Saturday night hits a little different when you’re a children’s pastor, children’s programming director, or children’s ministry volunteer. While others are casually binging their favorite show or enjoying a night on the town, you’re gathering last-minute supplies and going through a mental checklist to make sure you’re ready for Sunday morning. Even if you have everything ready to go and find yourself at your favorite restaurant with friends, your mind may be otherwise occupied trying to remember if your church has green and red pipe cleaners in the supply closet. In short, it’s the anticipation of Sunday that makes Saturday night feel different. One might say we live in a perpetual state of Advent.

But the annual season of Advent takes that anticipation up a notch. We’ve got Christmas musicals and Christmas parties and Christmas presents and Christmas services to prepare. The to-do list doubles, and the time to do it seems to get cut in half. And during all this, we’re trying to find time for spiritual reflection, to sit in anticipation and celebration of the Christ child dwelling among us in our hearts and homes. We strive to prevent words like hope, peace, joy, and love from losing their meaning and sinking into the mass of Christmas cliches and well-intentioned greeting cards.

This Advent season, with resources like Hope of All the Earth, we can elevate those four words and give them new life. This 4-week curriculum provides a path to guide you and your ministry through the Advent season with Sunday lessons, take-home activities, worship activity guides, and an original worship video titled Hope of All The Earth. The resource walks us through the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.

The lessons can easily be used for children’s church with a group of kids anywhere from Kindergarten through sixth grade. Each lesson guides the leader with teaching prompts, discussion questions, and engaging crafts and activities. Use the included worship song video during this time and sing along to create a formative worship experience.

The Discover Worship Activity Guides can be used in several different ways. (Here’s a sample of the Discover Worship Activity Guide)Pass them out for kids to complete as they sit in big church with their families and friends. These are great tools to help kids stay engaged in the service while also giving them learning-focused activities to complete. They can also be used as part of the Children’s Teaching Outlines for children’s church. They’re a great way to supplement the lessons or fill a little extra time as kids wait to be picked up. Finally, they can even be passed out to be completed at home. It’s a great way to remind kids what they learned about in church!

And we can’t forget the Advent Chain! Print these out and send them home for families to assemble and work on during the week. Each day of Advent, they’ll break off a new piece of the chain to see a daily worship and learning challenge. It could be anything from writing a Christmas card to finding some neighborhood Christmas lights.

You’ll soon find yourself on a Saturday night in the middle of the Advent season filled with anticipation for Sunday morning. We believe the Hope of All the Earth resource will give you a little more peace and confidence as you run through that last-minute checklist. You can also rest easy knowing you won’t need any green and red pipe cleaners.

Hope of All the Earth: A Children’s Ministry Resource

Enhance your youngest learners’ Advent experience by using the Children’s Ministry Resource in conjunction with the Hope of All the Earth devotional. This downloadable resource includes teaching outlines, at-home daily activities, a worship song and video, worship activity guides, and more.

Hope of All the Earth: An Advent Devotional

Gift parents and caregivers this Advent devotional so they can experience the themes of hope, peace, love, and joy alongside their kids.

Hope of All the Earth is available in discounted packs of 10 and is also available in Spanish!