Advent Resources for 2025
We know that ministry leaders across Canada are beginning to prepare for the Advent season. Some of you may already have themes in place and worship plans taking shape. Others may still be juggling the many expectations and responsibilities that come with church leadership at this time of year… preaching, programming, pastoral care, and community outreach.
Wherever you find yourself in the planning process, we want to offer a few resources that we’ve found helpful in our own ministry work. Some are trusted favourites with refreshed content for 2025, while others are brand new this year. Whether you’re walking through Advent with a congregation, a small group, or your own household, we hope these offerings will encourage you, inspire you, and help create space for reflection and renewal in this sacred season.
Two Promised Babies | Seeds Of Grace Resources
This unit’s Advent services are anchored by Luke 1 and focus on the Advent themes of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love with a Christmas Eve/Day service from Luke 2:1-20. Invite your congregation to explore the prophecy of, preparation for and arrival of John the Baptist and his cousin Jesus. Also included are two Christmas season services from John 1 and an Epiphany service based on Matthew 2. Introductory Biblical background is included as well as notes about this important first season in the Church calendar. Recommendations are included for scheduling the Christmas services depending on your worship calendar.
All eight services include the focus scripture, suggested Psalms and supporting scripture, full Calls to Worship and prayers, music suggestions, and several springboard ideas for your children’s time and adult sermons. The liturgies can be used word for word or modified for your context.
The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t
NEW this year from Laura Alary, this books celebrates Christmas in the dark and finding joy in the unexpected. Think about using this in Children’s Ministry, a sermon illustration or Christmas Eve service.
Aidan’s city is hit with an ice storm just days before Christmas, causing the electrical grid to go down. All their Christmas plans are ruined! One disappointment piles on another: Grandma and Grandpa cannot travel, the Christmas pageant is canceled, there are no Christmas lights, and it’s impossible to cook a Christmas dinner. But Aidan and his dad persevere to bring doughnuts and coffee to neighbors, and then they’re invited to a neighborhood Christmas potluck.
As Aidan’s mom tells the Christmas story, he realizes that the first Christmas was full of disappointment and unexpected community too. Suddenly Christmas feels special again as Aidan feels connected to the Bible story from long ago, to his grandparents far away, and to his neighbors and family nearby. God is here in the midst of it all.
Sometimes Christmas is not all we hope or expect it to be. The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t invites readers to ponder how sometimes, when things are taken away, it brings us closer to the heart of the holy mystery that still draws us into its warmth.
Prepare | Break Through Series
Anyone who has hosted a Christmas dinner or party can tell you, there is a ton of preparation that goes into throwing these holiday celebrations. Many of us find ourselves doing lots of preparing in this busy season of lights, tinsel, and wrapping paper. Yet, what are we really preparing for? Who are we really preparing for? This Advent, hear God’s call: “Prepare!” – for the coming one, Jesus. Hear this imperative as an invitation to strip away all the fuss and ready your heart and life for the change that is coming when Jesus gets here.
Week 1: Keep Awake | Mark 13:24-37
Week 2: Get Ready | Mark 1:1-8
Week 3: Testify | John 1:6-8, 19-28
Week 4: Be Courageous | Luke 1:26-38
Christmas Eve: Go! | Luke 2:1-20
Week 5: Worship and Bless | Luke 2:22-40
Advent Devotionals from Kate Bowler
This daily devotional embraces the complexity and messiness of real life during the holidays. Designed to be used from the first day of Advent through Christmas Day, the guide includes scripture readings, short reflections, blessings, and reflection questions—each day taking about 20 minutes.
This free, downloadable resource is ideal for individual reflection or group use, with built-in suggestions for weekly Advent candle lighting and group discussion. It pairs especially well with Kate’s book The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days, but stands alone just as meaningfully. Bonus content includes music playlists, podcasts, and video links that deepen the experience.
Thoughtful, honest, and hopeful, it’s a companion for anyone seeking to find meaning, connection, and God’s presence in the midst of an imperfect season.
Voices of Advent | Matthew Skinner
In Voices of Advent, Matthew L. Skinner leads readers through biblical texts and explores how they shape our lives and Christmas celebrations. We listen as Jesus promises to return to us in the future, to John the Baptist as he prepares the way for the Messiah, to the faithful people and poets who anticipate the magnificence of Jesus’s birth, and to the angels and visionaries who praise God when Christmas dawns. Listen carefully to the Bible’s various perspectives that shape our preparations for Christmas; you’ll hear hope in all of them. Voices of Advent helps readers experience Advent not only as the start of the Christian Church Year, but also as the powerful overture that sets the tone for the incredible story of Jesus In addition to the book, other study components include a Leader Guide and video available on DVD.
The Will To Dream - Illustrated Ministry
Awaken your imagination with The Will to Dream. When the world feels weary—divided and uncertain—hearts ache, communities long for justice, and souls hunger for hope. In these moments, while many search for a way forward, the act of dreaming becomes holy resistance. Dreams remind us of possibility: there is enough love, mercy, and courage for all.
The Will to Dream highlights the stories of Advent–Epiphany as witnesses to God’s dream of a new world. From Isaiah’s visions to Mary’s song, from Zechariah’s prophecy to the defiant journey of the magi, these scriptures call us to nurture prophetic imagination. The Will to Dream provides everything you need to plan worship, equip classrooms, and support families at home, guiding your community to live into God’s kin(g)dom of justice and joy.
As we journey through Advent’s holy longing into the wonder of Christmas and the revelations of Epiphany, we learn to dream not as escape, but as sacred action. This season, gather your community to lament honestly, hope boldly, and imagine together the world God is making.
Light in the Midst of Darkness: Advent in Three Voices | Liturgical Resources for Intercultural Celebrations
This Advent resource was inspired by a gathering held in July 2024 at Discipleship Ministries in Nashville, convened by the liturgical network RedCrearte US Network. It was further enriched through workshops in Milwaukee and Minneapolis and includes contributions from brothers and sisters across Latin America. The result is a vibrant, multilingual collection of worship materials in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, aptly subtitled Advent in Three Voices. Within these pages, you will find songs, prayers, litanies, daily reflections, and even a Christmas cantata—resources thoughtfully crafted to assist congregations in their worship and spiritual preparation for the Advent season. This collaborative resource weaves together pastoral insights, liturgical traditions, and scriptural themes to inspire hope, peace, joy, and love in worshiping communities worldwide. Designed to serve churches of all sizes and contexts, it celebrates the diversity and unity of the global Church while offering practical, spiritually enriching materials for the journey through Advent.
Starry Nights: An Advent Devotional Filled with Light and Wonder | Salt
Advent is a season of stars: twinkling over shepherds, leading the Magi to Bethlehem, and filling our own dark Advent nights with glimmers of brilliance. And it’s also a season of wonder, a time for all of God’s children to marvel at what God has done – and will yet do – for the love of this broken, beautiful world.
This devotional is all about embracing light and wonder. It comes complete with simple, candlelight weekly services, biblical passages to read, prayers to pray, reflections to think about, practices to try, and more. And since the stars appeal to all ages, this devotional is designed to do the same: amazing facts interweave with engaging activities, big ideas, and the wondrous, star-studded stories of Advent and Christmas.
Perfect for individuals, families, small groups, and congregations who want to enrich their faith, deepen their wonder, and follow the stars to a renewed sense of hope, peace, joy, and love.
The scriptural passages in this devotional correspond to Year C in the Revised Common Lectionary – but since their themes are universal, this devotional can be used fruitfully during any Advent season.