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Choirs, carols & Candlelight: Putting 'Christ' Back Into Christmas

Australian christian music news

December 2025

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Seek Jesus Festival, Dec 30 - Jan 1 (VIC)
Kirk Franklin Dec 15-19 (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA)
Cancelled Lecrae Reconstruction Tour, Dec 9-13 (TAS, VIC, NSW, QLD)
We Are Messengers w/ Nathan Tasker Jan 27-31 (WA, VIC, QLD, NSW)

OZ 5 Chart
1. WORLD ON FIRE - FOR KING & COUNTRY

2. Hallelujah (If Not for You) - Aodhan King

3. Yes - S.Malcolm / For King & Country

4. Eyes For You - Ethan Beer

5. Cannot See Tomorrow - Justin Michael

*Compiled by TCM based on Australian Christian radio airplay from the preceding month.

OZ 5 Top Tunes Australian Christian Music Chart

Choirs, Carols & Candlelight: Putting 'Christ' Back Into Christmas

Aaron Duff, December 3, 2025

Dami Im at Adelaide's Carols by Candlelight 2024

In an increasingly secular Australia, are we losing our chance to share the true story of Christmas? From putting together your December soundtrack, decorating your Christmas lights, to attending local festive events with family, what can you do to spread His light this Christmas?

Joy to the World! It's Christmas time again. While Australia does Christmas differently from much of the rest of the world, we still do very well to borrow, recreate or come up with our own Christmas traditions.

Coming up to Christmas, our family puts out the tree and stockings, we decorate gingerbread houses and dust off the record player just as the year before, to play the same carols by English choirs, European orchestras and that one vinyl by Tijuana Brass - all the time never minding those references to snow or reindeers.

Outside too, there are the neighbourhood Christmas lights, the Christmas pageants, and of course there's the ubiqutous carol singers that you can find in the mall, church events, and of course Carols by Candlelight.

In fact, when you consider the crowds of people sitting on the grass singing together as the day turns into night for a Carols by Candlelight, it really is a uniquely Australian experience that can't quite be replicated in the cold winter months of the northern hemisphere.

In an article by Warwick Smith, the roots of this tradition can be traced back to Methodist miners that came from Cornwell, England to places like Moonta, South Australia. Known for their strong Christian faith, these miners would use the candles affixed to their mining hats and as according to one 1882 article from the local newspaper, 'Christmas Eve was celebrated by parties of miners singing carols through the night in the township and along the mines.'

Miners at Moonta with candles on their mining hats circa 1884 (State Library of South Australia)

Radio stations from Melbourne and Adelaide each introduced Carols by Candlelight to their respective cities in 1938 and 1944, hosting tens of thousands of members from the public and simulcasting to many more again with ticket sales being donated to various charities. The success from these two cities spread around Australia (and indeed the globe) and Warwick estimates there could be almost 2000 such events around Australia today.

It's certainly a fantastic platform for the public expression of Jesus, but is this tradition too in danger of being secularised? How many of the singers, hosts and performers actually believe the Christmas story themselves?

One much-loved and regular carols performer open with her faith is Dami Im. Ever since winning the X Factor in 2013, Dami has sung at carols events in different cities across Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, her hometown of Brisbane and in Adelaide as shown in this article's cover image.

Christmas is obviously an important time for Dami, and just last week she released her own version of 'O Holy Night' which follows on from her Christmas Songbook EP in 2023.

Dami shares,

It’s always fun to be part of Carols, as everyone is in a festive mood and there’s a real sense of celebration. As a Christian it’s also a wonderful opportunity to sing about Christ naturally, without it feeling preachy.

Do all Aussie kids know the story of Christmas? Adelaide St. Johns Carols by Candlelight

Australian Christian Orchestra is another great example of performers using Christmas to openly share the Christian faith. Founded in Sydney just 3 years ago, the Orchestra now has 50 classical musicians from over 17 denominations putting on evangelistic concerts with the purpose of bringing people to Christ.

Christmas is an important time of year for both the Orchestra and its subsequently-founded sister organisation the Australia Christian Choir. Building off last year where they performed a piece called 'Messiah' to 800 people at Salvation Army Congress Hall, this year the Orchestra and Choir performed their Christmas concert 'Joyful, Joyful' at the UNSW Science Theatre on November 29.

Ryan Gilpin, Founder and CEO of both the Orchestra and the Choir shares,

"We do a Christmas event every year and after the orchestra and choir perform widely loved classics ranging from Handel's Hallelujah Chorus to Sister Act's Joyful, Joyful, the pinnacle is the Christmas message. At the conclusion of the event, we ask people to start, recommence or reaffirm their journey with Jesus.

It's not a call to the front, but by using QR codes and NFC tags, there's an option for everyone to respond. We then look at each respondee's suburb and help them find some local church options - with a priority for those where an Orchestra or Choir member also goes, so they can have a personal connection straight away."

The Australian Christian Orchestra & Australian Christian Choir performed their Christmas concert on Nov 29 at UNSW Science Theatre.

Outside of church communities though, I unfortunately feel that a lot of Jesus has been taken out of Christmas. A number of government agencies even share a reluctance to use the word 'Christmas' in their communications, let alone the marketing team signing off any reference to 'our newborn King'.

In fact, it seems that taking Jesus out of Christmas is the latest politically correct fashion taking over Australia. Walking my neighbourhood and admiring the Christmas lights, I see lots of reindeers, wrapped presents and a few Santas stuck in chimneys. Unfortunately though I find it increasingly rare to find any member of the nativity scene in people's front yards - maybe an angel, no shepherds yet, and definitely no baby Jesus.

The same is true for Christmas music too. Next time you are in a shopping centre, pay attention to how many traditional carols referring to Jesus' birth you can find - and are the lyrics being sung?

I think you'll find many of the songs are about Santa, snow, bells, presents, trees or a Christmas love story, à la Mariah Carey. I truly believe we are reaching a stage where many Australian kids actually have no idea what Christmas is about.

The Sidney Myer Bowl in Melbourne has hosted the city's annual Carols by Candlelight since 1959.

In preparing for this article, I asked Australian Christian artists in our facebook group their views on how Australia represents Jesus through music at Christmas time and asked them to select from the following distinct options:

There is Jesus overload at Christmas and we need to take a break from it
Australia has just the right mix of Jesus & secular carols
Australian Christmas music needs more Jesus in it.

A respondee soon added a fourth selectable answer,

Christmas is the last performance space left for the gospel, so take it - and don't water it down.

At time of publication, there was just the one vote saying the balance was right, yet there were over two dozen responses for answers 3 or 4 asking Christians to take action.

These answers confirmed my own view that Christmas truly is one of the last spaces left for us Christians to proudly use our creative talents to share the gospel. I truly feel that society is trending in a way, that even sharing the Christmas story at Christmas may no longer be socially acceptable soon.

So what will you do to pass on the good news to the next generation? Is it time to search for (or even build) a nativity scene to display for your family and neighbours? Will you join a Christmas choir, or take the kids to carols by candlelight?

By testifying all together, I think we can bring back the 'Christ' in Christmas.

Follow:

Instagram: @damiim

Spotify: @damiim

Australian Christian Orchestra

Website: www.australianchristianarts.com

Instagram: @australianchristianorchestra

Images courtesy of SA State Library, Adelaide St. John's Carols by Candlelight, Vision Australia's Carols by Candlelight Melbourne, Australian Christian Arts, and Adelaide Australian Christian Records.

Header Image, Dami Im at St. John's Carols by Candlelight, Adelaide 2024

Also published at: https://dailydeclaration.org.au/2025/12/03/choirs-carols-christ-in-christmas