The O little town of Bethlehem Christmas carol was a major success – used by Classic FM on social and radio and played on BBC Radio 2

Centuries later, singing is still central to how millions of people celebrate the good news of Christmas. Singing and hearing carols can enable people of all ages to get in touch with the wonder and the truth of the Christmas story. Christmas 2023’s digital resources unwrapped: join the Digital Labs team for an interactive session looking at the resources available for this year’s Christmas campaign. Sign up to join this webinar, held on Wednesday, 11 October. Now that the majority of the resources are available, here is a question for you to ponder on: what would be best thing that could happen within your church this Christmas? More than 120,000 copies of Church House Publishing’s #FollowTheStar booklet were sold – 50% more than the figure for #GodWithUs in 2017. The reflections written by Revd Dr Isabelle Hamley, chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, were very positively received and widely used in print, our app and AlexaThere is a wonderful lesson for us right there – these three (or four, or however many) met God in the midst of doing what they were supposed to do: they were at work. God is not limited to meeting with us in a certain place (a church) or at a certain hour (11 AM Sundays). God can and does speak to us ANYWHERE and ANYTIME. The lesson is BE ALERT! It could be that you’re hoping to see an increase in the attendance of children and young people at your services and events. Or perhaps that more people in your local community will engage with your Christmas content this year. Whatever your goal is, make sure you are clear on what you’d like to achieve, and then ask yourself how the Join the Song resources can help you to meet this goal. How can you use digital platforms to help you get the word out? Behind the Scenes: diary type content is a great way to let your audience follow you on a journey. They get to see the process and preparation before they see the final outcome.

Christmas 2023's digital resources unwrapped: Join the Digital Labs team for this interactive session to look at the resources available for this year's Christmas campaign. Sign up to join the webinar on Wednesday 11 October. The annual observance of the birth of our Savior is almost over – Epiphany, recalling the visit of the Wise Men is commemorated today, January 6, and ends the liturgical celebration, following the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” No gifts of turtle doves, French hens or partridges in pear trees; rather the more traditional gold, frankincense and myrrh. The call to “join the song” is linked in the material to the praises of the shepherds mentioned in St Luke’s Gospel 2.20 on their return from meeting the newborn Jesus. Sign up to receive the Join the Song collective worship resources for use in schools, in church settings and at home

Our theme for 2022

An invitation to all choirs and singing groups to sing a new version of ‘The First Nowell’ – listen to a preview.

Last Christmas, churches across the Diocese of Gloucester extended ‘The Great Invitation’ from the Church of England to Follow the Star to their local church in person once again. Lesson 3: Scripture is a wonderful resource if you want to know God’s direction for your life; get good directions, then follow the star; Is it too early to talk about Christmas in September? We don’t think so … and with new resources announced from the Church of England, there’s plenty of ideas to help you get ahead and ready to ‘Join the Song’. If you share a Christmas event link from AChurchNearYou.com, the link preview will carry a “You’re invited” link preview graphic.One of my friends in North Carolina tells of her brother’s family driving into Thomasville [NC], where their cousins and aunts and uncles were, for a Christmas season get-together. As they passed by the Episcopal church where a manger scene was in the yard, her 5-year-old nephew asked about the meaning. “That is Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus, there in the manger,” Jean’s sister-in-law explained. Lesson 1: Just as the Wise Men, be ready to meet God in the midst of our everyday activities, then get up and follow the star; Finally, we’d again like to thank everyone who got involved in #FollowTheStar. The insights from 2018 will be used as we start to shape the approach to Advent and Christmas 2019. In the meantime, you can find out more about our Lent Pilgrim and Easter Pilgrim campaigns. Lesson 2: What you believe should determine how you behave. Be willing to put feet on your faith; then get going and follow the star; Lots of legends have grown up around this story of the Three Kings, one of which is that they were “three kings.” The gospel account does not say there were three of them…or five or ten or thirty. The idea of THREE KINGS came when the three gifts were given – one each. (Some wag has suggested that there were actually FOUR kings, but the fourth one’s gift was a fruitcake, so he was not allowed in.) Names and personal descriptions have even been assigned: Caspar – young, beardless, ruddy complexion; Balthazzar – a bit older, dark-skinned, a new beard; Melchior – old, grey hair, long beard.(2) Really? We have no idea.