Faith Formation

Alleluia Poster: Get Ready for Easter (COVID-19 Edition)

FREEBIE: We have a brand new, FREE Alleluia Poster that we are giving out! Keep reading to find out how you can download it today!

Easter is one of those Sundays when churches go all out. Colorful decorations, Easter lilies, the flowering of the cross, streamers, trumpets, fanfares, big choirs, guest musicians, and kids dressed up in their Sunday best, ready to pose for family photos after the Easter Egg Hunt.

That won’t be happening this year.

Families and churches around the world are looking for creative ways to make this year’s COVID-19 Easter STILL be a celebration of new life, resurrection, and hope.

Illustrated Ministry continues to try and do what we can to help support churches and families through this difficult time.

We previously send out free faith formation resources. If you’d like to have access to those, you can sign up here.

Alleluia Poster

So many people have found beautiful ways to paint the windows of their homes or leave inspiring and hope-filled messages in sidewalk chalk around their neighborhoods. As our team thought about what else we could offer to make Easter fun and celebratory, we designed a brand-new Alleluia poster illustration that could be colored and displayed in homes around the world. And we want you to have it for FREE!

We hope our Alleluia Poster will be one more way you can add some color and beauty to your home and your community.

This poster is designed in our new Mosaic Poster Tiles format and comes formatted for both US Letter (8.5×11) and A4 paper. Here are some additional details:

Your download of the ZIP file will include two versions of the poster: a US Letter (8.5×11) file and an A4 file.
US Letter (8.5×11): This version requires four sheets of paper, and measures 20.39″x14.67″ when you’ve assembled and taped together.
A4: This version requires six sheets of paper, and measures 22.44″x16.14″ when assembled and taped together.

Below you can see some photos that give you an example of what it will look like when you’ve printed it, colored it, and assembled the poster tiles.

Putting Together the Poster — Color your poster tiles

Happy Easter!

Download it, email it to friends and families in your congregation, and share the link on social media! We hope you’ll share photos of these Alleluia Posters, and if you post them on social media, make sure to either use the hashtag #illustratedministry or tag us (we’re @illustratedmin on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest).

Ready to Download Your Alleluia Poster?

We’ve put the files together in a ZIP file, and we’ll send you the link when you click here to download your Alleluia Poster.

Alleluia Download Poster

Mosaic Poster Tiles: Coloring Posters You Can Print at Home

Adam Walker Cleaveland Leave a Comment

We are excited to announce a new poster format for three of our Easter coloring posters: Mosaic Poster Tiles.

While we live and do ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to rethink everything. What does school look like? How do we lead worship from our homes over video-conferencing apps? Should I go to the grocery store, order my groceries, or just eat my pantry to the end?

This is why we started to create and offer free, faith formation weekly resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can sign up to receive these here.

The team at Illustrated Ministry has been having many of these same conversations over the past couple of weeks. Many of our customers love using our large coloring posters during Lent, and now that we are all physical distancing, it’s impossible (and unsafe!) to gather intergenerationally, color a poster together, and enjoy community, conversation, and coloring.

We’ve mentioned our Facebook Group before because it is a growing community of our customers and friends. But don’t think it’s just a place where we promote and sell our stuff. Our community posts photos, shares ideas for how they are using our products, and cares for each other! We recently ran across this post in our group, and it got us thinking:

Illustrated Ministry Community Group

Some of our best product ideas have come from our Facebook Group (including our bestselling Illustrated Nativity Sticker Sheets). We know people across the world are following shelter-in-place/stay-at-home orders/recommendations, and we immediately realized this could be a fantastic gift to offer to our community.

So…after a few days and almost a ream of paper (that we repurposed and recycled, of course), we are now able to offer this new poster format for three of our Easter coloring posters.

Mosaic Poster Tiles: Now what…?

Christ Is Risen Coloring Poster — *The photos in this blog post are included for instructional purposes only and do not reflect the actual sizes offered in the products themselves.*

So what does this mean for you, your family, or the community you serve? Essentially, anyone with a home or basic office printer can create a giant coloring poster to use at home. Or you could send out individual PDF “tiles” to members of your church, youth group, or campus ministry. People could individually color them, and then when we all come back and worship together, they can bring their colored tiles, and you can create a giant, beautiful mosaic.

What better way to represent the wholeness and togetherness of the church? When we all eventually come back together after being apart during COVID-19, we are reminded that we were truly never separated.

Details, details, details…

Illustrated Ministry serves an international audience, and given the complex nature of creating these Mosaic Poster Tiles, we wanted to make sure it would be an enjoyable experience for all. For that reason, we have created two versions of the Mosaic Poster Tiles: one formatted to print on US Letter (8.5 x 11) paper and another that is formatted for A4 paper. We’re hoping that helps our international friends have successful poster-creating experiences.

We’ve also created the Mosaic Poster Tiles in two sizes:

Family Size: This size is perfect to send home to families so they can create a small coloring poster that they can color and put together at home. The family size option requires around 4-6 sheets of paper.
Group Size: If you’re looking for a more significant project for a larger group, the group size is the perfect option. Maybe you want to send it out to a large group in your congregation, or you have a lot of homebound folx (aside from all who are currently physically distancing due to COVID-19) who would love to participate in a communal art project. The group size option requires around 32-50 sheets of paper.

