Are You Ready for Christmas?

If Sunday School has kicked off the fall quarter of lessons, can the children's Christmas service be far behind?

Here are some basics steps to take as you work toward Christmas!

Set a date! (Or dates!) My congregation often has scheduled two Sunday School Christmas presentations, one early on Christmas Eve and one on the Sunday before schools let out for Christmas break. This allowed families who were headed out of town for Christmas to participate. Curiously, the two services are nearly identical in size.

Select a program. This year CPH is releasing another service based on a favorite Christmas hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." You can get details here.

Prepare scripts and rehearsal CDs. Share the scripts and CDs with your teachers to distribute in class. With the publisher's permission, prepare a CD of songs the children should practice and send a copy home with each student or with the oldest child in each family. (CPH Christmas programs come with permission to duplicate such a CD for practice at home.)

Schedule rehearsal time. Work several weeks in advance and encourage your teachers not to spend too much class time on this project. Teaching the Gospel in Sunday School certainly comes first. Alert parents to ways their children can prepare at home.

Delegate key tasks. Volunteers are usually willing to tackle limited, one-time projects like duplicating material, arranging costumes, rounding up props, preparing banners or other visual aids, and helping supervise the children at rehearsals and presentations.

Publicize the event. Make sure that parents, grandparents, and congregation members know the dates and times of the presentations.

Conduct dress rehearsals. One or two Saturdays before the presentation, bring the children together for rehearsal and to run through the presentation. When we have two presentations, we would schedule two back-to-back rehearsals, one for each service.

Why go to all this trouble, you may ask? The annual children's Christmas service is an opportunity to teach one of the central events of Scripture in an event that engages visual, verbal, musical, and kinetic learners. It teaches the story of salvation. It teaches about the Church Year. It also gives your children an opportunity to share the Gospel with their families, friends, congregation, and community.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!