In the article, Strobel argues that apologetics is making a comeback as a critical part our faith.  He reminds readers that it is not just a good idea to have a knowledge of apologetics, but that we are actually commanded in scripture to be prepared for spiritual discussion. (1Peter 3:15: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Do this with gentleness and respect.”)

Strobel argues that people need to wrestle with questions in order for them to feel confident in taking a step toward faith. “ We often fail to realize it, but many of us have a son or daughter, a parent or sibling, a neighbor or colleague who is just one question away from faith in Christ. There’s a major obstacle, objection, or issue that has stymied them in their spiritual journey. We need to help them – whether they have only one question or a whole raft of them.”

Because of this, being able to engage with them in relational, loving conversation about these questions is where our focus should be as a church.

A new group started January 11 in Los Gatos, CA!!

We’d like to invite you (and sorry for the late notice!) to join the Q Place Lead Team in a New Year’s resolution:  To go through the New Testament in the year.  Each of us has signed up to receive emails with links to the passage of the day so that we all can share in the same devotion and see how God is moving through the Scripture together.

To join us, please visit www.bibleplan.org.  Choose the “New Testament in a Year” option, and choose your preferred translation.  Enter your email and you are done!  You will receive a confirmation email of your subscription, and start receiving the passages within 24 hours.

Hope you can join us!

Love, the Q Place Lead Team

DID YOU KNOW…? Here are some interesting facts about the history of Christmas celebrations…conversation starters for holiday parties!

The earliest evidence of the celebration on December 25 of a Christian liturgical feast of the birth of Jesus is from the Chronography of 354 AD. This was in Rome, while in Eastern Christianity the birth of Jesus was already celebrated in connection with the Epiphany on January 6.

The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.

By the High Middle Ages, the holiday had become so prominent that chroniclers routinely noted where various magnates celebrated Christmas. King Richard II of England hosted a Christmas feast in 1377 at which twenty-eight oxen and three hundred sheep were eaten.

Christmas during the Middle Ages was a public festival that incorporated ivy, holly, and other evergreens.

Following the Protestant Reformation, groups such as the Puritans strongly condemned the celebration of Christmas, considering it a Catholic invention and the “trappings of popery” or the “rags of the Beast.” The Catholic Church responded by promoting the festival in a more religiously oriented form. King Charles I of England directed his noblemen and gentry to return to their landed estates in midwinter to keep up their old style Christmas generosity. Following the Parliamentarian victory over Charles I during the English Civil War, England’s Puritan rulers banned Christmas in 1647.  Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.

In Colonial America, the Puritans of New England shared radical Protestant disapproval of Christmas. Celebration was outlawed in Boston from 1659 to 1681. The ban by the Pilgrims was revoked in 1681 by English governor Sir Edmund Andros, however it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.

At the same time, Christian residents of Virginia and New York observed the holiday freely. Pennsylvania German Settlers, pre-eminently the Moravian settlers of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Lititz in Pennsylvania and the Wachovia Settlements in North Carolina, were enthusiastic celebrators of Christmas. The Moravians in Bethlehem had the first Christmas trees in America as well as the first Nativity Scenes. Christmas fell out of favor in the United States after the American Revolution, when it was considered an English custom. George Washington attacked Hessian (German) mercenaries on Christmas during the Battle of Trenton in 1777, Christmas being much more popular in Germany than in America at this time.

In 1843, Charles Dickens wrote the novel A Christmas Carol, that helped revive the ‘spirit’ of Christmas and seasonal merriment. Its instant popularity played a major role in portraying Christmas as a holiday emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion.

In 1843, the first commercial Christmas card was produced by Sir Henry Cole.  The revival of the Christmas Carolbegan with William B. Sandys Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (1833), with the first appearance in print of ‘The First Noel’, ‘I Saw Three Ships’, ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’, popularized in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

In Britain, the Christmas tree was introduced in the early 19th century following the personal union with the Kingdom of Hanover, by Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen to King George III. In 1832 a young Queen Victoria wrote about her delight at having a Christmas tree, hung with lights, ornaments, and presents placed round it.  After her marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became more widespread throughout Britain.

A picture may make words unnecessary, but I would argue it could also turn around and spark an important conversation, one that strengthens relationships.  If this icebreaker prompt had never been given, the group would never know that this lady liked to roller skate.  Maybe you don’t think this is important,  but think for a moment how much else that tells about that lady.  SHE thought it was worth sharing about.  Our job as facilitator is to find out why.  Did she enjoy her childhood?  Did she make life-long friends?  Do they still like to roller skate too?  Could we all go skating next weekend?

In our Turbo Group the other evening, one of the ladies recounted this story about the lady and the roller skates, and how fantastic idea an icebreaker it was, and I immediately thought I would share it with you. People might look at at icebreakers as a waste of time, but anything that brings people closer and helps them open up about themselves is worthwhile in a Q Place.  So much of the success of a Q Place depends on whether the group members feel FELLOWSHIP with each other, and this requires building of trust.  I don’t know why finding out someone likes to roller skate builds trust, but it does.

So let’s brainstorm about ways to build trust and community in our groups!   Respond to this post with more ideas for helping folks get to know each other! 

Francis Chan illustrates in his new book, “The Forgotten God,” that if the church feels powerless, the answer is the Holy Spirit. If we, as a church, wish to tap into the power we see in the book of Acts, we need to learn more about the Holy Spirit and get to know him more as the God we may have forgotten.  Check it out!

“This economic crisis can be a great spiritual opportunity for the Church. Think about it: Man doesn’t live by bread — or economic prospects — alone. We must not only preach this kind of lifestyle, butmodel it before a watching world. We need to show young neighbors that faith in Christ makes sense during the good times and the bad times.”