When worshiping together on Christmas Eve is difficult, invite members to find alternate ways of celebrating the coming of Jesus.
Pastors of the Twin Cities District of the Minnesota Conference shared some ideas that are so creative, we want to share them with you:
- send care packages/worship kits with some Christmas items that families can use or enjoy as they embrace the season
- send out instructions for making an Advent wreath or provide “at home hanging of the greens kits,” along with weekly prayers or readings for lighting candles throughout the season (perhaps connecting people who live alone via Zoom so they can do it together)
- have a brief and simple Christmas Eve worship service outdoors (perhaps with a bonfire)
- prepare a Christmas pageant in pictures (kids could dress up in nativity attire and be photographed ahead of time, and then the photos could be shown virtually on Christmas Eve during the telling of the Christmas story)
- host a drive-in Christmas movie in your parking lot using an FM transmitter
- send paper bags to families and ask them to create personalized luminaries to be placed in the sanctuary and used during worship or filmed and photographed
- have a virtual (live or pre-recorded) Christmas pageant using Zoom and/or Facebook Live
- host a drive-through or walk-through Christmas Eve experience outside your church building (perhaps using a life-size nativity scene as part of it)
- host an Advent book study
- plan an outdoor Christmas carol sing in your church parking lot, or go caroling!
Originally published by the Minnesota Annual Conference October 2020. Republished with permission by ResourceUMC.org.
Edited for 2024.