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Community Spotlight

Community Spotlight: How Churches Use Our Advent Coloring Posters

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Are you looking for a creative Advent activity for all ages? Over one thousand churches from around the world used our Advent Coloring Posters last year. It was an amazing experience for our team to follow everyone’s progress as they shared photos of their communities coloring the posters. There are so many different ways to use our coloring posters, and as we’ve mentioned before, there were children’s ministries, youth ministries, college groups, retirement homes, hospitals and entire churches that found ways to utilize these big coloring posters.

Advent activity for all ages

I had a chance to hear from some of the folks who used our posters, and I wanted you to hear from them in the short testimonials below. Take a few moments to read through some of these examples, share them with your friends and colleagues, and start dreaming about how your community might be able to use our Advent Coloring Posters as an Advent activity for all ages. You can find out all of the important details about our posters here, and they will be going on sale October 17!

FREE INFORMATIONAL PDF: Would you like a PDF handout that you can take to your next staff or committee meeting to tell them about our Advent Journey Coloring Posters?  Click here to download an informational PDF handout all about our coloring posters.

The testimonials are below, followed by a small gallery of some more of our favorite photos from last year’s Advent Coloring Posters!

The Perfect Advent Activity for All Ages

Reflecting & Coloring

We used the Advent Coloring Posters as a time for all ages of our church to reflect and color together. They were then used as the backdrop for our Sunday School Christmas program and hung up for the Christmas season in the Church.

-Shanna VanderWel, Director of Youth and Family Ministry, Augustana Lutheran Church

Posters Also a Great Teaching Tool

We placed the posters each week on a large table in the center of our Fellowship Hall with colored pencils and invited people of all ages to participate in coloring the posters. We took one of the posters to our Youth Lock-In, and they joyfully colored it – and loved it! The posters were a great teaching tool. Looking at and explaining the different parts of scripture that each panel represented was a wonderful way to educate during Advent because the illustrations showed the depth of the story.

On the morning that we adorned the Nave and Sanctuary for Christmas, we put the posters together up on the east wall, and they were beautiful! They represented the beauty of community, which is what Jesus calls us to be. Thank you so much for these beautiful and thoughtful illustrations.

-Teresa Ryther, Christian Formation Coordinator, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church

Families Can Color Posters Too!

The children colored posters in the front of the sanctuary during worship, and we hung them in the sanctuary the following week. Sometimes a family would volunteer to take them home to finish since they’re kind of big! They are now on display in the main hallway of our church.

-Kristen Koch, Pastor, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran (ELCA)

Community Collaboration

We started colouring the posters during our Advent Event and then had them out each week during Advent. After worship, people gathered around them during fellowship and coloured. We also took them to the school, so it became a community collaboration to decorate the church for Christmas.

-Nicole Hall, Child Youth and Household Ministry Coordinator, St. Paul Lutheran Church – Blair Athol, Australia

Coloring During Worship

We had a large open area in the back of the sanctuary (there used to be pews but they had been taken out several years ago) where we set up a table and chairs and the coloring posters. Children were invited to join the DCE at the table following the Children’s Sermon to work on the posters. Once we finished the posters, we hung them in Fellowship Hall.

-Laurie Fields, pastor, First Presbyterian, Harrisburg, Illinois

Coloring During Worship

Bonding & Coloring

We placed our Advent Coloring Posters in the children’s area at the back of the church, and during the service children and their families coloured them. Also, others in our community colored during coffee after the service, and it helped to make bonds between the different generations.

-Sarah Jones, Sunday Club Volunteer, St. Mary’s Church, Gomersal, England

Service, Community, and Coloring

We hung our Advent Coloring Posters in the city soup kitchen where our church meets so that they could be enjoyed during the week. We colored them at the community center, and so many people participated. People LOVED the art and the other Bible stories and themes in the posters other than the Christmas narrative.

-Angela Moyer, Co-pastor, Ripple Church

Everyone Colours! An Advent Activity for All Ages

We distributed the Advent Coloring Posters to different groups in our congregation (seniors, children’s ministry, teens, parish council). Each group would then bring them to their allotted Sunday, lead the lighting of the wreath, and then put the poster up on the wall. The first year we put them up in black and white, and then swapped for the colour poster. The creep of colour around the walls was fantastic.

-Jemma Allen, Priest Associate for Children, Young People and Families, All Saints Anglican Church, Howick, Auckland, New Zealand

Coloring in Sunday School

We used them at our St. Nick Party and in our Sunday School program. We also gave the small versions to our families so they could also color them at home.

-Erica Jeglum, Director of Family and Youth Ministry, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis

We Can Color at Church AND at Home

Our church had larger posters printed and put them together in our sanctuary for Christmas. We also had 8.5×11 size pages in the worship bulletins for everyone and showed them how to put them together at home. People loved them!

