Advent around the Diocese

Churches across the Diocese are finding different ways of engaging with their communities during Advent.

Trails in windows around the parish

Both St Nicholas in Warndon Villages, Worcester and St Mary’s in Kempsey have asked local people to decorate windows and are highlighting them all on a map for people to discover as they walk around.

Diane Cooksey, Vicar of St Nicholas, said: “We used Facebook to ask for volunteers to decorate their window to represent a Christmas song or carol and are unveiling them throughout December. Each day on our Facebook page, we’re posting a picture of a window and asking people to guess which song it represents. The locations of all the windows will be available before the end of term so that families walk around and see them all during the holidays.”

A similar trail is being set up in Kempsey where over 100 houses have signed up to decorate windows. Vicar Mark Badger said: “We’ve asked people to either do a nativity or winter wonderland scene in their window. All of the locations will be listed on a Google map and we are encouraging people to go and see them over the weekend of 19 and 20 December. On 20 December, they can do the trail and then end up at the Lawns nursing home where we’ll be hosting a socially-distanced, outdoor carol service.”

Working in partnership

In Oldswinford, a trail has been set up as a partnership between St Mary’s Church, Oldswinford CE Primary and Chawn Hill Church.  The children at the school have been creating stars which people can follow from Mary Stevens Park to the church. There are activity points along the way to uncover the story of Christmas with fun activities to take part in and instructions on where to go next! At the end of the trail is a big nativity scene outside St Mary’s.

Parish Administrator, John Sutton said: “The trail was launched with a short service of blessing led by our Rector, John Flitcroft. A team of people from the church were involved in drawing out the figures, sourcing materials, painting, lighting and construction and the final result has provided a great outdoor visual focus. The idea came from a meeting of Churches Together in Stourbridge and it’s great to see it come to fruition.”

Online Advent calendar of hope

St Andrew’s and All Saints Church in Malvern are engaging their community with an online Advent calendar of hope available on their website and social media pages.  They are sharing short films daily featuring members of their congregation telling stories of difficult times they’ve gone through and how God brought them through it.

Rector Dave Bruce said: “We are encouraging people to watch these films as we journey through December, and find ‘hope in the darkness’. There are a real variety of stories, including hope through adoption, someone who has recently become a Christian through our online Alpha and our mission partner who works in the slums of Bangkok. I’ve even shared my own story. The films have been widely shared and it’s given our church members a way to be missional as well as providing hope in the wider community.”

Children’s YouTube channel

Kidderminster West are posting twice daily videos on their children’s YouTube channel during Advent, including a daily Advent calendar and films featuring the legends behind the carols, craft activities and an ‘I wonder’ series looking at the nativity characters and encouraging people to play with the story and ask questions they might not have asked before.

Team Vicar, Laura Betson, said: “When we post on Facebook, we know that we’re reaching parents, but children often use YouTube themselves so it’s a good way of connecting with them directly. The clergy team and our Calling Young Disciples Mission Enabler have put together the videos and we’re promoting them to our local CE Primary school as well as our church children. There’s a variety of videos to keep the children’s interest including investigating the carols, how to turn chocolate digestives into Christmas puddings and other craft, and looking at the nativity story in a different way.”