Harvest Festival attracts some of the highest church attendances of the year. It’s another key opportunity to connect again with families who have recently-baptized children, and with the wider community. This page will offer ideas to extend your welcome and plan a service.
Why is Harvest such a big opportunity for welcome? Head of Life Events, the Revd Sandra Millar, reflects on the changing season of Harvest, and why it’s a great moment for follow-up:
The changing season of Harvest
PUBLICISING YOUR HARVEST SERVICE
These Articles are free to download and use in your parish magazine. The red-highlighted text can be edited, so you can add in your own details about up-and-coming Harvest services.
You can also share these articles on social media – simply share the following links, along with details of your Harvest Festival service.
- Saying thank you for food – share on social media
- Learning to say thank you – share on social media
- Your can also invite families with recently-baptized children using this greetings card, available on the Church Print Hub.
FOR YOUR HARVEST FESTIVAL SERVICE
- Full service outline – includes suggestions for prayers and a talk. Taken from Festivals Together; creating all-age worship through the year, by the Revd Sandra Millar ISBN 978-0-281-06631-5, published by SPCK.
- This giant tree poster has all sorts of prayerful uses, but may be particularly appropriate for a Harvest Festival during the season of falling leaves. Cut-out leaves are available separately to help you involve the whole congregation in a prayer activity. Every person might write on a leaf what they’re thankful to God for and place it on the tree.
Resources from charities
- If you’d like to focus your service around caring for the earth and fair trade, Traidcraft offers this resource to help.
- Christian Aid resources may help you to focus on the theme of poverty relief
- The Church Urban Fund’s Just Finance Foundation campaigns on behalf of those in financial distress and offers a resource pack for its Mustard Seed Appeal. For more information and to download a resource pack, see the Mustard Seed web pages.
- Action against poverty campaigner Tearfund offers several harvest resource packs online, including prayer videos.
