Preparing for the Holidays: 8 Steps for Crafting a Christmas Sermon that Inspires

The holiday season is a time of joy, celebration, and reflection for many. Whether it’s dressing up and eating candy at community events, expressing gratitude with reunited family members over a big turkey dinner, swapping gifts and singing carols with family, friends, coworkers, or even counting down to midnight with loved ones, the holidays can be a time of great joy.

Gathering for the holidays isn’t only common within family, friends and work parties, but it also tends to generate some of the highest attendance the Church sees in a single year. 

For this reason, Christmas can be seen as an advantageous opportunity for spreading God’s word, as well as a stressful time in preparing for the often hectic season. In this blog, we’re here to share how pastors can prepare ahead and make an impact during Christmas.

Christmas as a Time of Opportunity 

There’s no doubt that the holidays are a time for gathering. College students return home to be with their families, families make time to reunite with extended family, friends and coworkers throw holiday-themed parties, and many people attend church. 

Based on a survey conducted by Lifeway Research in 2016, the data shows “that six out of 10 Americans typically attend church at Christmastime” and 57% of those who don’t attend said “they would likely attend if someone they knew invited them.” When asked about the primary reason for attending church at Christmastime, 77% said it was to “honor Jesus" while the other 23 percent said it was to “observe tradition,” “be with friends and family” or to “get in the Christmas spirit.” 

Not only are people more open to attending church during Christmastime, but another survey conducted by Lifeway Research in 2022 shows that “Half of U.S. Protestant pastors (48%) say a Christmas Eve service is their churches’ largest event during the holiday season.” Senior writer of Lifeway Research, Aaron Earls, further asserts that “the frequency of the highest attendance events builds up to Christmas Eve and then tapers off into January.” 

Emphasizing the Importance of Christmas

While it’s clear the Christmas season is highly advantageous for the Church to make an impact on both Christians and non-Christians, there may be even more of a need for the church to reinvigorate the importance of the birth of Christ. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, “most U.S. adults believe the religious aspects of Christmas are emphasized less now than in the past – even as relatively few Americans are bothered by this trend.”

For these reasons, pastors have an opportunity to impact the high volume of seasonal church attendees with a powerful message on the arrival and gospel of Jesus. 

Preparing for the Holidays Can be Challenging

While it may be of no surprise that church attendance shows an increase during the holidays, effectively preparing for such a time is no easy task. 

Some Christmas festivities that churches might put on to engage with the community are: 

• Advent Services Leading up to Christmas
• Holiday worship nights
• Live Nativity Scenes 
• Christmas Stage Plays 
• Community Service Outreach and Charity
• Christmas Caroling 
• Christmas Workshops for Children
• Gift Exchanges

While the scale of these events differ in size of production and resources depending on the church, staff and volunteers, they typically require a high level of coordination for the lead pastors. Not only do pastors help plan and oversee the festivities of the Church during the holiday season, but they typically take part in events engaging with the congregation. They also need to continue preparing sermons while making personal time for celebrating the season with their own families. 

For these reasons, balancing responsibilities as a pastor during the holidays can start to feel like walking a tight-rope. No matter what level of responsibilities may come with pastoral leadership during the holidays, preparing and delivering weekly sermons are one of the pastor’s most important priorities. We’re here to make that process a little bit easier.

Planning a Meaningful Sermon for Christmas 

With Christmas being a popular day to attend church, pastors can easily start to feel uninspired by preaching a familiar sermon on the nativity year after year. While it can be especially hard to craft a truly inspiring sermon during an often busy season, pastors can use specialized writing tools to assist in smoother sermon preparation.

 Using such tools can assist pastors in structuring meaningful messages in an organized and efficient way by practicing the following steps:

An 8 Step Guide to Preparing an Effective Christmas Sermon

1. Pray and Seek Inspiration: First, it’s important to seek guidance and inspiration through prayer and meditation to discover in what ways God may want to speak through the holiday sermons. Spend time reading and reflecting on the biblical accounts of Christ's birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and seek fresh insights and perspectives.
2. Select a Relevant Theme: Choose a central theme or message for your Christmas sermon. Consider themes like hope, redemption, God's love, or the incarnation of Christ. The theme should resonate with both the congregation's spiritual needs, as well as the holiday season. 
3. It’s also important for pastors to acknowledge that the Holidays can be a time of grieving for the loss of loved ones or a time that may evoke feelings of loneliness for many people. With this in mind, pastors can use this opportunity to effectively speak to those places of hardships. ‍
4. Scripture Selection: Select key Scripture passages that align with your chosen theme. The birth narratives in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 2 are essential, but it’s also worth searching for related passages that support your message. While this can be time consuming, prompted AI search engines can assist in pulling suggested scripture relevant to the message’s themes or topic. ‍
5. Research and Study: Dive deep into the scripture. Study the historical and cultural context to gain a thorough understanding of the events surrounding Christ's birth. Consult reputable commentaries and theological resources to gain insights into the biblical text. This can help you uncover nuances and historical background that enhance your sermon.‍
6. Craft Your Sermon Structure: Develop a clear and well-structured outline for your sermon. With the help of AI powered tools, pastors can streamline this process by generating an outline that effectively works for them. ‍
7. Engage Emotionally and Intellectually: Craft your sermon to engage with the congregation on both an intellectual and emotional level. Share personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical applications of the Christmas message. This can also be done by incorporating meaningful illustrations, analogies, or stories that show the message of Christ's birth and its relevance to our lives today. ‍
8. Convey the Message of Hope and Joy: It’s important to emphasize the message of hope, joy, and redemption that Christmas represents. Remind your congregation of the good news of Christ's birth and its profound impact on humanity.‍
9. Call-to-Action: Lastly, if feeling led to do so, open up the end of the sermon as a time for people to dedicate their lives to the calling of Christ. At a time where non-regular church goers or faith-curious visitors may be in attendance, this can be a great opportunity to inspire those in the audience to feel called to follow Jesus. 

Conclusion

As people begin preparing for the holidays, shopping, decorating and making time for loved ones, it’s important that pastors also prepare and make the most of the holiday season. Planning ahead and using a sermon writing tool can help simplify the process and create a more impactful message on the birth of Christ. 

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