Update Your Website
If you want to get your church ready for the holidays, start with, believe it or not, your website. Why? because during the Christmas season there are so many people looking to visit churches. In addition, they will conduct their search online if no one invites them to a particular location. It is crucial to keep your website updated with all of your church’s holiday activities because of this.
Spend some time updating your website with all of your Christmas-related plans. Then, give the fundamentals another look as well. Make sure all of your links are working, your church’s address and service times are provided, and all other essential details are simple to discover so that visitors can access it when they land on your website.
Create a Sermon Series Plan
Planning your sermon series is one of the most crucial things you can do right now to start getting ready for the Christmas season.
What will be the main message? Which scenes from the Christmas tale do you wish to emphasize? How will you spread the news of the hope and life that Jesus brought to the world this year?
Pray right now about the message God wants you to deliver over the holiday season.
For some of you, it may be a collection of a few isolated Christmas-related notes. Others could experience it as a three- or four-part series that progresses toward Christmas. Perhaps you are preparing a different message for Christmas Eve or Advent services.
Don’t Forget The Design And Decor
The enjoyable part is now! Who doesn’t enjoy some nice holiday decorations to make their church seem festive?
Plan now for the design and decorations your church will need for the holidays!
Perhaps the set was created especially for your Christmas sermon series.
Perhaps you need to adorn the area for a special occasion.
Perhaps all that needs to be decorated for Christmas this year is the foyer and hallways of your church.
Create a festive atmosphere at your church by carefully considering, organizing, and even acquiring the necessary items.
Focus On Hospitality
Recall how we said all the people looking for a church to visit over the holidays? They might be newcomers to the area. Or perhaps a family is dropping over to see a member of your flock. Or perhaps someone is just want to get connected with a church for the holidays.
Make sure your staff and volunteers are ready to welcome them this Christmas, regardless of who or what brings them to your church. Focusing on hospitality for everyone who joins you this holiday season, especially your guests, is one of the most crucial things you can do. Making a favorable impression on them throughout this visit will entice them to return and visit once more.
Make Special Event Plans
Your church is quite active throughout the Christmas season, with lots of exciting events building up to the big day. Your church’s calendar will be packed with Christmas plays, concerts, special Advent services, community feasts, and Christmas Eve prayer gatherings. It’s crucial to start organizing, publicizing, and talking about such unique occasions right away.
Consider these activities as fantastic community outreach possibilities. A special Christmas service or celebration might put some people at ease, whereas they might feel scared to attend on a typical Sunday morning. Therefore, let your congregation members know about these events on social media, through your morning announcements, and by posting about them!
Choose a soundtrack
Who doesn’t enjoy holiday music? Okay, a lot of people don’t, but I don’t! I approach holiday music like Buddy the Elf: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for everyone to hear! So make sure you include some Christmas music in the set list to create the soundtrack for the holiday season at your church.
Consider the upcoming holiday season as a fantastic opportunity to spice up the musical offerings at your church. Make a playlist of traditional holiday songs to play each week as people enter and leave your services. Include a few Christmas classics in your regular worship performance. Alternately, make a silly mashup to start the service and encourage your attendees to sing along! Consider using Christmas music to inspire your audience, whichever you choose to do it!
Don’t Forget Your Community
Even while there are many wonderful aspects of the Christmas season, it’s vital to keep in mind that not everyone enjoys the holidays. The Christmas season often causes people stress on both an emotional and financial level. Because of this, Christmas is a wonderful opportunity for your church to reflect on the community. Consider the holiday season from a missional perspective and concentrate on how you may help those in need in your neighborhood this Christmas.
Pray!
Finally, starting to prepare your heart for what God wants to do is one of the most important things you can do to make your church ready for Christmas. Praying is the best way to accomplish that. Ask God to guide you as an individual, a group, and as a church. Be optimistic about the marvels God might perform for you this Christmas!
A few suggestions for making the holidays holy
Do you feel prepared for Christmas? My heartbeat quickens whenever that question is spoken because of all the tasks I still have to finish. But if we approached Advent in a different way, “getting ready” might become more of a holy period.
The majority of us make an effort to “keep Christ in Christmas,” yet our joy and worship can often be compromised by our busy schedules. As we get ready for Christmas, it might be beneficial for us to decide to schedule time for some crucial tasks.
Join your church for worship. Throughout the Christmas season, your congregation will probably offer a few special services. Plan to attend the children’s Christmas pageant, the choir concert, and the Longest Night/Blue Christmas services in addition to the Sunday worship during Advent and Candlelight Christmas Eve services. Find-A-Church can help you locate a local church if you don’t already regularly attend one.
Join your family in prayer. Hold a brief liturgy every Sunday night and buy or construct an Advent wreath to assist the whole family prepare for the birth of Jesus. A family devotional schedule for the Advent wreath is provided in Pockets, a devotional from Upper Room Ministries. A family devotional guide for Advent has been created by Discipleship Ministries and contains activities or ideas for each day leading up to Christmas.
Private prayer. One of the best ways to become closer to God is to spend time alone with him. Every day of the year, devotions from Upper Room Ministries are published. Each devotion includes a scripture reading, a devotional thought, and a prayer. Some assist us in making space in our schedules for Christmas. Others want us to reflect while we color. Others continue to utilize the words of hymns to motivate us.