“The story of Christ’s birth is a subversive story of an upside-down kingdom” says the introduction to Advent Conspiracy. “It’s a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love that is still changing the world to this day. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it’s all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling that we somehow missed its purpose.”

If you and your church want to take a stand against the empty consumerism of the modern Christmas without coming across as spoilsports, Advent Conspiracy have a load of useful resources. There are sermon notes, posters and flyers, and a whole website of alternative gift ideas at rethinkingchristmas.org.

You can now send seasonal e-cards through Life Changing Words. Just click on the picture above for a selection of attractive images for Christmas.

The Churches Advertising Network (CAN) have thrown down the gauntlet for their latest campaign, offering £500 for the best 30 second summary of the Christmas story. The competition will be promoted through radio ads which attempt to tell the story in a rapid, sports-commentary style. 

The ads are the latest in a series of ad campaigns released to coincide with the major Christian festivals of Easter and Christmas, each designed to get people talking and thinking. Memorable past ideas include a billboard campaign portraying Jesus as Che Guevara, and another with the image of Christ appearing in an empty pint glass. This year’s theme was inspired by research from the Theos think tank that showed that many people do not know the details of the Christmas story. 

“We wanted to carry on with this idea of retelling the Christmas story, but in a medium suitable for radio listeners” said CAN creative director Chas Bayfield. “The new radio ads take on the style of a sports commentary and hope to engage in a humorous way with the youth audiences and encourage them to go to church to hear the Christmas story in full.”

You can hear the ads here. You can also sponsor ads to run in your local area.

We have a whole range of resources ready to download from our Christmas site, from PowerPoints to printable posters and invites, school assemblies and liturgy. Whatever events you’re planning for your church or community, we’ve got something to inspire you. 

Let us know how you’re planning to re-tell the story where you are. Just leave a comment below to share your best Christmas ideas.

Our new Christmas booklet for this year is Real Christmas, a stylish silver title for adults. Order online, or call us to order now on 020 7730 2155 (UK), and download the matching invites, posters and powerpoints from our Chrismas site.

Christian Aid have launched their Christmas resources for the year, based around the theme of ‘hope’, and featuring these colourful graphics. The package of downloads includes a film, posters, and Sunday school activities.

The Christmas site for 2008 is now live. Click here for booklets, powerpoints, downloadable invites and posters, service outlines and school assemblies, and lots more.

We’ll be adding more resources over the next few weeks, so check back often. If there’s something you think is missing, leave us a comment here on the blog and we’ll see what we can do.

Every year SGM Lifewords produces a suite of creative tools and resources for Christmas, from booklets to PowerPoint presentations, printable posters and invites, through to service outlines and prayer stations.

As we work on this year’s materials, what would you like to see? What would be most useful to you in communicating the Christmas story to your community?

We can’t promise to deliver a complete wishlist, but your feedback will be really helpful as we select and prioritize from the many, many things we could do!

Just leave a comment below to let us know what you’d like to see. If you want to get a headstart, all the 2007 resources are still online here.

Multimedia elements can really add an extra dimension to Christmas services and events, but they tend to be very dependent on willing volunteers, and sometimes a cobbled together powerpoint presentation is worse than no presentation at all.

We’ve got a little bundle of things ready to go - including powerpoint presentations for storytelling or background visuals, and blank powerpoint templates to match, ready for your notices or lyrics. They’re all free to download, and you’re welcome to adapt them as you like to suit your own context.

Theos, the public theology think tank, have released some interesting research on the Christmas story. In a poll of over a thousand adults in the UK, the survey found that 73% knew the basics of the Christmas story. When people were asked more detailed questions about the story, the number of people fully informed fell to just 12%.

Respondents were asked where Jesus was born, who told Mary that she would have a baby, who was Jesus’ cousin, and where did Mary and Joseph go to escape king Herod. Almost two thirds of those questioned were able to identify Bethlehem as Jesus birthplace, and an angel as the source of Mary’s revelation. On the two trickier questions, just over half did not know that John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin, and only 22% knew that the family escaped to Egypt.

Unsurprisingly, Christians got more answers right, although only 36% got all four correct answers.  Older groups scored higher, with 55-64 year olds scoring best. 18- 24 year olds scored lowest, suggesting that younger generations are less familiar with the story.

Paul Wooley, director of Theos, said: “These findings show that the Christmas story, in its classic formulation is still very much in our cultural blood stream.”