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Many years ago, when our children were very young, my wife Janice decided that we needed an Advent tradition to help them focus on Jesus. She wanted it to be joyful and theologically rich, and for it to capture something of the Bible’s grand sweep of salvation history. She also wanted it to be simple rather than a burden. You are looking at the result.
Long before it was polished and published in this format by Growing Faith, we used the text of these Advent devotions every year with our growing family. Each November (or sometimes early December!) we would print the file, pull the wall chart out of the garage, cut the pages up, place the words for each day in envelopes hung on the chart, and put the whole thing somewhere prominent. The kids knew it was coming and looked forward to being involved. The greatest benefits did not come from doing it just once but doing it year afer year, slowly embedding the truth in their heads, praying that God would place it in their hearts.
December can be crazily busy with things like end-of-year events, parties and dinners. That’s on top of the regular challenges like tired kids, tired parents and the wackiness of the dinner-and-bed routine. Amid the chaos, it can be easy to weigh ourselves down with guilt for not doing enough to teach our children about God and his grace, which is a painful irony since grace and guilt are not meant to go together!
We hope that these devotions will help you not just survive but enjoy this season and God’s grace, and get rid of guilt, because the devotions can be as simple or as complex as you want to make them. Along the way there will be suggestions for activities and extra discussion points—but please don’t feel that you need to ‘tick all the boxes’ by doing everything every day. There were days when we (the parents) read with sleepy eyes the words for the day and the Bible passage, prayed and got the kids to draw a picture. Anything else was a bonus. If we missed a day, we simply did two the next.
Our children are older now, and we miss the days of snuggling together on the couch for some Bible time. Our prayer is that this resource will continue to be a blessing for you and many other families. Enjoy God’s great promises, enjoy Jesus, and enjoy showing your children God’s great plans.
Your partners in raising children in Christ, Dave and Janice Whitingham
Why Advent?
Christians have celebrated Advent in the lead-up to Christmas for a very long time. The traditions have changed a lot over the years, but the core of the celebration has not. Advent simply means ‘arrival’, and there are two arrivals that we as Christians anticipate and prepare for in December.
The first arrival is the arrival of Jesus at the first Christmas. As you read through the nativity accounts of Matthew and Luke, you’ll see the effort they make to show that Christ’s arrival was the fulfilment of promise after promise from God. For example, Matthew explicitly quotes several Old Testament prophets when talking about Jesus being called Immanuel, his birth in Bethlehem, his
escape to and return from Egypt, the murder of infants by Herod, and Jesus’ move to Nazareth. This is not counting all the allusions to Old Testament promises. When you also consider the rest of Matthew’s chapters and the other three Gospels, you see that not a page goes by without some reference to how Jesus’ advent is the culmination of thousands of years of hope.
All this shows God’s wonderful faithfulness. Just like he promised, God has come to save, heal and restore. Just like he promised, he’s come to forgive, transform hearts and pour out his Holy Spirit. Just like he promised, he’s sent his Son as the suffering servant who brings justice, hope and joy. Although the wait was long, Jesus’ advent proves that God can be trusted in everything.
This is crucial, because we are saved by putting our trust in God’s Son, Jesus. If God is not trustworthy, why would you do that? Advent is a time to learn and remember that faith in Jesus never disappoints.
God’s proven faithfulness is also crucial because there is a second advent still to come. Although we don’t know when, Jesus will return. This world will be destroyed and the judgement books opened. All who have rejected Christ will face the endless second death in the lake of fire. All who have trusted him will enter into eternal rest in the New Creation, where there will be no more death, mourning, pain or tears. We will live forever with our God and rejoice in his faithful love.
That future advent should shape every moment of our existence. It is a reality guaranteed by the first advent. Just like the people in the Old Testament awaiting the first advent, we do not know when it will happen, but we do know the clock is ticking. As you come to celebrate Christmas, rejoice as you reflect on the first arrival of Jesus and let your heart and mind be challenged and refined by reflecting on his arrival still to come.
What’s in each day?
Each day of this devotional has a number of elements:
a heading, useful for summing up the main point of the day and for later remembering what you’ve already covered
a simple paragraph or two to read that explains the heading and is key to maintaining the flow of the devotionals, simple and accessible for very young children while still being relevant for older children and adults
one or two Bible verses
a space to draw a picture based on the day’s topic
a question or two for discussion (optional)
an activity (optional)
small pictures for colouring in
How
to use it!
Overall preparation
You will need to think about how you will store the printouts for each day until they are used. One of the joys of an Advent calendar is the slow reveal, so ideally you will display the pages in a way that shows there is more to come but doesn’t reveal what will be covered on other days. Some suggestions: Cover a big corkboard in green and then string five rows of red and white ribbon along the board. Place each sheet inside its own red envelope and peg them onto the ribbon. After a child draws a day’s picture, peg it on the outside of the envelope with the picture facing outwards.
