Advent
During the four weeks of Advent, we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth through prayer and reflection. We offer the following sites as a varied resource of practical ways to observe the holiness of the season in our everyday lives.
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Shine Your Light - Imagine 100,000 Christians on the streets at Christmas singing Carols and sharing the Gospel everywhere! A nationwide Christmas campaign called Shine Your Light, will be taking place this year over the weekend of 13th – 15th December 2024.
This UK and Ireland grassroots movement saw over 75,000 Christians from over 700 churches take their Carol services and nativity events into shopping centres, town halls, high streets and public spaces in December 2023. This was suggested by many leaders to be one of the largest Christmas outreaches on behalf of the UK Church.
Shine Your Light is a united collaboration of many Christian Denominations, organisations, local churches, and networks; including The Salvation Army, Bible Society, Evangelical Alliance and hundreds of local congregations in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic. Find out more.
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Herod’s Secret Policeman Church pack - Open Doors have produced a brilliant FREE resource. It's a lovely children’s Christmas book which gently introduces children to some of the issues faced by secret believers. Herod’s Secret Policeman tells the tale of how Secret Policeman Number 3 (and his toy sheep Nellie) was sent to spy on the magi and how finding Jesus changed him forever.
There is a free churches pack including a teaching session, nativity play adaptation, colour and cut out nativity, plus five copies of the Herod’s Secret Policeman storybook.
It’s all free so worth getting if only to get the free books and colouring activities as Christmas gifts/prizes. And, importantly, the intention is to raise awareness of the persecuted church.
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Advent & Christmas Ideas 2020 (PDF) - A brilliant resources of ideas to try this Christmas from the Congregational Federation. And why not have a look through the CF Powerpoint Christmas Ideas?
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Christmas All Wrapped Up - A brand new creative resource for the festive season from Jeff Lucas & Searchlight Theatre Company. There are four sketches from Searchlight and Jeff will be producing four devotional stories and a 20-minute Christmas message 'The Hope That We All Need'. These can be used for online services, small groups and your church's social media.
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​An Advent Service for Non-Church Young Families (PDF) - This wonderful service has been specially written for The Resource Hub. It can be adapted for use at any time in the run up to Christmas and is full of great ideas. Take a look.
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#Follow The Star - The Church of England is running a 3 year campaign which provides Christmas reflections available in print, email, app and audio formats, an online shop to buy items for your church, video adverts, a social media campaign and much more!
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Churches Together in Britian and Ireland - Resources are becoming available for Advent and Christmas 2020, including the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and those from CAFOD, the Church of Scotland, Christian Aid Scotland and Hope. Plus there is material from previous years: A World in Waiting – Advent hope in an economic crisis, ALTERnativity and Advent Journey with the Magi.
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Seasonal All Age Services - from All Age Worship Resources. This section of their website contains a variety of material for special points in the church year; from Christmas Crib Services led by Camel Puppets to a Multi-Sensory Maundy Thursday alternative communion to an interactive Good Friday service.
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There is room: Resources from The Methodist Church - There is Room is the 2022 Advent and Christmas campaign from the Methodist Church. Through the lens of a Methodist Way of Life, it offers content relevant for today’s world, aiming to encourage and support anyone who wants to find out more about the Christian faith.
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God has filled the hungry with good things - An Advent resource from the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT is a partnership between the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, and the United Reformed Church). In a year dominated by the Cost of Living Crisis they ask what is the good news of Christ Jesus’ birth in this context?
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Advent & Christmas Resources from Mission Together - Each year, Mission Together produces a set of free Advent Materials for use in Primary Schools, Children’s Liturgy groups and at home. Advent Assemblies, accompanying craft activities and a much loved Advent Calendar, offer a joyful and thoughtful approach to this wonderful season.
All resources incorporate child-friendly scriptures and include a simple reflection, emphasising how Jesus is the real reason for the season and how we can continue to make his presence and love felt on earth.
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IgnatianSpirituality.com® - this website is a service of Loyola Press, a ministry of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It offers information on and experiences of Ignatian spirituality from Jesuit and Ignatian sources around the world. IgnatianSpirituality.com serves all audiences—the curious, the knowledgeable, and the expert. It contains a quite wonderful section on Advent, with videos, reflections, prayers, calendars and much more.
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Beyond Consumerism Advent 2022 - ARC | “We’re delighted to be able to bring to you our wonderful new resource to support churches in preparations for the coming advent season. To be able to approach the season with fresh thinking, and to support our rural churches with such helpful, thoughtful, and adaptable resources is so important. We do hope that you enjoy reading and using them through the coming Advent season and we would love to hear from you on how the resource impacted the season for you. Our thanks go to Rev’d Helen Bent who so beautifully wrote and crafted this for you to use and enjoy!”Rev’d Matt Jeffrey CEO of The Arthur Rank Centre
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