The countdown towards our 24th general council has entered a new phase: the count is now in months, not years. For the past two years, our churches have been preparing for Accra.

Now, within months, delegates will be gathering in Ghana.

"I came that they may have life and have it in fullness." John 10.10, from which we draw our Accra theme, describes the purpose of Jesus' coming. For those whose lives are empty, threatened or compromised, the coming of a saviour offering fullness of life is good news.

In Luke's gospel, this good news comes first to the shepherds "keeping watch over their flock by night".

It is significant that the good news comes to them first. Their status among God's people was low, and their lives were not as cosy as our Christmas nativity plays may suggest. Day and night, they were in the fields with the sheep, exposed to the weather, exposed to danger too. Their lives made them open to a message of salvation. They could hear the birth of the good shepherd as good news.

But the news is not just for them. "Do not be afraid," says the angel of the Lord, "for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all people..." The birth of the messiah is good news, not for the shepherds alone, but for everyone. The new life Jesus comes to bring is inclusive of all.

Our task as churches and as an alliance of churches is to spread the news. Many in today's world are like the shepherds in the fields, needing liberation and new life. And many today have bad news preached to them. They are offered counterfeit forms of faith.

If the Alliance family, alongside other churches, does not proclaim effectively the new life that is offered by our Lord Jesus Christ, the gap will be filled by fundamentalisms of one kind or another, the prosperity gospel, or charlatans who see evangelism as a lucrative business.

In gathering ourselves together as a fellowship of churches, we do not need to wait for Accra. Let us listen together to the good shepherd. Let us ponder in our hearts the charge laid upon us through knowing he is the good shepherd. Let us commit ourselves afresh to being the messengers, the angels, through whom those who are spiritually empty, or tired and worn out by senseless wars, heartless economic systems, human prejudice and cruel oppression, can hear the good news.

Let us listen to the voice of the good shepherd who comes that all may have life in fullness.

Merry Christmas!

Setri Nyomi