Last updated 10th December 2025

Advent and Christmas resources for 2025

This page gathers together a whole host of local and national Advent and Christmas resources and initiatives in one place for easy viewing and engagement by parishes.

You can also follow us on social media (links at the top right of the homepage of this website) for updates from our parishes.

Use @cofelancs and Blackburn Diocese for reposts etc. Tell us what you are up to during Advent and Christmas in your parish! 

Make sure YOU invite someone who doesn't know Jesus to church this Christmas. And you can also signpost people to A Church Near You ... 

Find a church this Christmas

Visiting relatives in Lancashire? Looking for a church to attend over Christmas time?

Or you just haven't been for a while and you want to seek out some Christmas hope and cheer? Simple!

Visit the 'A Church Near You' website and put in your details to find a church nearby where you will be welcome to visit. 

Bishop's Christmas message; other Christmas news stories 

A Christmas message, filmed in Burnley town centre and featuring young choristers from Blackburn Cathedral choir, has been issued by Rt Rev Dr Joe Kennedy, the Bishop of Burnley. 

The short film is available from December 17 on our Diocesan YouTube channel and embedded on this page. 

• Click here (from December 17) for the full text of the video message in written form. 

Prayer each week at Whalley Abbey

As well as prayer in our churches at various times of the week in addition to Sundays, remember that throughout Advent and Christmas there is the usual regular cycle of prayer at our Centre for Christian Discipleship and Prayer at Whalley Abbey. 

More on the Abbey and other events taking place there over the coming weeks can be found here. 

Advent Devotional for 2025

This year our Advent Devotional, 'Near and Hastening Fast', is led by our newly appointed Bishop’s Chaplain, Revd Dr Andy Meeson.

In the 26 days leading up to and celebrating Christmas, we are exploring the writings of the 12 Minor Prophets. Andy writes in his preface:

“The Twelve anticipates the great day(s) when the LORD will intervene and act…

"This Advent, as we prepare for the big day of Christ’s return in judgement and salvation by examining ourselves and returning to him, let’s attend to the message of the Twelve.”

Copies of the Devotional booklets are available to parishes throughout the diocese (ordered via your incumbent) and are also available to view, listen or watch on our Discipleship App; Fruitful.

You can download a pdf version here

If you have any questions, please get in touch at makingdisciples@blackburn.anglican.org

DailyHope phone line at Christmas

This is a free national telephone line that was initially established very early in the pandemic and continues today; offering music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of England at the end of the phone.

The line – which is available 24 hours a day on 0345 646 2206 – has been set up particularly with those unable to join online church services for any reason; to provide comfort and spiritual nourishment to the most isolated in our society.

The national church campaign: The Joy of Christmas

The Church of England’s Advent and Christmas theme for 2025 revolves round a single word: Joy!

Our churches and cathedrals will - as always - be seeking to make the most of the opportunity December brings to share The Joy of Christmas with their communities.

The great joy of Christmas, of course, is the good news the angel declared to the shepherds - the news of Jesus’ birth as Emmanuel (God With Us).

On this page you will find Advent and Christmas resources for churches, individuals and schools designed to help all ages to be drawn into the joy of the first Christmas.

Give to someone in need

Acts 435 is an organisation endorsed by the Church of England which is about giving to people directly to help them bridge the gap when they are facing a financial crisis.

Can you help a specific person in need particularly at Christmas?

Visit this page on their website; read stories of the applicants and give as you feel able. Any amount will make a big difference to someone who is struggling.

You can instead make a general donation and the Acts 435 team will allocate it to the most urgent requests.

Planning for Christmas 2025 - great tips and ideas

Many of you will now be making plans to celebrate Christmas and doubtless will both rejoice in the Incarnation and use this great festival as an opportunity to reach out to those beyond the Church with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Our Diocesan Director of Mission, Rev. Steve Haskett, recommends the following good practice from previous parish missions in our Diocese which is applicable to how we celebrate Christmas. 

• Pray. It sounds obvious but when we pray for growth, growth often happens. Surround your Christmas celebrations with focused prayer that those who come to events might genuinely meet with the Child of Bethlehem. 
• Invite. There is nothing like personal invitation to encourage people to come along to Christmas celebrations. Equip your people to invite – perhaps by encouraging them to pray for those they’re going to invite or by giving them Christmas cards or invitations to hand out. Remember the old mantra which is corny but effective: ‘I’m going. It’s going to be good. Why don’t you come too?’ 
• Follow-up. Often we are so exhausted after Christmas that we forget to do anything about the new contacts we may have made. Missions work best when there is a date for an Enquirers’ Course such as Start or Alpha already in the diary, and that is good practice for Christmas too. What about around Epiphany? 

And a few tips and hints: 

• To help people prepare for Christmas, we have our Diocesan Advent Book 'Near and Hastening Fast'. This devotional book has proven incredibly popular in recent years. 
• Engage with the Church of England’s highly successful national campaign - see story above. 
• Rejoice in variety! A good Nine Lessons and Carols can engage imaginations just as much as something contemporary. 
• Include a sermon! Also sounds obvious but remember that nine lessons and carols and other services are also a great opportunity to share the word. 
• Do a few things well. An over-ambitious programme can exhaust clergy and lay leaders without being any more fruitful! 

Have yourself a digi little Christmas

Spread the word online: Help to share Christmas videos and social media posts/stories from your parishes and schools through diocesan and local church and school social media accounts and videos to encourage people into local churches. 

When tweeting or posting anything from your church social media account(s) use the 'handles' @cofelancs @BDBofE and @churchofengland for reposts as well as Blackburn Diocese and Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education on Facebook.

Who knows - your picture may go viral!

GoChatter Videos 

GoChatter Videos has more than 90 quality Christmas video resources for churches to use in their Christmas services this year!

These include customisable videos, Nativity service packs and carol lyric videos. Their resources make it easy to brighten up and customise your Christmas services, and promote them to your local community.

Other nativity resources for younger people

• You can find various Christmas resources by exploring our own Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education website resource area here.
• The Nativity Escape Room is also a fantastic resource, taking youngsters on a wonderful activity-laden adventure of unlocking the mysteries of Jesus’s birth. 
• The 12 Revelations of Christmas available here is an augmented reality digital Christmas resource from Missional Generation. 

Ronnie Semley; latest version December 2025