Follow the Star: A pop-up Christmas journey

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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? 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’. Working with local churches, dioceses, colleagues across Church House Westminster, Lambeth Palace and Bishopthorpe we were able to build a campaign that engaged people across England and the Diocese in Europe. A huge thanks to everyone who got involved in shaping the strategy and being so enthusiastic throughout. Our aims were to: After the success of the #FollowTheStar Campaign in previous years, the Church of England is returning to this popular theme for 2022. As before, the theme this year will be used on social media to encourage people to attend services through Advent and Christmas, with a focus on singing — a pastime banned for much of the pandemic, putting paid to choirs and carol services.

Explore the digital promo planner, blogs and bitesize videos from Digital Labs to support churches in using the digital resources available William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, Daily Study Bible Series, rev. ed., (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), p. 31 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. This year’s Church of England Christmas theme – Follow the Star: Join the Song– highlights how singing can help us draw closer to God and each other through journey from Advent to Epiphany. For example, you can film your choir or singing group from when they first listen to the carol preview, during rehearsal (be sure keep any bloopers as they can make great content) and any public performances they might have. This type of authentic content performs really well online because it’s relatable and inviting.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. 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. Learn how to use Join the Song with under-18s: Find out how you can engage under-18s through singing our new setting of The First Nowell. Learn about the resources available for under-18s and get practical ideas for using them in schools, church or at home. Sign up to join our webinar on Wednesday 27 September.

Lesson 4: Do not worry about what gifts you bring; each is appropriate in its own way as you follow the star. The Church of England is running the following webinars to help you get the most out of this year’s campaign: The partnership with BBC Sunday Worship and Daily Worship resulted in millions of people hearing the #FollowTheStar reflections There 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!

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Alongside some familiar elements, there are some completely new strands to this year’s campaign to help schools, churches, cathedrals to connect with this year’s call to Join the Song, including: The first time an Advent and Christmas campaign from the Church spanned digital, print, traditional press and broadcast in terms of promotion and awareness 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. 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 Alexa In the story of the first Christmas, the shepherds are astonished to find the night sky filled with countless voices singing God’s praise.