-David Brown – Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ, Akron Ohio

Additional Photos from Advent 2016

As you can see in the photos and stories from above, and the images below, our Advent Coloring Posters indeed do make a perfect Advent activity for all ages.

FREE INFORMATIONAL PDF: Don’t forget to grab your free copy of the PDF here.

Community Spotlight: An Illustrated Compassion VBS at St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church

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St John VBS Illustrated Compassion

We have put together a concise summary of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church’s experience using An Illustrated Compassion for their Vacation Bible School. If you are looking for something that would be easy to print out and take to a staff or committee meeting, you can download the free PDF here.

Summertime is the season for VBS, and we are so excited to share with you how St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church used An Illustrated Compassion curriculum for their VBS program! We recently caught up with Rona Pasch, Director of Children’s Ministry at St. John’s, and she gave us the skinny on how it all went.

The Search for VBS Curriculum

Rona, before we get into Illustrated Compassion specifically, have you typically come up with your VBS program?
I am relatively new to children’s ministry (my background is in elementary and early childhood education). So, this will be the second VBS I have planned. I used a free curriculum last year as a base and molded it to fit the abilities and personality of our church.

What are your thoughts on the standard VBS curricula out there in the children’s ministry marketplace?
I think all models of VBS can be good. It all depends on the size of the church and what the demographics are. We are a medium sized church, so I probably have more creative wiggle room than I would otherwise. It means I have many options and don’t necessarily have to use a boxed VBS.

Choosing An Illustrated Compassion

Illustrated-Compassion-VBSWhat made you think about using ICM’s Illustrated Compassion curriculum?
First, I loved the broad theme of compassion. Like it says in the ICM description, no matter where you are on the theological or political spectrum, it’s clear our world needs more compassion. I was also drawn to the creative side to the curriculum. We have used the coloring posters in the past, and they work for all age groups. Additionally, this curriculum allows for a lot of flexibility. I could tweak it to fit our church’s personality, which I’m a big fan of. I also love that it includes the music, which was a major selling point for our music director. We even sang both of the songs during our worship service and hung up the coloring posters the Sunday after VBS.

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion

Making It Their Own

How did you use ICM’s curriculum?
We used An Illustrated Compassion’s Module 3 to create a 4-day VBS, using each day as a different Bible story/verse. What I found most adaptable was the Compassion in Action portion. I used local resources whenever possible for those activities.

For example, I’d already discussed doing blessing bags with our priest. So, when I saw the idea for Compassion Packs in the curriculum, it was perfect! We got donations from the congregation, and the kids packed the bags during VBS. Then, they handed them out the following Sunday. We also have a garden of veggies we grow to donate to the local food shelf. So, we spent time weeding and picking produce. I worked with another local organization to write “welcome home” letters to people transitioning out of homelessness.


What did you add or change to make ICM’s curriculum usable as your VBS program?
First off, I added a creative arts portion that included painting, recreating stories using Lego, etc. This was also a time used for coloring the posters. Also, we colored kindness cards that lined the walkway up to our church and were sent home with the children to hand out or sneak into library books. Additionally, there’s a great selection of picture books about showing compassion. So, I created a small reading area with those books available during down times. Lastly, I added a time for a physical activity. Since the theme was compassion, we did team building games. There weren’t specific winners; instead, team members encourage each other along the way.

Hopes for the VBS Curriculum

What did you hope your church community would get out of An Illustrated Compassion curriculum?
I hoped to educate the kids and adult volunteers about what the Bible teaches about showing compassion to one another. In addition to that, I hoped we’d discover how easy it is to do so. And by tying in local resources and organizations, I dreamed that this would inspire our church and families to support our local community and to build on what we’re already doing.

Takeaways from the Experience

St John VBS Illustrated Compassion
Why do you think it works well?
Well, first, it has a great layout and includes fabulous ideas for telling the stories. It also has follow-up questions and ideas for activities and projects, which are great. I know many other colleagues are already using resources and products from Illustrated Ministry in their churches, and it lines up with our theology very well. I could feel confident that the kids will not only be learning specific Bible stories and verses, but also how to use those in their everyday lives to show compassion to others.

Would you recommend ICM curriculum for VBS to your friends and colleagues?
Yes, absolutely! I would definitely encourage other churches to use this curriculum.

We loved hearing Rona’s story about how they used An Illustrated Compassion for their Vacation Bible School program. If you are thinking of using it for your VBS program, or you want to think of other ways your church could use it, I’d recommend downloading our free summary page of this blog post. Our free summary highlights what Rona’s church appreciated about An Illustrated Compassion, and how they were able to customize it to their ministry context. You can download that PDF here.

