Hyderabad: Vibrant Christmas celebrations bring alive churches in Old City

The Bethlehem Mennonite Brethren Church in Malakpet’s week-long celebrations featured programmes for women, youth and children, choir performances, and English services.

Its Wednesday morning’s main celebration drew a congregation of 1,500, which was more than the church’s seating capacity, according to senior pastor Dr P. Menno Joel.

Joanne Keerthana, a church youth member, said that they had visited homes for the aged and orphanages, where they distributed groceries as part of their Christmas programs. She said that the evening was marked by distribution of blankets to the homeless in and around Malakpet.

The celebrations at the Advent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Santoshnagar saw over 600 congregation members turn up for the festive worship service.

“We extended our outreach efforts by providing food and clothing to 100 individuals in dire need, symbolic of the message of generosity and kindness,” said K. Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Brother Vanguri Suresh delivered a motivational sermon on the occasion.
The worship service was led by parish pastor Rev. Dasari Sanjay Kumar and assistant pastor Rev. Dola Vijaya Kumar. The program featured special festive songs and followed the traditional Lutheran order of worship.

The celebrations commenced with a special Christmas service at Rock Church Asmangadh, Malakpet, where worshippers gathered in large numbers.

During his sermon, Bishop Timothy exhorted about the humility and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Yesu Ratnam, a visitor at the church, said “Christmas is a celebration of love. We assemble in church and vow to follow the commandments of the Lord.”

Christmas celebrations at Bethel Prayer House, Saidabad, were marked by a special worship. Pastor Jeevan Pramod delivered a sermon reminding everyone of the true meaning of Christmas.

“This season is not just about gifts and decorations, but about the love that was born into the world,” he said.