout the Christmas season.
She pointed out research by Talking Jesus that showed some 20% of the general population in the U.K. do believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and challenged people to share the message that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” The vision has been to connect the life-transforming Good News of the Christmas message with people in their towns and communities. When asked about the filming, Heffer said that “Shine your Light” is a national campaign, involving many mission agencies and church networks, seeking to rally the U.K. Church to take the Good News of the Christmas message out to non-believers. “During Advent 2023, over 78,000 people got involved with the ‘Shine your Light’ campaign, resulting in many pop-up carol services on streets around the country, bands, street cafes with live music and the Good News of the Christmas story presented to young and old,” she said. “Hundreds gathered in Trafalgar Square for an amazing medley of music, worship and speaking of the revelation of Christmas.”
Source: Christian Daily International
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