The Church of England’s Advent and Christmas theme for 2025 revolves round a single word: Joy!
The national resources the Church of England is offering this year are all designed to help all ages to be drawn into the joy of the first Christmas.
At the heart of this year’s offering are three creative and compelling publications:
- To help schools and churches share the joy of Christmas with children and families, a heart-warming retelling of the Christmas story. Illustrated by Jago, the award-winning illustrator of The Jesus Storybook Bible.
The Grumpy Owl and the Joy of Christmas tells the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes of an owl who seems determined to miss all the excitement.
This wonderful story from Jonathan Maltz and Christopher Poch is published as a picture book from Church House Publishing and is available now. Supporting digital resources to support schools, churches and households will also be available. - To help congregations to prepare for the joy of Christmas, a unique Advent resource exploring the symbolism behind the hymn ‘O Come Emmanuel’.With daily reflections by Jane Williams, Chris Russell, Esther Prior, Philip North, Muthuraj Swamy, Tanya Marlow and David Hoyle, O Come Emmanuel will be available as a full-colour book from Church House Publishing (published 1 September).
You can view downloadable sample pages here. The reflections will also appear on the Everyday Faith app from 1 to 24 December, accompanied by a range of online music, artwork and creative suggestions for local use.
You can download an outline of these reflections, including themes and Bible verses. - To help all who will engage with church this Christmas enter deeper into prayer, a set of funny and profound reflections for the festive period. Once again we will be encouraging everyone who has shared the joy of celebrating Christ’s birth to spend some time reflecting on that joy and praying daily throughout the Christmas season.
This year, The Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, the Dean of Salisbury, explores twelve classic hallmarks of the festive season – from Christmas jumpers to the Pantomime – in search of a deeper truth about the good news of God’s love.
The Church House Publishing booklet Twelve Joys of Christmas: Meditations for Christmas and the New Year is available to pre-order individually, in discounted packs of 10 or packs of 50 and in LARGE PRINT.
These printed versions – ideal for giving away at Advent and Christmas services – will be accompanied by free digital versions in the Everyday Faith app, and printed prayer cards to point visitors and worshippers to them. Sample pages of the booklet are available here.
Resources for churches
- Brand guidelines and logos: To help you use The Joy of Christmas logos and other assets in materials you produce, making the most of these attractive new designs. Brand guidelines, plus logo packs for digital and print in PNG, JPG and EPS formats are available now to download.
- Get our largest ever selection of downloadable resources: Including digital Christmas card templates, icons, social media covers and templates, ‘What’s On’ and ‘Keep in Touch’ flyer templates, poster templates, and PowerPoint templates from AChurchNearYou.com (login required).
- A directory of resources for use at home, church and school: Provided by members of the Parachurch Organisations Network of the Growing Faith Foundation, be inspired by this range of resources for children, young people and families.
- Christmas episodes from the Cheeky Pandas: These free resources feature cartoons, songs and Bible stories to help you engage the children in your church with the Christmas story.
- Advent reflections content outline: To help you plan how you might use the reflections with your congregation, an outline of the daily reflections and themes.
Resources for individuals
- Reflections via email: Sign up to our Christmas reflection emails and receive daily messages straight to your inbox. Our daily emails will offer Bible readings, short reflections and a practical challenge, as well as prayers linked to weekly themes.
- Downloadable reflections for 11-15 year olds: Following the same themes and Bible verses as our Advent reflections for adults, these bitesize daily reflections for young people written by Lucy Rycroft can be downloaded in full colour or black and white. A four week session plan for youth groups using the reflections together will be available soon.
- Daily reflections via Everyday Faith app: You can read and listen to daily Advent and Christmas reflections from 1 December through the Everyday Faith app, the daily devotional app from the Church of England, which is available to download here.
- Women of the Nativity: A collection of nine imagined stories told from the perspective of women, written by Paula Gooder, recreating the events of the Nativity. Listen here.
- Online services: Can’t make it to church this Advent and Christmas? Watch our weekly online worship services from across the Church of England and worship with us this festive season.
Resources for schools
- Four weeks of collective worship resource materials is available from the National Society for Education for use by schools during Advent. The resources unpack the theme of ‘The Joy of Christmas’ and include activities, prayers, practical actions and videos . Sign up now to get access to this resource when it becomes available in October.
Upcoming webinars
Watch the special webinar as the national team provide a sneak peak of the 2025 Advent and Christmas theme, the digital resources that will be available, and explain how you can make the most of the festive season.
They also share an opportunity to receive tailored digital support for your church ahead of Advent and Christmas.
Get ahead with planning for Advent and Christmas
There may be a few months to go before the season begins, but there are plenty of things you can do right now to get organised, that will help your church be prepared.
Social media content
Start thinking about ideas for content now – whether that’s graphics, creative ideas, or videos.
Perhaps there are some posts you can get started on, scheduling them in advance.
Plan what you’ll share and when – from Bible verses and prayers, to videos of behind the scenes moments as you prepare for Christmas, inviting members of your congregation to share their stories and highlighting your community outreach.
AChurchNearYou.com
Make sure your site’s key pages are up to date, with relevant and inviting information about your church.
Make the most of our recently launched new features for editors.
Add and tag your services and events to make sure your church is easy to find when people search on the site. Use relevant Advent and Christmas tags to help people find services more easily – our AChurchNearYou.com Advent homepage will give users the ability to search for the type of service they want to attend.