We know what you’re thinking!
Dunkin Donuts (™) shoved pumpkin everything in your face in August and now Digi is pushing Advent and Christmas on you in OCTOBER? It’s not even cold out yet!
No matter what the calendar says now, you know Advent and Christmas roll around every year; and every year you struggle to find digital ministry resources that will keep your community engaged and appease the social media algorithms.
Now it’s time to turn our attention to posts for Advent and Christmas 2021, which begins on Sunday, November 28.
While we’re not entirely certain that the pandemic will be “over” by Advent this year, we are certain that digital ministry is here to stay.
Online connections deserve to be nurtured and cherished as much as in person connections.
After all, this may be the only spiritual connection some people have!
No doubt you’ve heard of the “12 Days of Christmas”…
We now give you the “12 Posts of Christmas”.
Click here for the video version of this post!
- Question Posts:
Since we start in Advent; this time of waiting, of expectation, of patience; post intriguing and probing questions about how people may have had their patience challenged and tested this year and how they fared.
2. Series Posts:
Consider a series of posts on a specific topic such as favorite Christmas songs, movies, cookies, traditions, best gifts, worst gifts etc. You can have a lot of fun with that one!
3. Holiday Stories:
Take a video of an older member of your community reminiscing about the holidays in ‘simpler’ times; everyone loves nostalgia!
4. Challenge Posts:
In this season of Advent and Christmas, encourage your audience to make a stretch goal for this season to do something impactful and that they have never done before. Maybe this is getting involved with a food drive, toy drive, delivering groceries, standing up for social justice, or writing to military personnel away from home this holiday season.
5. Video:
Mix up your posts by sprinkling in some impromptu videos; maybe it’s a quick Facebook live preview of your pastor prepping for ALL.THE.CHRISTMAS.EVE services! Or maybe behind the scenes rehearsal of the preschool Christmas pageant. Make this one fun too!
6. Cross Platforms
If you have only ever posted on Facebook, now might be a good time to post to Instagram. They are closely integrated as they are owned by the same company, so it’s a simple set up to make your Facebook posts show up on Insta and vice-versa. Alternatively, put that clever TikTok video on Instagram Reels!
7. Repurpose Sermon Content
You can get so much mileage out of a sermon. Not only by posting the video or transcript, but picking out some thoughtful pull quotes and making a quick graphic with Canva. Or better yet, tweet out the quote as a “teaser” before Sunday rolls around.
8. Advent and Christmas Service worship times and themes
The Christmas season is one time when we give you permission to do a lot of “inviting”. While this is a joyful time for most, it’s a painful time for some. Your frequent reminders of your service times, (especially if you offer a Blue Christmas service) could be a comforting invitation into your community.
9. Tag a family/friend post
With their permission, of course, it might be fun to start a post and tag other community families and individuals to either answer a question, start a madlib chain, Christmas poem or perform a (safe) challenge.
10. Gifts of the Magi post
Consider offering some Biblical history around the gifts of the magi, frankincense, gold and myrrh. These are often mentioned in this season and steeped in symbolism that perhaps can be related to our contemporary lives today.
11. Celebrate newborns post
With a nod to the birth of baby Jesus, consider highlighting some new babies or any December birthdays in your community.
12. Christmas Captioning Contest
Another fun one! Post a photo of an event or person in your community and run a contest for the cleverest, funniest or silliest caption.
Any time you encourage interaction with questions, contests, tagging or sharing, you are, in effect, beating the algorithm and increasing your chances that you will reach people online with hope, healing and light.
Friendly Reminders
Make this process easy on yourself and your staff by batching the content or better yet, distributing the workload.
One person does not and should not do it all.
The holiday season tends to stir up a passion for service and volunteering in people.
Tap into that spirit and let other people get involved and contribute.
We brought the ideas, now it’s your turn to put them into action!