Planning for Christmas 2026
If you’re an advanced planner, you may already be thinking about Advent and Christmas. And if you’re not an advanced planner… well, consider this your friendly reminder that Advent is coming.
Around this time of year in congregational ministry, there are a lot of pieces that start falling into place. What year are we in for the Lectionary? What are the texts? When is the Church School pageant? Are we doing Lessons and Carols? What are we doing on Christmas Eve? And somewhere in there, we’re also supposed to actually experience Advent as a season of waiting and preparation.
So, before the season gets quite that full, we’ve gathered some resources that might make your Advent and Christmas planning a little easier. Some are resources we return to year after year. Some are new discoveries. And some come from the Ministry Forum community itself. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, just a place to start - or a page worth bookmarking as you plan.
Advent + Christmas Resources for 2026
Zeteo Preaching + Worship
Zeteo is a searchable database of preaching and worship resources, with thousands of sermons, prayers, service plans, articles, music resources and other materials gathered from a range of trusted sources. Search Advent or Christmas and then you can narrow the results by resource type, Scripture passage, topic and more. Here are three resources that caught our attention:
A Light to the Nations: A Service of Lessons and Carols — Calvin Worship
A Lessons and Carols service built around Isaiah’s vision of God’s redemption extending to all nations. The outline includes music from countries and traditions around the world.
How to Build a Christmas Setlist That Tells the Gospel Story — Worship Leader
Rather than assembling a collection of favourite Christmas songs, this resource suggests shaping your music around four movements: Longing, Incarnation, Proclamation and Mission. Each section includes song and Scripture suggestions, along with practical ideas for creating a cohesive flow through the service.
Christmas 2 — Taizé
This Taizé service includes Psalm 138, Scripture readings, silence, a litany of praise, prayer and song.
Reformed Worship - Remembering The Future
Remembering the Future is a brand-new Advent and Christmas worship series from Reformed Worship this year. Each week includes a Gospel reading, call to worship, Advent wreath liturgy (designed to involve children) and prayer, a substantial sermon sketch, and music suggestions for organ, congregational singing, children’s music and choir.
Week 1: Hope - Based around Luke 21:25–36, the first week explores Christian hope in the midst of uncertainty and points toward Christ’s promised return.
Week 2: Joy - Luke 3:1–6 - into the wilderness with John the Baptist, connecting joy with preparation, repentance and making way for Christ.
Week 3: Love - Luke 3:7–18, - this week asks what love looks like in everyday life: sharing, practising kindness, seeking justice and resisting consumerism.
Week 4: Peace - Luke 1:39–56 - Mary’s Magnificat, trusting God’s promises even when their fulfilment is not yet visible.
Christmas Day - Luke 2:15–20 - Mary pondering everything that has happened, making room within the celebration of Christmas for reflection, mystery and wonder.
You could use the series as written, but there’s also lots to pull apart and adapt for your own context.
Illustrated Ministry - A Thrill of Hope
A full Advent-through-Epiphany series built around the idea that God’s saving work did not end in Bethlehem. The series invites congregations to watch for the ways God continues to bring healing, courage , hope, and to consider how we participate in that work.
The series follows the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, with a theme and guiding question for each week:
Advent 1: Keep Awake — How do we recognize God’s saving work?
Advent 2: Prepare the Way — How do we prepare the way for God’s saving work?
Advent 3: Among You Stands One — How do we recognize signs of God’s presence among us?
Advent 4: Let It Be With Me — How do we participate in God’s story of salvation?
Christmas: Good News with Great Joy — How does God bring salvation through community?
First Sunday after Christmas: My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation — How do we recognize God’s saving work in difficult times?
Epiphany: Another Road — How is God revealing salvation in the world around us?
There’s a lot included here. Depending on what you need, resources include worship liturgy, a commentary and preaching guide, children’s moments, interactive worship bulletins, children’s and intergenerational curriculum, a devotional, family practices, an Advent calendar, colouring resources, and a new version of O Holy Night written to accompany the theme.
