What does your Christmas planning look like? I’m sure there are some who’ve made the most of a quiet summer to plan Advent talks already. (That definitely wouldn’t be me.) Other churches may have had so much on that they’re just working week by week. Then there’s others still that won’t even let themselves think about Christmas until the lights are up and Mariah Carey is on the radio.
Well, wherever you are, however your church does Christmas, we’ve got a whole host of resources to help your ministry this year.
We can help you find teaching material for children's groups in the lead up to Christmas, along with the perfect gifts for children and their families. Make the most of our bulk discounts to provide everyone with faithful books that unwrap the real Christmas story...
A fun activity book bringing the Christmas story to life. Based on God's Big Promises Bible Storybook.
What to expect: Looking for a gift that can bring the Christmas story to life for little ones? This Christmas Activity Book is packed with stickers, puzzles, and games that faithfully point children to the true story of Christmas: the angel visiting Mary, the journey to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, the visits of the shepherds and the Magi. This activity book will work perfectly as a gift for families you might only see at seasonal holidays, so they can learn of God’s rescue plan through hours of fun at home.
Extra tips: You can find out more about the God’s Big Promises suite, how it can work for churches, and where to download tons of freebies to help your church’s children’s work, at godsbigpromises.com. Read on for illustrations you can show on screens while Bible stories are told at your Sunday School or toddler groups.
25-door Advent calendar linked with God's Big Promises Bible Storybook. Includes 25 family devotions.
What to expect: One of the church’s challenges is finding ways to help parents disciple their children through reading God’s word outside church walls. You can help families explore the Christmas story together with this attractive Advent calendar, which comes with 25 short, simple devotions.
Extra tips: Maybe you can get these ready for your families for the start of Advent. Then set challenges for them to read it together each day in the week, with small presents on Christmas Day for those who did. Read further down for more Advent Devotionals for adults.
These full colour, full-size illustrations allow you to read the Christmas story from God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook while showing the pictures on screen.
What to expect: Sometimes, finding good and faithful images for your powerpoint is the trickier, more time-consuming part of preparing for kids’ teaching. Well, we have a free image pack for you to use for your Christmas teaching slots. They’re full-color, full-size, beautiful illustrations from God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook.
Extra tips: Use these lovely illustrations on the screen, while reading from God’s Big Promises Bible Storybook (stories 46-49) at your parent and toddler group, or kids groups on a Sunday. You could even use them as visual aids for all-age teaching slots at your services.
A three-session Sunday School curriculum, based on the best-selling book The Christmas Promise. Includes a family-service outline.
What to expect: If you’re looking for more material to guide your teaching, we’ve released this Sunday School curriculum for you to use flexibly for your groups this Christmas. There are age-differentiated plans for 3-5s, 5-8s and 8-12s, including activity, craft and game ideas, and they’re easy for anyone to lead. The curriculum is based on the best-selling storybook The Christmas Promise, and shows children God’s promise of a special forever rescuing King.
Extra tips: Run Sunday School session 1 on Sunday 3rd December, session 2 on the 10th, session 3 on the 17th, and use the outline plan for a family service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
It’s good to have a small booklet to give to children as a present at Christmas services. Take a look at our range of Christmas Tracts for Kids.
We also recommend using small storybooks as gifts after your church nativity, or at the last parent and toddler or kids’ groups of the term. There’s a Lion in my Nativity is a warm rhyming story with quirky illustrations that teaches profound truths of Jesus. The Christmas Surprise, part of the Little Me Big God series, is a simple and engaging retelling of the Christmas story for toddlers. You could also stock these on your church bookstall for parents to buy as stocking stuffers for their little ones.
The authentic Christmas story, told in a warm, winsome and witty way. Perfect for giving away.
What to expect: If you’re looking for a book to put on chairs or to hand out at the end of your evangelistic events or services, Christmas Uncut is perfect—it’s warm, short, and easy to read! When it comes to the nativity, many of your guests will probably have cute, cuddly, kid-friendly images in their minds. This book turns those perceptions upside down, and reveals the uncut story of Christmas, full of controversy and mystery. It’ll show people what really happened, and why it really matters for our lives today.
Extra tips: To help you get evangelistic resources for all of your guests, you can get 100 copies of Christmas Uncut for just £1 each!
Looking for something else? Take a look at our whole list of Christmas Evangelistic Books. We recommend The Ultimate Christmas Wishlist by Rico Tice, and Is Christmas Unbelievable? by Rebecca McLaughlin.
We have a range of short evangelistic booklets to give out after events, or for your church family to give to their friends and neighbors. If you go carolling in your community, these are great to hand to passers-by.
We recommend Not Just Another Christmas by Dave Gobbett, and So this is Christmas by Rico Tice.
Daily Advent devotions that will help you to slow down and appreciate the wonder of Christmas.
What to expect: If you’re looking to recommend a devotional that gives your church members the chance to slow down and really dwell on the words of the Christmas story, The Advent of Glory is spot on. Whether you’ve been a Christian for one Christmas or one hundred Christmases, you will benefit from R.C. Sproul’s insight and wisdom. These short, heartwarming devotions, based on just a couple of verses each day, are accessible and easy to apply to our lives now.
Extra tips: To help you decide, you can read the Day 1 Devotion from The Advent of Glory for free on our blog. Browse our whole range of Advent Devotionals for all ages.
If you’re planning how you might keep your newcomers searching for answers off the back of Christmas events or services, we have some evangelistic courses for just that.
Leader's Kit with everything you need to run this three-session, video-based : a Leader's Guide, a guest handbook, picture cards, a DVD and a code to access video downloads.
What to expect: Hope Explored is a three-week evangelistic course looking at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. It shows participants that Christianity offers real hope, peace, and purpose.
Extra tips: You can preview session 1 of the Leader’s Handbook and the Session 1 video sessions for free here.
Beautifully designed leader's kit containing everything you need to run this popular and faithful introduction to the Christian faith.
What to expect: If your seekers want more time to really think through the gospel’s claims, Christianity Explored offers seven straightforward sessions to help participants discover who Jesus is, why he came and what it means to follow him.
Extra tips: The Christianity Explored and Hope Explored Leader’s Kits give you everything you need to run the sessions, including a code to access the videos. Promotional materials are also available, such as invitations that you could put on chairs at your Christmas events, and the guest trailer.
This blog is just a sneak peek into our new Christmas resources for this year. There’s much more to discover to help your ministry in our whole collection of resources for Christmas. Don’t forget to order before Nov 1 for your free Christmas evangelistic book with the code “freegift”.
After starting in Textiles Design, Bethany developed her UX Design skills in a Masters course at Loughborough University. She's loved using them at her Church to shape the experience of their communications and grow their positive presence in their community. Now she's bringing her skills and creativity to TGBC.