So, how exactly do I do this?

We tried to make this a relatively simple project that anyone could do at home. That said, there is a disclaimer we should share:

If you are a perfectionist, proceed with caution. We tried many different methods for making these poster tiles, and we believe we ended up with the best possible option. While you’re assembling the “puzzle pieces,” you should keep in mind you are creating a beautiful, collaborative piece of communal art – not a gallery-ready fine art print. That said – it’s a fun project, and we can’t wait to see photos that you all share online.

Mosaic Poster Tiles Pinterest — *The photos in this blog post are included for instructional purposes only and do not reflect the actual sizes offered in the products themselves.*

Mosaic Poster Tiles Instructions

After you purchase, download, and open the ZIP file, choose whether you will be printing on US Letter (8.5 x 11) or A4 paper. Then select the size of the poster you would like to create (Family or Group size).

Distribution

Email: Use the split tile files to email out to individuals.
Hand out/Mail: Print out the PDF and distribute the individual pages (perhaps not the best or safest method during the COVID-19 pandemic – we would encourage emailing the files).

Printing

When you print, select either “Scale” and set at 96% or “Scale to Fit (Print Entire Image).” Each page contains “crop marks” that guide you as you cut margins off around the image. You can get an idea of how they work by looking at the below image:

Assembly

Cut: When it’s time to assemble, use the crop marks to guide you through cutting off the margins. Please be careful not to cut into the image. This format is designed to meet together when placed side by side, and there is no overlap of images on the paper.

Arrange: Piece together the poster by arranging the images on a large table or floor, as you would a puzzle. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t line up 100%…this is a fun project, remember?

Alleluia Butterfly Mosaic Poster Tiles — *The photos in this blog post are included for instructional purposes only and do not reflect the actual sizes offered in the products themselves.*

Tape: We recommend focusing on one page at a time as you begin to tape the pieces together. When two pages match and line up to your satisfaction, tape them together. Match the next page, line it up to your satisfaction, and tape them together. Continue until you complete taping all the pages together and make a complete poster.

Create and Share!

One of the joys for us on the Illustrated Ministry team is seeing your tweets, Instagram Stories, Facebook Posts, and MySpace updates (okay, no one is really on MySpace anymore…right?) where you share with us your beautiful creations! We think this new format of Mosaic Poster Tiles is going to allow even more groups to take advantage of our coloring posters, and we can’t wait to see your creativity unleashed!

Be sure and use the hashtag #illustratedministry or tag us in your posts – we’re @illustratedmin on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Mosaic Poster Tiles Examples

We’ve already started seeing some really fun examples of the ways people have used our Mosaic Poster Tiles. Here are some photos of the Alleluia Butterfly that people created over Easter, and below that you can see a video that was put together by Resurrection Covenant Church (Chicago):

Easter Resurrection Mosaic Poster Tile — Easter Resurrection

Order Mosaic Poster Tiles

As of the time of this post, we currently have the Mosaic Poster Tiles format available for the following coloring posters:

Shop for Mosaic Poster Tiles Now!

Inspire Your Kids to Give Back with a Summer Service Project

Alissa Ellett 1 Comment

Send these easy summer service project ideas to your ministry families to invite gratitude and compassion into their homes and hearts.

Service is a expression of our lives that teaches us valuable lessons! To name a few, we learn to appreciate what we have. And we learn the complexity of the world. Furthermore, we learn to practice empathy. However, summer can be a challenging time to continue this kind of expression and learning.

Summer brings about travel, rest, amazing memories and family time. It can also be a season when service trips are taken. But what if there are kids who aren’t going on that trip? Or what if your church isn’t taking such a trip?

How are you inviting kids to serve in a summer service project? We’d love to hear in the comments section!

Summer Service Project Ideas

Ideas for Younger Kids

Clear out your child’s bookshelves. Donate books they’ve outgrown but are in good condition. Give books to the church library or nursery, the public library, a homeless shelter, thrift store or a family in need.
Make a silly video to send to an elderly or ill relative. You may be surprised to know what a major impact this can have. I’ve gotten calls and messages in response to doing this saying how much it helped raise a person’s spirits during a trying time. Plus, it’s easy and quick!

Ideas for Older Kids

Volunteer at a local animal shelter. Spend a few hours working to serve animals. There are lots of different tasks older kids can do including feeding animals, walking dogs and cleaning cages.
Donate time to babysit. Young couples often don’t get date nights because getting a sitter costs money they don’t have. So, encourage your child to volunteer to babysit for someone you may know in this situation.
Help a younger sibling clean their room. A younger sibling will appreciate the assistance. And it creates opportunity for the older one to be a leader.

Scripture About Service

Consider posting a favorite Bible verse as you explore a summer service project helps your kids see it regularly. The bathroom mirror is a great spot, in the car or at the dining table.

1 Peter 4.10: Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Romans 12.1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…

Romans 12.10: Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12.13: Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Mark 12.30: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

We hope these ideas are helpful in encouraging your kids to take part in a summer service project this summer. Enjoy serving with them. The more they see their caregivers offering themselves as a living sacrifice, the more they will participate.

And don’t forget! We want to know how you’ll be working with your kids to inspire generosity and compassion in your kids lives this summer. So, share in the comments section!