Maya Angelou and the Freedom Poetry of Advent — SALT Project
For something a little different… SALT Project’s Maya Angelou and the Freedom Poetry of Advent brings Scripture into conversation with Maya Angelou’s poetry and her recurring themes of faith, freedom and human dignity (It follows the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B).
The devotional moves week by week toward Bethlehem, pairing biblical texts with Angelou’s poetry and simple, accessible practices for the Advent season.
The downloadable resource can also be customized with your church name, worship services and upcoming events. It can stand on its own, or SALT has accompanying Advent Maya Angelou artwork and customizable short films that can help carry the theme into worship and other parts of congregational life.
A Sanctified Art - Until the Dawn
An Advent–Epiphany series built around the tension of waiting for a world that is not yet as it should be while continuing to look and work toward God’s promised new day.
Darkness can bring uncertainty and fear, but also rest, dreams and encounters with God. The series focuses on what we can actually do while we wait: cry out, start somewhere, speak up, take courage, build up and choose joy - actions that put hope and prayer into motion.
The full bundle includes 14 multimedia resources all connected to the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B. The bundle also includes an original theme song, with a music video coming later this fall, as well as bonus social media resources.
Seeds of Grace Resources - God’s Story for All Seasons
We highlighted this resource from Ministry Forum contributor Ann Miller last year, but if you didn’t use it then, it may be worth a look as you plan for this Advent and Christmas.
God’s Story for All Seasons is designed as an alternative to the Revised Common Lectionary, organizing worship around the seasons of the church year while following the larger arc of the biblical story.
For Advent and Christmas, Two Promised Babies offers 8 complete services beginning with the stories leading up to the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. The Advent services are rooted in Luke 1 and explore Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, followed by a Christmas Eve/Day service from Luke 2. The unit continues into the Christmas season with two services based on John 1 and an Epiphany service from Matthew 2.
Each service includes focus and supporting Scriptures, Psalms, full calls to worship and prayers, music suggestions, and springboard ideas for children’s time and adult sermons. There’s also biblical background, context for the season and suggestions for scheduling the services.
Ann also has a Saint Nicholas Day resource that could be a fun addition to your Advent plans for children and families. It explores the connection between Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus, using story, film and activities to shift the focus from receiving toward generosity and the gifts of love, hope, joy and peace. It includes a simple Christmas story script, activities, reproducible leader materials, a promotional poster and planning lists.
Church of England - The Gift of Christmas
Centred on the greatest Christmas gift: God being born as one of us in Jesus Christ. The series invites communities to celebrate that gift, receive it with gratitude and joy, and respond to God’s generosity through service to others.
There are quite a few resources available (many free) - it’s a good collection to browse even if you don’t use the full theme.
Advent from A to Z provides daily reflections from November 30 through Christmas Eve, exploring 24 people, places, symbols and ideas connected with Advent. There are also free activity and colouring sheets, along with versions designed for children, young people and families.
The Gift of Christmas: Meditations for the Twelve Days of Christmas continues from Christmas Day through January 5. Twelve contributors draw on their own lives and work (keeping watch at night, supporting new parents, caring for newborn lambs and observing the stars) to reflect on the Gospel stories surrounding Jesus’ birth.
There’s also a collection of free digital resources - branding and logos, Canva templates, social media content, small group resources etc. The Church of England has also developed a Christmas Digital Planner and supporting webinars focused on social media, digital communications and giving throughout Advent and Christmas.
Easy-Bake Christmas - in case you just need something you can use as is… no complicated prep required. You can check out the No Rehearsal Pageant and a few other Christmas themed ideas curated by our Ministry Forum community here - and feel free to share one of your own with us to add to the “Easy Bake Christmas” Folder.
What are you using this year?
Some of the best resources we discover come from hearing what other ministry leaders are actually using. If you’ve found a resource, pageant, worship idea, graphic collection or planning tool that is making Advent or Christmas a little easier this year, send it our way. We’d be happy to share it with the wider Ministry Forum community.
Blessings as you prayerfully plan for the Advent and Christmas season this year!