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Going through Advent and Christmas 2020 online was not something we anticipated.
COVID-19 has robbed us of innumerable moments and memories. The Advent and Christmas season seems to be two more to add to this list.
So how can you dive into Advent online? What might a socially distant or sheltered-in-place Christmas look like this year?
The First Step
Deciding. That’s the first step.
As you’ve been, continue to make the best and safest decision for your people.
You already know that this year’s Christmas and Advent worship will not look like any other year. Do whatever you can to go into these seasons with the mindset that this is okay.
This is okay.
What are others doing for Advent and Christmas 2020?
Before we get to some of our favorite ideas for Advent and Christmas 2020, we wanted to share some of the ideas we’ve already heard other church leaders are planning for Advent and Christmas 2020:
- In-person worship inside or outside
- Livestream worship
- Pre-recorded worship
- Hybrid offerings
- Zoom worship
- Outdoor caroling – some masking and distancing
- Drive through communion or Nativity
- Rent a larger space such as an auditorium or stadium for worship
These options obviously depend on your church’s budget, skills, and facilities.
Regardless of whether or not you can pull off all of the options above, there’s something very important you need to consider before finalizing your Advent and Christmas plans.
This is your chance to try something new.
Whether for Advent or Christmas, the season you are planning for is a temporary season. This is a prime opportunity to attempt a new style of worship, technology use, or engagement for a set amount of time with no need to continue beyond the season ahead.
You can commit to trying a new form of worship once a week for Advent 2020 and it is only a four week commitment.
You can even decide to try something once.
For Blue Christmas, Christmas Eve, Epiphany, New Years’ week.
With no strings attached.
With a long Winter of quarantine ahead of us, this is your time to try, church leader.
Your attempts now may very well inform your digital ministry strategy… even just your ministry strategy… for what are potentially many months ahead of distancing.
Now that we’ve established how crucial it is for you to dive into something new in these Christmas and Advent seasons, let’s take a look at some concrete possibilities.
Give Advent and Christmas Service Times a Home
What do we mean by a “home?”
More than a post, more than a story, your Advent and Christmas service times need to be accessible at all times.
This could mean creating a new Facebook Cover Photo for your church Facebook Page and Facebook group so they are the first details any new visitors come across when clicking on your church’s name.
It could mean highlighting an Instagram story with this information so that it stays in an easy-to-find location on your profile beyond 24 hours.
It could and should even mean putting these times on your website so that people who are searching for a worship service this Christmas season can quickly and easily locate the information.
And people will be searching.
This is an Advent and Christmas like no other. Depression and anxiety rates typically increase in December and this year they have skyrocketed due to COVID-19.
People will be seeking an opportunity to center. People will be desperate for hope.
Don’t make them dig for it.
Blue Christmas
Not only does the combination of COVID-19 and Christmastime mean most people will be more uneasy than ever before, but there is also the added bonus of COVID-19 causing even the best parts of Christmastime to be negatively affected.
How many would-be travelers will pass on a visit home this Thanksgiving or Christmas for fear of spreading or receiving a deadly virus?
How many Christmas traditions have already been cancelled?
How many Christmas plans will be more filled with disappointment and despair than they already might have been?
If you’ve never offered a Blue Christmas worship service before, this might be the year to try it.
Blue Christmas is often held on the “longest night” of the year, recognizing the long and dark nights our souls so often face this time of year. Not everyone who should be together is together. Not everything is merry and bright.
These are important truths to recognize, even as we rest in the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
In fact, this acknowledgement and hope might be exactly what your people need to make it through the difficult season ahead.
Low-Key Live Stream
If your church has a Facebook page, YouTube channel, or Instagram profile, you can do this too!
A low key live stream is exactly as it sounds: a live stream with very little action.
Consider what it might look like to light the candles in the church and stream it online for an hour for people to tune into as they wish.
This could also be accomplished with snow falling in the parking lot, a sunset, a sunrise, a campfire flickering, or a small gathering of people praying without words.
This does not need to involve a lot of planning or effort and yet you have no idea who might tune in, needing that moment of connection. Even without words or action, these videos can be powerful, meditative, and form a bridge for isolated viewers to join with a Christ-centered community.
Online Choir
You’ve seen the video edits floating around the interwebs.
Yes, it looks overwhelming. Yes, it probably is for the editor compiling that footage once a week.
But what about once?
Is it possible that you have someone in your congregation that is capable of combining footage and audio of multiple singers and willing to splice it together for a once-and-done Christmas worship service with no expectation of continuing to do so afterward?
If not, could it be worth hiring someone you have connections with who could make this happen? Could it be worth investing in an online editor for this one project?
You have time to pull this together. Most professional editors only need a couple days and many with the skills would be able to pull it off in a few week’s notice.
This would certainly take some added effort, but from the videos we have witnessed and been part of, the final product is well worth it! Especially as a special Christmas offering.
In-Person Distanced Sing
As listed above, some churches are actually coming together to share in a time of in-person caroling. Some masked, distanced, and outside; others with just one or two of those options.
If you believe you can do it safely, even just seeing other humans you know and love in-person can be a Christmas gift in itself.
Phone Call Carols
Cannot in good conscience give in-person caroling a shot? What about phone call carols?
Even just a few household units who are comfortable with singing in front of others could easily manage to give a few phone calls each. Prioritize your especially isolated members, but also recognize we are all isolated these days. If there’s a way to extend the singing beyond the especially isolated, be sure to share the love as far as you are able.
Be Church Online
Advent is a time of hoping, waiting, and praying. There is so much to be said about each of these things in the day and age we are living in and people are in need of a message of hope and light more than ever… so share them!
The best method of sharing the spirit of this season beyond your weekly sermon is to be more active online, especially during Advent and Christmas.
Now, we know how busy church workers are in this season. I’m actually surprised if you are still reading since we just asked you to do more during one of the busiest times of your annual calendar!
That is why it is extra exciting for us to announce that as of October 31st we have an Advent and Christmas Image Pack for purchase. This pack will give you all of the carefully designed images you need to build connections, initiate conversations, and offer hope to your Facebook and Instagram followers.
Each pack comes with 50+ Facebook images and 50+ Instagram images for your church to freely use to connect with members, guests, and online lurkers throughout the end of 2020.
What is even better is that our images are tied to the Revised Common Lectionary texts, meaning each Sunday’s First Lesson, Second Less, Psalm, and Gospel each have a corresponding image for your choosing.
With over 50 options to choose from, you will be well stocked for all of your Advent and Christmas social media needs. Download your Advent and Christmas Social Media Pack today!
It’s highly unlikely that you will be able to implement every single one of the above options, but we urge you to adopt as many as would make sense for your church community as possible.
If you found this post helpful, be sure to subscribe to our email list, so you don’t miss a single opportunity to reach people with the love of Jesus online.