Advent Adventures: Children's Church Curriculum for December
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, children will be learning about Advent during Children’s Church. Advent means “to wait patiently.” In the Christian world, it means to patiently anticipate the coming of the Messiah. Advent starts on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and ends on Christmas Eve. Advent is about spending a little time each day anticipating the birth of our Savior, and all those who waited patiently — Bible characters, Christ’s ancestors, the prophets, his parents, and even the angels!
Each Sunday the children will learn to not only appreciate Christ’s birth, but to get a better overall picture of the story God is creating — that starts in the beginning and includes us!
Advent Week #1: Waiting with Christ’s ancestors. We talk about the most famous people in Jesus’ lineage: King David, Boaz and Ruth, Jesse, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of course, Adam! Kids will get a sense of how these heroes loved the Messiah long before he was born.
Advent Week #2: Waiting with the prophets. We feature some of the most beautiful and most stunningly detailed prophecies about the birth of Jesus, such as him being born in Bethlehem (Micah) and being born of a virgin (Isaiah). Kids will realize that people had been anticipating the coming of Christ for years before the Nativity actually happened.
Advent Week #3: The Time of Christ. This third week, we celebrate the Nativity, the part of the Christmas celebration that most of us hold dear. We take from Matthew and Luke to help make the birth of Christ come to life for children.
Advent Week #4: Today. We are a little like the prophets and ancestors of Jesus in that we, too, are waiting. We are awaiting the Lord’s Second Coming, but in the period of Advent, we also are waiting for Christmas to arrive! We raise the question, “How can we show God’s love best between now and Christmas?”
Children will also receive take-home activities for parents to keep the celebration going! Those who have celebrated Advent know that it isn’t just a Sunday thing. It is for every day of the week. There will be a manger craft that parents and kids can make together, cutting and coloring a few pieces each week. There are take-home discussions and journal prompts, puzzles and games, and fun facts about Advent. We hope that your children will be able to join us and that it will be a fun, learning activity that the whole family can get involved in.
