‘Hamper’ of ideas from the Church of England/University of York

The Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture (University of York) has worked with the Church of England to explore the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on churches and communities. This is happening through a national survey of over 2,500 people, including clergy, church members, and the general public, as well as in depth interviews with individuals from all three groups across the country.

COVID-19 has been hugely challenging for churches, but it has also stimulated enormous creativity.

The research has revealed some of the brilliant, easy-to-use, Advent and Christmas ideas that have been thought of at churches – along with others that have been collected from dioceses and other sources across the country.

You can download the four bumper files of ideas just here, categorised into Ideas for Creative Christmas services, Creative Discipleship at Christmas, Creative Ideas for Engaging Families and Creative Ideas for Engaging with your Community.

All these ideas have been shared by churches and individuals. They were specific to coping with a very different Christmas in 2020, but they can be used and/or adapted for any Christmas. They'll need to be planned and delivered within the usual context of social distancing, hand-sanitising and wearing masks, and any additional guidelines operating within your church at the time.