Community Spotlight: A Retirement Home Coloring Series

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BONUS CONTENT: Do you like this post? Want to get some bonus content NOT included in this post? This week’s PDF includes our list of the 5 Takeaways from Lutheran Living’s experience of using our coloring posters with their retirement community. If you’re interested in this exclusive, bonus content, click here to get access to download the PDF

Hey, all! Recently, we got to catch up with The Rev. Susan Bantz, Chaplain at Lutheran Living Senior Campus, a retirement community in Iowa. She gave us the inside scoop on the fun they had doing a retirement home coloring series this past Spring. Read on to find out more about their experience. You may even gather ideas for your own retirement home coloring series or hosting an adult coloring event in your congregation.

Retirement Home Coloring Series

A Conversation with Lutheran Living Senior Campus

Alissa: So, what brought you to Illustrated Ministry?

Susan: I saw the Advent coloring posters mentioned in a post on Facebook and then looked up ICM. Poof! An idea was born: Why couldn’t we do a retirement home coloring series by using the posters during Lent? Many of our residents color independently. This seemed like a great opportunity to do that in community as one of our retirement home activities.

Alissa: How did you use your coloring posters?

Susan: Our goal was to finish our retirement home coloring series by Lent. That way, we’d display the posters on the chapel walls during worship. First, we held a couple adult coloring workshops. Then, we began bringing the posters out to fill time before Bingo every week. We also had them available when planned activities were cancelled. And slow Sunday afternoons were a great time to work on them, too. Additionally, we left them out in the chapel for anyone who wanted to color in a quiet, contemplative space.

Alissa: What was the make-up of the group that used the materials?

Susan: Most of those involved in our retirement home coloring series were residents. We also had staff, family members, and other visitors who lent a hand to the project, even just for a minute or two! It was a good bonding experience for staff and residents, especially. Even people who professed to not like coloring would often do a little corner.

Feedback and Reflection

Alissa: What was the feedback you received?

Susan: The residents loved having a retirement home coloring series! Many of them color in their rooms on their own already. So, this experience showed them that coloring can be a social activity as well. Our Activities Department is now offering regular adult coloring events for the residents!

Alissa: What was surprising about the experience?

Susan: Seeing how into the whole adult coloring thing so many people got! During the weeks of our retirement home coloring series, quite a few declared that certain sections were “theirs.” They made it clear that everyone else should keep their colored pencils elsewhere. It became a lesson in understanding that not everyone’s vision is the same, but somehow it all comes out right in the end when we compromise.

Alissa: How did it rate when compared with other activities you’ve done?

Susan: Many of our activities are more passive. But adult coloring was something almost everyone could do: those with dementia, those in wheelchairs, those who struggle with motor skills. Nothing had to be perfect—it just had to be theirs. And they really embraced it!

BONUS CONTENT: Download your exclusive bonus content here.

Adult Coloring Fosters Stories & Conversations

Alissa: Were there any fun stories?

Susan: So many! Early on, we were using all kinds of bright colors and discovered later that we’d made Jesus’ hair a rainbow. And the fact that Jesus’ face ended up a different color on each poster surprised us, too. There was so much laughter and camaraderie shared around those tables. People often sat next to others they didn’t know as well, which formed new connections. The whole thing really built community and helped draw people out of their shells. (Read more on deepening relationships and creativity through coloring here!)

Alissa: What kinds of conversations arose out of the activity?

Susan: We had a surprising number of theological discussions. Though, there was no formal instruction connected with the actual coloring. People talked about which verses or words resonated with them and how they tried to reflect that with their color choices. More formally, we used the posters during our Lenten midweek worship services. We hold those services in a dialogue format, so, we had the chance to discuss each of the posters in greater depth in a worshipful and contemplative context. After each service, we hung up the two we discussed. I invited people to come back at other times to contemplate the message of each station. (Learn an easy way to hang your completed posters here!)

Alissa: Would you recommend ICM coloring posters to other organizations like yours?

Susan: Absolutely! Their large size made coloring them a dream, especially for those with limited motor skills, eyesight issues, and other limitations. We are now in the process of trimming and laminating the posters so that we can use them in future years.

Alissa: What would you tell others considering ICM’s coloring posters for a retirement home coloring series?

Susan: Just do it! It doesn’t take much planning or prep. Be sure to have the supplies you want to use readily available. And the rewards your residents will get are totally worth it.

Thanks a bunch, Susan! It’s always fun for all of us at ICM to hear how our materials are helping community and creativity thrive. To many more good memories and reflections, colored pencils in hand, for you all at Lutheran Living and the rest of us, too!

The folks at Lutheran Living were using our Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters. If you’d like to take a look at all of our coloring posters (and coloring sheets) that we have available, you can find them here.

Have you used our coloring posters in a retirement/nursing home setting? Share your story below!

BONUS CONTENT: Did you like this post? Want to get some bonus content NOT included in this post? This week’s PDF includes our list of the 5 Takeaways from Lutheran Living’s experience of using our coloring posters with their retirement community. If you’re interested in this exclusive, bonus content, click here to get access to download the PDF