Tips to Staying Spiritually Healthy This Christmas

Christmas is probably your busiest time of the year. You might be decorating your lobby, gearing up for extra services, and coordinating all the logistics to make sure everything runs smoothly.

During this hectic period, sometimes church staff can be so focused on “putting Christmas on” that they don’t prioritize the time or energy to help themselves or their families realize the significance of the season—the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Here are a few tips to help your teams focus on Jesus, the real reason for the season, this Christmas.

Involve the Family

A call into ministry involves the whole family. Encourage spouses and children to serve as much as they’d like during the busy season so that church feels more like a family activity rather than just Mom or Dad’s thing during Christmas. And since Christmas demands so much time and attention, consider giving staff extra time off after Christmas to recharge with valuable family time. Learn more about how to engage the family during this time by watching this video from Life.Church Campus Pastor Tim Doremus.

Dive into Scripture as a Team

What better way to prepare for Christmas than spending time in God’s word. Explore YouVersion’s Advent-themed reading plans to help your staff daily connect with the Christmas story. Plans feature different takes on Advent and range from four days all the way up to 25 days, so there’s certainly a plan for everyone. Your worship team, for example, might particularly enjoy the Advent Playlist reading plan. Or the women on staff might find that Good News for a Woman’s Heart is what they need to find rest and peace during the holiday season. Find a plan your whole staff can read together and center your hearts on Jesus–together.

Celebrate Advent

A time of waiting in anticipation for Christ’s birth, Advent, which begins Sunday, December 2, is a wonderful way to prepare your staff’s hearts for Christmas. Our Advent Word Studies resource from our partner The Bible Project includes four videos focusing on how the words peace, hope, joy, and love tie in to the practice of Advent. With each about four minutes long, encourage your staff to experience these alone in a quiet moment of reflection, walk through them with their families at home, or watch them together as a staff with discussion after.

 

While these are tips to help your staff connect spiritually at Christmas, the best way to encourage these practices is to lead by example. Yes, it’s an incredibly hectic time. But it’s also incredibly rewarding. We do what we do to see people’s lives change through Christ, but it doesn’t have to come at the expense of your staff and their personal relationship with Jesus.