If you’re in need of Advent and Christmas readings, you can’t get much better than FREE. Dan Wilt has written 11 biblically and poetically rich readings for families and congregations to use without even having to pull out their wallets.
Advent and Christmas Resources
Need resources for Advent and Christmas? Joyce Borger is here for you. She’s put together a comprehensive collection of Advent and Christmas resources to support worship planning. This selection includes weekly service series, lessons and carols, specialized services like Longest Night and Blue Christmas, children’s pageants, and advent candle lighting resources. So if you’re ready to get going on seasonal preparations, here’s a good place to start.
10 Ways to Prepare for Your Christmas Services
Christmas is coming, even if it doesn’t quite feel like it yet! For church leaders, now is the time to start planning for your Christmas services and series. Getting a head start on preparation can pay huge dividends down the road.
In this article, church leaders from a variety of congregations share their best tips for starting your Christmas planning early. Their guidance covers everything from nailing down your core message, to coordinating across ministries, to remembering those who struggle during the holidays.
Find practical wisdom and ideas for maximizing your Christmas series and services. While it may seem early, taking time to prayerfully plan now can ensure a thoughtful, coordinated, and inspiring set of messages and experiences for your congregation this Christmas.
How Worship Leaders Can Stay Sane On the Christmas Treadmill
The holiday ministry rush feels like jumping on a treadmill and cranking it up to 12. If you’re wondering how to avoid ending up on the dirty gym floor, you’re not alone. In this heartfelt piece, we explore the delicate balance worship leaders face during the Christmas season – between church responsibilities and family time, between performance demands and personal peace. Discover practical wisdom for staying connected to both the true meaning of Christmas and your loved ones, while fulfilling your vital role in sharing hope through worship. Learn how to transform this hectic season from mere survival mode into a meaningful ministry opportunity that honors both your calling and your relationships.
[PODCAST] Embracing Digital for Church Growth: Insights from Jay Kranda
Want to take your church’s digital ministry beyond just livestreaming? This week on the UnSeminary podcast, join Jay Kranda as he breaks down the best digital strategies in the modern church. He shares only the best ideas for using technology to enhance (not replace) in-person community. From avoiding trendy distractions to implementing focused digital initiatives, discover how to build a balanced approach that truly serves your church’s mission and strengthens discipleship.
A Christmas Service for Those Experiencing Loss
During the joy-filled holiday season, an innovative church service has emerged that creates space for those experiencing grief and loss. Born from tragedy, this pre-Christmas gathering combines gentle ritual, music, and community support to offer comfort to anyone carrying sorrow – whether from losing a loved one, a job, a relationship, or other life changes. What started in one Louisville church has spread to others, touching lives and creating new traditions of healing during the holidays. Ahead is a full, detailed guide for congregations looking to implement this meaningful service in their own communities.
[PODCAST] Phil Wickham on Getting Priorities Straight & Christmas
Phil Wickham joins the WorshipFuel Podcast to talk about his new Christmas album: ‘Hallelujah! It’s Christmas!’ But also for conversations on meeting your congregation where they’re at (rather than where you want them to be) and getting priorities straight in the world of worship.
Get A Jump On Your Christmas Planning
Larger ministries with special Christmas events have been planning for months. However, when I was a worship leader at a smaller church I wouldn’t start thinking about Christmas until mid to late November as Christmas for us (in our early years meeting in an elementary school) simply meant adding a few Christmas carols to my praise sets.
You have four weeks in December and Christmas Eve (5 services) depending on the year (when Christmas Eve falls on the weekend some churches may only have the Christmas Eve service in lieu of a Sunday morning service.)
Many hipster worship leaders are, for some reason, terrified of Christmas music and simply refuse to do any carols. At all. Last year I visited a famous megachurch the Sunday before Christmas Eve and they didn’t sing a single Christmas carol (however, they did manage to bizarrely fit in a popular Easter worship song LOL!)
At the dawn of the contemporary worship movement the fear was that your rocking praise sets would come to a screeching halt as you’d be forced in December to sing carols straight out of the hymnal. Today this is simply not the case as there are hundreds of contemporized Christmas carols as well as new Christmas worship songs available to us that will fit seamlessly into any modern worship order.
Try progressively adding Christmas music to your December praise sets. Start simply and briefly: you might tack the “O Come Let Us Adore Him” chorus to the end of your regular praise set on the first December Sunday to let people know Christmas has begun.
The second Sunday you could kick off your praise set with an upbeat contemporary Christmas carol and follow it with regular praise songs. Perhaps you have a favorite, new Christmas worship song by a popular artist that you’d like to teach your congregation throughout the month. Introduce it on this second Sunday as an offertory special, then invite the congregation to sing along on the 3rd and 4th Sundays and Christmas Eve.
By the 4th Sunday you should have a full praise set of contemporary Christmas carols. This progressive planning method also makes for an easy Christmas Eve service for smaller churches – craft your Christmas Eve by choosing from the songs you’ve sung throughout the month and interweave them with Scripture readings. An added benefit: this service will require minimal rehearsal time as you and your musicians will already be familiar with the music!
Bottom Line: Start your Christmas planning now for a stress-free holiday season.
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