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Girls with a Christingle Girls with a Christingle

Seasonal Ideas

A selection of helpful links and ideas for your ministry

Many thanks to Revd Mary Hawes for many of the links and information here.

Advent resources

  • Excellent pinterest board on Advent & Christmas by Mary Hawes
  • Advent in 2 minutes - Excellent youtube resource on advent - Advent in 2 minutes - Excellent youtube resource on advent
  • Re:Quest has Advent information & resources, click on the Festivals icon at the top and scroll down - http://bit.ly/2ZrmcXX
  • All-Age Advent Service from ROOTS in four parts. Starting with creation, it moves to the Old Testament promise of justice, the coming of the Saviour and finally the expression of hope in Revelation - http://bit.ly/2UFrgo0
  • The Real Advent Calendar - The Real Advent Calendar is a Fairtrade Advent calendar with a free 24 page Christmas story-activity book. http://bit.ly/2GDWTu8
  • We Wonder family podcast for Advent is around 15 minutes long and designed for listening to as a family but could be used with groups or for planning sessions too. - Find out more
     

Christmas resources

Many churches and other venues will be delighted to be opening up for Christingle Services again this December. All the resources you might need to plan and run a service in a range of settings are now available. Christingle Resources can be found here

Family Advent Reflections: Books and Resources

Family Advent Box from Bible Society provides all the ingredients for a meaningful, memory making, relationship building family Christmas that will be fun for all. Family Advent Box.

The Adventure of Christmas is a book of 25 reflections with prayers, questions and further activities giving families a simple story based format with options to do more on some days than others. View a sample

The Christmas Story is written for parents, grandparents and carers to share with their children through an interactive family Bible and prayer time. Each section provides a brief comment on the passage, questions to discuss, a visual aid to encourage engagement with the story, an activity idea, a prayer idea, a key verse and an Old Testament story link. Find it here
 

Lent

Mothering Sunday

Easter

Pentecost

Harvest

Halloween

Hallowe’en has become firmly fixed in the annual calendar and has deep and ancient pre-Christian roots. Like many of these festivals it was adopted and adapted by the church as of the eve ‘All Saints’ or ‘All Hallows Day’ hence Hallowe’en. All Hallows remembers all of the people who have served God.  

Lots of the associated customs come from these origins: carving turnips (pumpkins), sharing food and drink, dressing up, and mischief or misrule. Trick or Treating might have origins in soul cakes where people prayed for other households and those who had died and were given a ‘soul cake’ for their prayers.  

Many churches have embraced this season in the form of light parties or giving away gifts of sweets and carving a pumpkin with a cross or heart has become popular more recently.  

2021 will be different for many as we follow government guidelines and ensure we are COVID-safe

Resources for for churches, families and schools

We have gathered together some ideas to help for churches, families and schools to connect, create and reflect with this festival. 

Hallowe'en: some ides for all people all places

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For more information or to report anything wrong with this page please contact Sarah Wilson

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