It’s that time of year when worshipping communities across the diocese are starting to plan their Christmas events and services. This week, the Church of England launched its 2022 Christmas campaign – Follow the Star: The Great Invitation.
Following feedback from dioceses and parishes, the Church of England is returning to the popular Follow The Star branding to encourage people to attend their local church at Christmas and take the next step on their journey of faith.
The new resources for 2022 will work alongside material from previous years and will focus on The Great Invitation – encouraging everyone to share the joy of gathering together to celebrate the birth of Jesus with their family, friends and neighbours – especially after two years where this has been impossible for many.
The campaign will include:
- Reflections – 12 Advent reflections to share on the theme of ‘invitation’
- National online services – services broadcast to share on Advent Sundays and at Christmas
- Printed materials – a reflections booklet and a range of other printed materials
- Christmas in a Box – a small number of model services that you can take and make your own
What to do now
- Visit the Church of England’s website for details on the national branding, reflections and more.
- Read the Summary pack 2021 (churchofengland.org) (starting from page 11).
- Log-in to the Resources hub of AChurchNearYou.com for logos and other branding resources.
- Make a note to add your onsite and online Advent and Christmas services on AChurchNearYou.com, using an Advent or Christmas tag. There will also be ‘Great Invitation’ features on the site to help you invite people to your church services more easily.
Note for service planning: The World Cup final takes place the last Sunday before Christmas on 18th December.
News Hub
What about the little booklets to give out to elderly and housebound? Not seen any advertised this year.
This year the national ACNY resources include a whole host of digital downloads, but I’m not sure if they are posting out packs of resources as has happened in previous years.
If you have an A Church Near You login, you can check out all the resources available from this link: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/hub/christmas-2022/ – including templates for invitation cards eg: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/hub/asset/invitation-liturgy-and-christmas-card/
But as I say, I believe all the resources on offer are digital, and would require printing out in your local context.