The scene is a live on the street interview with a reporter holding a microphone being filmed and people walking back and forth with Christmas presents.
SCENE ONE
Reporter: Good evening, I am Christine Snowy live from the centre court shopping centre in Wimbledon. I am here to ask people just what Christmas means to them. I want to find out if it is possible for anyone to still see Christ in Christmas today?
This is a helpful way of getting young people to think about what they spend and about others but it needs introducing in advance of Christmas.
First find a cause that the young people are passionate about.
Then challenge them that this year you are going to give what you give, what does that mean? For every present you buy you are going to give the same amount of money to the chosen cause.
The key to this is doing your teaching on Christmas early enough to make a difference.This is a simple idea, it is not saying do not buy any presents this consumer fast is about doing no shopping the week before Christmas allowing time to focus on what is really important.We found teaching this at the beginning of November helped the young people process what they wanted Christmas to be. The affect for many was the cut down on the amount of money they would spend on people and really connected with God the week before.There is one catch though if you teach this you have to model it.
Encourage your young people to make all their Christmas cards ones that blab the Christmas message, make a statement of faith. There are many good cards available every year now and it gets people talking. <P>
Some will argue that it is more expensive so encourage them to be creative in what they write, we found this a fantastic way to help make Christmas what it should be.
This is about giving a present that makes a difference to someone else, it could be a gift that is sponsoring a child, or buying a cow project. It could be giving a gift made up of fairly traded products and a leaflet explaining the benefits of buying them. It could be a gift where you give your physical time and energy to someone for a year. <P>
Get your young people to ask if they can lead the Christmas assembly for the school, then help them put it together. If they capture this idea and go for it the Christmas message will be presented in a relevant way in their schools and it also boosts the faith of those involved. You need to plant this idea early enough to give the schools enough time to think about it.
Put on a day, close to Christmas packed with games, craft, food and non-stop action led by the young people for children in the area. Invite parents to drop their kids off at 9am in the morning and collect them at 4.30 in the afternoon so that they can go and do their last minute Christmas shopping in peace. You will have a full house and the kids will want more.
