December 22, 2025
Sharing the true meaning of Christmas in over 35 different languages
Through the ministry’s radio broadcasts, people in other regions of the world can know and experience the reason Christmas is celebrated with such joy: the birth of the Messiah!
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — For Christians around the world, Christmas is a wonderful time to celebrate the gift of life that God has given through Jesus. However, joy is tempered by the reality that the holiday is not universally celebrated in a way that honors who Jesus is and what God has provided through His Son. There are places around the globe where Christmas is not recognized or celebrated at all. In some other countries, Christmas is simply acknowledged as a holiday focused on festivities, family gatherings and giving. In the U.S., much of the true meaning of Christmas has become lost or distorted in the secular world.
The Tide® (www.thetide.org) ministry, an international Christian outreach committed to worldwide evangelism and discipleship, is sharing how theChristmas season is so much more than a baby in a manger, wise men following a star and shepherds receiving an amazing revelation.
“The prophetic words of Isaiah (Isa. 9:1-7 and 61:1-3) provide some insight into the fuller significance of the birth of Christ,” said Don Shenk, director of The Tide®. “Jesus was born to initiate and implement God’s plan to make it possible for us to experience His active presence in our lives today and have the confident assurance that our lives are secure in Him for all eternity. This provision of hope that Christmas commemorates is for everyone regardless of nationality, race, ethnic identity, gender or age. Unfortunately, there are far too many people in this world living under the oppressive darkness of spiritual deception, often exacerbated by physical hardships that leave them with a sense of hopelessness. They have not yet personally experienced the impact of the prophecy in Isaiah 9:1; ‘there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.’”
Christmas is also a time when Christians reflect on Christ’s mandate to pass God’s incredible, multi-faceted, life-giving gift on to others. The mission of The Tide is to shine the light of Christ throughout the world and to guide people into his loving embrace, where they may personally experience the joy of salvation. For 79 years, The Tide has been proclaiming the Gospel in multiple heart languages throughout regions of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, declaring the truth about who Jesus is and why God sent him into the world.
“The bulk of our resources is focused on producing and airing gospel-centered media content and using the resulting programs to make disciples and plant churches, but our boots on the ground also strive to meet a variety of physical needs depending on the situation and available resources,” said Shenk.
“For many years, we have been engaging in a variety of community empowerment projects to help improve the lives of people living in underdeveloped rural areas of India. This includes such things as basic health clinics, vegetable gardening, agricultural training, sports outreach, literacy training and after-school day care. This year, our ministry team in India also added two Tailoring Training centers so that rural girls and women can learn a valuable trade to help alleviate economic distress by generating some much-needed income.”
As The Tide’s partners in Cameroon have been expanding their outreach, they are encountering people in communities that do not have access to clean water. Consequently, The Tide is endeavoring to sink wells so that people no longer need to live with the risks of unhygienic surface water sources. Another goal the ministry has in Cameroon is to provide much-needed permanent structures where congregations can find relief from the blazing sun or pounding rain as they meet for worship and fellowship.
In 2004, The Tide started distributing radios in India to ensure that certain poverty-stricken communities would have access to the Gospel. The success of the “Radios for India” project in making disciples and planting churches inspired the ministry to expand media player distribution into other countries. This year, The Tide is putting a special emphasis on increasing the number of portable, solar-powered media players they distribute in Pakistan and Thailand. These devices are an integral component of evangelism and discipleship in both these countries and have the added benefit of allowing recipients to listen discreetly in situations where they risk persecution and harm for listening to Christian teaching.
“Providing a service to an individual or community is a great way to build relationships and helps people to become more open and receptive to the Gospel. Even though you may not think of it as Gospel proclamation, alleviating distress in the name of Jesus can ultimately result in more people responding to Jesus in faith,” said Shenk.
“This Christmas season, we give glory to God for allowing our radio broadcasts to reach people in other regions of the world so that they can know and experience the reason we celebrate Christmas with such joy: the birth of our Messiah!”
From its humble origins in 1946 as a local Gospel radio broadcast in Chambersburg, PA, The Tide® ministry has grown into a global network of Christian media broadcasting partnerships committed to worldwide evangelism and discipleship. In 2008, The Tide® ministry ended all English-language programming in order to focus on developing and distributing indigenous heart-language content in areas around the world that are less touched by the Gospel. Today, The Tide® ministry works with partners in multiple countries across three continents to broadcast Gospel-centered messages via radio, satellite TV and other media. In order to make disciples and plant churches, The Tide® ministry also provides resources for literature distribution, correspondence courses, discipleship and leadership training activities, and the distribution of radios and media players.
For more information about The Tide® ministry broadcast projects, history, radio programs around the world, special year-long campaigns, the weekly Global Update radio features or other news, visit its website at www.thetide.org or its Facebook page.
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To schedule interviews with Don Shenk, director of The Tide® global radio ministry, contact Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, Dawn Foglein, ext. 100, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.
To inquire about airing any of The Tide® ministry radio broadcasts, contact Michael Hamilton, 610.584.1096, ext. 101.