Hang a piece of string along a wall. Put each day’s sheet inside its own envelope, peg them along the string, then add in the drawings as you go.
Have a blank wall or display board. Each morning or night, hide the pages for that day in a room and send the children in to find it. After doing the reading and drawing, Blu-Tack the picture to your display area.
Purchase an Advent display with pockets or boxes, and use it for holding the pages for each day. Once complete, display them somewhere prominent.
Have your children cut out Christmas tree shapes for them to stick their completed work on for display.
We have provided drawing spaces as an ornament shape on each day’s sheet, a series of A4-sized ornaments, and simple quarter pages. Consider which kind of drawing space will best match your display plans, and print out the necessary pages. Remember, we live by grace. If you have the time and energy, go as wild as you want. If not, be simple and set up something that you can easily do throughout the month. If you’re planning a holiday, take it all with you or just pack the material for the days you’ll be away.
Choosing a time
Routines help keep you going. Decide when you want to do the devotional: after dinner, on either side of breakfast, during dessert in the evening, while the children are in the bath (not the drawing part!) or whenever works for your family. If you have a routine, you are more likely to keep going.
You are aiming to make Jesus-centred family memories, so it is good to make the environment as comfortable and friendly as possible. Neurodivergent children in particular may benefit from colouring while they listen, holding fiddle toys or having soft, wordless music in the background.
Reading
The reading can be done by an adult or an older child who can read fluently and clearly. This is not the time to help a child learn to read; you are aiming for everyone to hear the message without distraction. Make sure you read the heading as well as the blurb. Sometimes, there are two or three Bible verses or passages given. If your family loses focus or attention, just choose one or two. It can be helpful to use the same Bible each day. You can use an adult Bible if you prefer (such as the NIV, CSB or ESV), as the passages are usually straightforward. If the language is a little bit hard, that is OK. The older children will understand more and the younger children will have something to grow into. If all the children are young, then use a children’s Bible like the ICB or NiRV. On a couple of particular days, we will recommend reading from a children’s picture Bible.
Prayer and discussion
The prayer is often simply thanking God for what he has done/promised to do. You know your children and what length is best.
Each day there is a discussion question provided. The key is to be flexible. If your family can have an hour-long discussion about the riches of one verse, go for it. If you have a better question, go for it. If the children are bouncing off the walls and won’t answer a question, that’s fine! Not every family or day is the same. Watch your children and be responsive to where they are at.
Drawing
Choose one child to draw a smaller picture for display, and consider having an A4 display folder with plastic sleeves to hold larger pictures drawn by other children. You could go in the order of oldest to youngest or youngest to oldest to limit your need for decision-making. Children might like to collaborate instead.
Don’t hover or offer too many suggestions for the drawing; you have already given significant input. This is their opportunity to both be creative and show you what they have learned. Some children will be very artistic, others will use stick figures or a Venn diagram. That’s all OK!
When they are done, congratulate your children and get them to explain what they have drawn, then display their picture. They will enjoy having their work on show and a display makes it much easier to revise as the month goes on. In fact, you may find them revising in their own time as they look through the pictures!
Activities
Activity
If these activities work for your family, do as many as the children enjoy. If nothing is feasible, go with that. We live by grace!
Some of the suggested activities involve playing a particular song, which you could do using YouTube or a streaming service on a phone or another device.
Getting the most out of it!
The more you can make the Advent devotional time a restful, enjoyable event, the more the message will sink in for the children. For some families, this will mean spending 60 seconds on it a day. For others, it could dominate the entire evening routine. For most, each day will look a little different depending on mood and what’s happening.
You are celebrating Jesus. Let the vibe of the time match the pleasure of the words you are reading. If the children have lost it and you are going to have to do some hardcore discipline, it would be better to delay Advent time until things are more settled, even if that means waiting for the next day. If one child is causing major disruptions, you may need to leave them out for the day. This says that what you are doing is important and it should not be ruined by their actions. If you do, though, snuggle in with them another time and read it one-on-one as a wonderful way to show grace and restoration.
In short, let these Advent times be a joy, not a burden. Enjoy Christ yourself and show that joy to your children. Above all, pray for yourself and your children, that you will all know and enjoy Christ more.
DEC 1 DEC 1
GOD MAKES andBREAKSNEVER PROMISES
R E A D
DISCUSSION
What does it mean to be faithful?
Why do you think its good for God to be faithful?
Activity
Find a hard rock and write or paint the word FAITHFUL on it to show that God’s promises are as solid as a rock. FAITHFUL
We belong to a wonderful, loving God. Our God is a promise maker and a promise keeper. He always does what he says he will do. He is faithful. He never breaks his promises. We can trust him.
We’re going to fnd out about some of the great promises God has made in the Bible. Some of them he has kept. Some of them we are still waiting for him to keep. He will do what he says he will do, because our wonderful, loving God is faithful. He makes and never breaks promises. He makes and always keeps promises.
