Across the world, Christmas is a season of longing and joy. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, whose love reaches every nation, our faith connects us to sisters and brothers across South Asia.

Just as we in the United States decorate our homes, bake treats, exchange gifts, and worship together, families across Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Andaman Islands do the same. Children receive new clothes, communities share meals, and churches overflow with singing and celebration. In many ways, their Christmas looks very familiar.

And yet, Christmas in South Asia also bears a distinct shape. For many of our partners, the season centers on outreach as they share food with widows, offer new clothes to vulnerable families, invite neighbors to church, and host celebrations so that others might hear the good news of Christ’s birth. In places where Christians face persecution, this season becomes not only a time of joy, but also an act of witness and courage.

Below, hear from our ministry partners as they share how they will celebrate Christ’s birth this year. To hear more stories about Christmas from our ministry leaders, listen to our December podcast episode (click here), and check out our Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky social feeds for this month! 

“Whenever the Christmas season comes, there is joy. Before the coup, we used to invite our families and friends and have dinner together at home. We used to have singing and visiting house to house, praying for one another, singing Christmas songs. This was one of the joyous and the happiest moments, especially for the young people. We used to have a Christmas service in the church, and invite many nonbelievers for lunch so that they can hear the Word of God and the good news of salvation. This year, we were planning to have an outreach, but we cannot do as we wish because of the ongoing violence. But we are planning to have an outreach program and we are going to divide into groups of two or three people, visiting at least two or three houses per day. We will invite them to come for the Christmas service and will ask them to join our Christmas lunch, and I can give the Christmas message.

Some of the people don’t like Christmas. They hate the pastors like us, the missionaries, the evangelists, those who are preaching and sharing about the Christmas season. We were not harmed by them directly, but they oppose us by stopping people from joining our service. We faced such persecution during the last Christmas, but by the grace of God, we were not harmed by any one of them directly. This year, I want you to pray for safety and not to face great persecution, and also more souls to be saved, as we are going to witness the Lord. Also, pray for the believers. There are many believers who are suffering and struggling and discouraged. So I want you to pray for them to grow their faith in Jesus Christ in the midst of many hardships and difficulties.” —Pastor Pan

“We celebrate Christmas, by assembling in one place, where our parents are residing. We make cake and parents feed the cake to all the children.  We usually wear new clothes and prepare biryani and sweets. As a church, we celebrate Christmas by inviting new people. We will have a special programme of children’s dance and a skit depicting the Lord Jesus’ birth and a message on the significance of the Lord Jesus’s birth and His love towards humanity. Christmas gifts to children will be given, and briyani will be served. Pray for the children who are coming to the Christmas programme to be touched by the Lord’s power. Pray for the outreach ministries during this period, and for the government to give protection to the programmes. Pray for the Christmas celebration needs such as gifts, sweets, food, and transportation.”

“We celebrate Christmas along with our poor Christian members who are not going out. We buy and give new clothes to the gypsy community people and also to widows and abandoned people. During the Christmas season gypsy people eat and drink special food. Many of them come closer to Jesus, especially our gypsy children. They share about Christmas celebrations in their classrooms.”

“Preparation for Christmas begins from a week before with the wearing of new clothes and with good food. Relatives will have come to visit. There are a lot of traditional foods to prepare and serve among the family members including the neighbors’ families, sharing the Christmas joy to all. Priority goes to those who are poorer and sick, to share the love of Christ. 

The church prays for a new vision for the upcoming year. We hold a children’s gathering and gift exchange, a Christian outreach rally among the village. This will be a joyful session and pastors will visit every home, sharing Christmas greetings and taking local prepared cakes, and some rice pudding.”

“[Last year] we celebrated our Christmas in one picnic spot where we got to share good news and show them the concern towards nature in cleaning the surroundings. Our next  Christmas outreach was at a cell group where we sang carols and hosted a meal for the neighbours, where they saw the love of Christ and a peaceful kind of celebration.”

“During Christmas time, all the Christian’s houses will be full of lights. We exchange gifts. Sometimes we give surprise gifts. (Sometimes I buy a surprise gift for Jandi. She never knows what I’m going to buy!) We cook roti, a kind of local bread. Sometimes people start having feasts at home, even 15 days before Christmas.They invite their relatives or friends, and sometimes the neighboring people.

Then we have a Christmas celebration in the church. We ask all our believers to invite their neighbors, their relatives, their friends, their co-workers. Then they bring them to the church, and we present a Christmas program they enjoy, and we share Christmas messages to them, and we give some kind of small gifts to them.”

Encouragement & Gratitude

From villages in Myanmar to candlelit homes in Nepal, believers across South Asia celebrate the birth of Jesus with joy and remarkable courage. Their witness encourages our own faith and deepens our gratitude for the global church we belong to. This Christmas, may we hold them in prayer and rejoice together in the Savior who came for all people. 

From all of us at Harvest Bridge, we wish you, and our brothers and sisters across South Asia, a very Merry Christmas.