As we look forward to Christmas there are ways to connect with God and each other in special family Christmas events.

Last week our Child, Youth, and Family Educator finished packing 210 Children's Advent Packs for the Diocese and they are on their way!

Christmas is a time of year where extra families come along to church and to help make sure our churches have something to offer children when they come along, our Child, Youth, and Family Educator, Fr. John Graveston, has put together Children's Advent packs. In these packs are two colouring-in pages, a how to make your own Christingle booklet, a list of the family services in the Diocese and a Nativity Booklet (Diocese of Christchurch).

All the material is attached below so that you can make up your own packs or print out specific parts for your church.

Make sure you print out the Christmas Service List Poster poster (also attached below).

What if we need to do some last minute changes to services?

Here are some creative alternatives to cancelling your most popular services for children and families:

• Christingle: Set up a COVID-safe stall outside and hand out DIY Christingles in a bag. Pop in a card with a link to your church website or this Lego Christingle animation. QR codes pasted on a Christmas gift tag work well: you can use a free QR code generator like this one. You could set a time when everyone in the community will stand outside their own front door, light their Christingle and sing a carol.

• The Crib Service: If you want to take the whole thing online, there is a full script for a Zoom Crib Service here; all downloadable resources including PowerPoints are available here (scroll all the way down the page). Alternatively you could send gift packages to your church families, which also contain links to information on your church website or a child-friendly retelling of the Nativity story - such as this one, told with biscuits!
• The Carol Service: consider a different location - check out this great idea for Carpark Carols, a drive-in carol service in your local supermarket carpark. 

We have also updated our Advent and Christmas webpage with a full list of services over the festive period.