Let the countdown begin. We’re looking at less than 100 days until Christmas. Is your church ready to communicate the greatest story ever told?
Or does the thought of all that holiday cheer on the heels of fall kickoff leave you reaching for some eggnog?
We can help.
First of all, remember that it’s never too early to start planning. One hundred days may seem like a lot of time. But c’mon—you know better than that. The days will go fast.
We’ve got three different resources that will help with Christmas:
1. Read the Book
We wrote the book on Christmas planning. Seriously, it’s called God Rest Ye Stressed Communicators: Planning Christmas for Your Church. It’s full of practical ideas and examples to help your church spread the love and joy of the season.
It’s a good place to start, if we do say so ourselves.
2. Christmas Resources
If you need some hands-on help for Christmas, we’ve got the resources for you. Our Courageous Storytellers membership site has loads of Christmas resources:
- A Christmas outreach webinar with Phil Bowdle.
- A dozen Christmas encouragement videos from folks including Kelley Hartnett, Stephen Brewster, Lori Bailey, Anthony Miller, and more.
- A downloadable Christmas planner.
- A guide to using social media at Christmas.
- Ready-to-use Christmas social media graphics.
- Christmas stage design ideas.
- An invite packet of graphics, including Facebook ads, postcards, and invite cards.
- Plus access to our ever-expanding library of resources, covering topics including bulletins, design, social media, productivity, and more.
Also, Courageous Storytellers members get a free digital copy of God Rest Ye Stressed Communicators. Bonus.
So check out the Christmas resources and join Courageous Storytellers to get full access to all those goodies.
3. Christmas Ideas
We’ve been doing the church communication thing for a while (since 2004, in case anyone is counting). That’s a lot of Christmases. So we’ve got a few ideas in the archives.
Feel free to do some digging into our Christmas wisdom:
- Get More Bang for Your Christmas Buck: Instead of putting all your eggs into one basket with a massive Christmas event, spread out your effort to have more impact.
- It’s an On-Ramp: Think of Christmas as an on-ramp for your church. It’s a way to introduce people to your church.
- Be What Your Community Needs: “As you’re planning Christmas, think about what it is your community needs your church to be.”
- Radical Christmas: Christmas is the story of a virgin mother and an illegitimate baby. It’s never what we expect. Let’s remember just how radical Christmas is.
And be sure to grab some Christmas freebies:
- Christmas Welcome Kit: Grab our free Christmas welcome kit to make sure your guests truly feel welcome.
- Christmas Communication Planner: A fill-in-the-blank resource to help you create a plan, solidify the plan, work the plan, nail down final details, and follow up after Christmas.
- Photo Checklist: As the big day approaches, you’re too busy to think about details. Our free Christmas photo checklist can help.
- Social Media Advent Calendar: Get a free social media Advent calendar—25 social graphics featuring Bible verses and a countdown to Christmas.
- Advent devotional: Here’s one for you. Let the craziness of the season fall away and hear the voice of God with this seven-day devotional.
Sometimes it can be hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it’s part of your job. We get it. And we’ve got five tips to help you feel the reason for the season.
