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These Christmas and Advent articles offer many ideas to help your congregation reach more people and unchurched people, provide opportunities for newcomers, attract children and families, offer inspiring giving for ministries, and much more.
Church leaders may not be thinking about Christmas in September, but this is an ideal time to begin preparing for Christmas Eve. Lewis Center Director…
Laura Heikes shares an easy, low-barrier Christmas outreach idea that can involve your entire congregation and extend an invitation to worship that is warm, non-coercive,…
For two decades, women across the country have gathered for a simple but powerful Advent tradition: a laity-led candlelight service that brings communities together in…
The Travelers’ Christmas Eve Service at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in New York City is a beloved annual tradition, shares Jessica Anschutz. Designed for…
As the holiday season approaches, church leaders face heightened stress while preparing meaningful celebrations and making meaningful connections. Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff…
How can congregations reach new people by singing Christmas carols during Advent? Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center Staff shares five ways to sing more…
Is your church ready to roll out the holiday welcome mat? Ann Michel offers seven suggestions for helping people meet Christ anew this Christmas. Equip…
A live Nativity can be an engaging, heart-warming event not only for church members but for the entire community as well. One Houston-area church has…
How can your congregation deepen its connection to the community this holiday season? Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff offers six ways to engage…
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff suggests that in an age of rampant religious disaffiliation our evangelistic task in the Advent and Christmas seasons…
Meghan Hatcher says planning for Advent is the perfect time to assess whether a ministry tradition is still serving its intended purpose. She suggests seven…
Why worship on Christmas Day? Jessica Anschutz and Doug Powe share important reasons for worshipping on Christmas Day and offer ideas for innovative, hybrid (or…
As pastors and congregations prepare to receive guests on Christmas Eve, Bishop Kenneth H. Carter offers simple, heartfelt advice. Keep the sermon brief but grace…
Barry Howard names some dos and don’ts to help make your Christmas Eve service meaningful and welcoming. A festive and effective Christmas Eve service, he…
Ann Michel and Doug Powe of the Lewis Center write that the pandemic makes connecting with new people this Christmas more important than ever. But…
How can Advent be special in a year when so much is different? Professor of Worship Anna Petrin shares ideas for bringing Advent from the sanctuary to the home and allowing its themes of longing and hope to speak to our current reality.
Lewis Center Director Doug Powe says special efforts to welcome visitors at Christmas shouldn’t be set aside once the holiday is over. He outlines four…
Ann Michel of the Lewis Center staff says Christmas visitors can leave feeling shamed or belittled if church insiders project a holier-than-thou attitude. The preparation…
Doug Ruffle, who once served as a missionary in Argentina, shares the heartwarming story of a Christmas pageant that went off script, yet captured the…
Stephanie Remington of the Lewis Center staff reminds us that Christmas traditions can move the spirit and renew the hope of people in our culture,…
Lewis Center Director Doug Powe reimagines the common practice of regifting an unwanted gift. He invites us to think of regifting positively — as a…
Margie Briggs, pastor of two small churches in Missouri, describes how the annual tradition of hosting a “birthday party for Jesus” has attracted children and…
Pastor Carey Nieuwhof says unchurched people want to celebrate Christmas, so there is no better time to connect with friends and neighbors who rarely, if…
This year, worshipers at the Washington, DC, church where I serve will be hearing Christmas carols on November 29, the first Sunday of Advent. In…
The gifts of the Magi make perfect sense theologically, but the presents certainly weren’t practical. The arrival of a child requires diapers and bottles, cribs…
I have discovered over the last several years a surprising source of energy in the preparations for our church’s Christmas Eve worship service. Relative newcomers…
I have no patience for debates over the color of Advent candles and whether or not to sing Christmas songs in Advent. God became incarnate,…
In our culture, Christmas is a season of giving when church-goers and non-church-goers alike are inclined toward generosity. I witnessed a Christmas Eve service in which…
Rev. Mack Strange suggests conducting off-site Christmas Eve services at restaurants, nursing homes, prisons, and even bars to connect with the community. Many churches know…
Five years ago, Vale United Methodist Church in Oakton, Virginia, began a Christmas tree sale to support the mission work that was so central to…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.