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Worship

Free Downloadable Epiphany Star Coloring Page

Adam Walker Cleaveland Leave a Comment

Epiphany Star Freebie

Epiphany is coming and we want to help churches and families get ready to celebrate the magi’s visit to the baby Jesus.

As has been the case for most of the past year, worshippers will celebrate Epiphany apart from one another. We wanted to share with you this Epiphany Star Coloring Page, in hopes that it would make a fun visual for people in your congregations to have a shared star cut-out they could wave and show during worship on Epiphany.

If you haven’t already signed up to receive our FREE, weekly, faith formation resources, you can do so here.

Free Coloring Page to Celebrate Epiphany

Epiphany Stars

We hope you’ll love our Epiphany Star Coloring Page freebie. You can send it out to your church via email or post it on your church’s website. Or maybe you just want to download a copy for your family to use to help celebrate Epiphany. There is even some space in the middle of the star if you want to write down an Epiphany word that you may have received during worship or from your church.

If you post photos 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 Epiphany Star Coloring Page?

We’ll send you the link to download your Epiphany Star Coloring Page after you click here. Included in your download will be the B&W coloring page, as well as a fun, colored-version that you can print out and use to decorate for your live-streaming worship!

Illustrated Nativity Figures: Get Creative with Life-Size Nativity Figures

Adam Walker Cleaveland 3 Comments

Here at Illustrated Ministry, we love the creativity of our customers and our community. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again and again: some of our best product ideas have come from our customers. Some of these include backpack tags, the inspiration for creating Compassion Camp, and our Illustrated Nativity Sticker Sheets, to name a few. We are delighted when customers reach out to us with fun ideas.

Last year, we received a phone call from some friends at Saint John’s United Methodist Church (Austin, Texas), and they had a fun idea.

They loved our illustrated figures in the shadow box activity from An Illustrated Advent for Families: In Light & Darkness.

Nativity Figures

But those figures were a little too small for their idea. Our friends wanted life-size figures.

Life-size? Could we do that?

Sure!

When we asked them for more details about their project, they told us how they wanted to use the Godly Play Christmas Eve story in their worship service, but knew they needed the pieces to be large enough for the whole congregation to see the story well. With 300+ people in attendance, they wanted each of the nativity figures to be visible in all areas of the sanctuary.

They reached out to see if we would work with them because they love how our art allows for imagination and inclusion and looks mature enough for everyone in their sanctuary setting to enjoy.

And we were delighted to help.

Creating Life-size Nativity Figures

We all worked together to figure out the characters they needed, and then we created life-size digital images that could be used in their Christmas Eve service. The results were truly breathtaking.

Nativity Figures Holy Family

Nativity Figures Magi
Nativity Figures Magi
Nativity Figures Cow
Nativity Figures Holy Family
Nativity Figures Sheep Angel

These Illustrated Nativity Figures are now available in our store here, and we asked our friends from Saint John’s to give us more details about the supplies they needed and the steps they took to pull off such a fun idea!

We’re providing these digital Nativity figures to you, but in the end, how you choose to use them is entirely up to you! We CAN’T WAIT to see all of the creative ways you find to use them.

Below you will find their supply list and the steps Saint John’s took to make their Illustrated Nativity Figures.

Don’t have time to read this all right now? Click here to download a PDF version of this post, which includes the supply list and steps for creating your own life-size Illustrated Nativity Figures.

Supply List

  • Illustrated Nativity Figures: Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, cow, sheep, donkey, camel, three shepherds, teen shepherd, angels, magi, stars, and the “Emmanuel” banner. The tallest pieces might be around six feet tall.
  • White Duct Tape: Use to attach the stands (made from large scraps of the foam board)
  • PVC Pipe: cut to 6′–8′ (these heights depend on the specific needs for your setting)
  • PVC Pipe connector
  • Flange
  • Plywood: One 8′ x 4′ piece of plywood cut in half to make two 4′ x 4′ pieces
  • Eight screws (four for each stand)
  • Screwdriver
  • Hot knife

Steps for Creating your Characters

Get Your Life-size Figures Printed

Having the digital images printed out on foam core boards at a place like FedEx/Kinkos will give you the smoothest finish and look. Another option is to print characters and designs out on large poster paper, and then glue them to insulation foam board with adhesive spray. This is less expensive but doesn’t give the same smooth finish as having a print shop directly print onto the foam core board.

Picking Up Nativity Figures
Picking up Illustrated Nativity Figures
Unpacking Nativity Figures
Unboxing Nativity Figures

Cut out Characters

Cut out the character along the inside of each poster’s dotted cut lines using a hot knife—the dotted lines are about an inch from the characters’ solid outline. The hot knife can be tricky to find the right temperature without burning the board, so practice on a scrap area of the board before starting. When using the hot knife, please make sure you are in an open space—either outside with an electric outlet or in a garage with the garage door open. The hot knife gives off smoke and an unpleasant smell, so a well-ventilated area is essential. As you cut, try to keep your scrap pieces large and make sure to save them. These can be used to build the stands and add structural support to the “floating” pieces.

Nativity Figures
Nativity Figures after they’ve been cut

Paint Characters

After cutting out the characters, you may decide to paint a portion of them (i.e., the magi’s gifts, the angels’ halos, the shepherds’ staffs, etc.) to help make them ‘pop’ and give them some extra dimensions. They used acrylic paint and made sure not to saturate the paper thoroughly. One coat was sufficient.

Painting Nativity Figures
Painting the Nativity Figures
Painted Holy Family
Some of the characters painted
Nativity Figures Joseph
Joseph

Make Stands

They then used the scrap pieces to make stands. They used different sizes and attached those pieces with white duct tape to each character’s back to make the “L” shaped stands. Finding the right angle and stability for each piece takes a little trial and error.

The star and the angel needed to be higher than all the rest, so they attached those with PVC pipes, a PVC connector, flange, plywood, and screws. They had a hardware store cut the plywood and the PVC pipe to the sizes they needed. (The plywood was about a 4′ square, and the PVC pipes were between 6′–8′ for them. Adjust accordingly for the height needed for your space.)

They screwed the flange down in the middle of each plywood board, using four screws on each flange and board. On the backs of the angels and the star, they taped scraps of the foam board to add structural support (using lots of white duct tape). Then they taped the PVC pipes to the backs, after evaluating and adjusting the height of each one.

Nativity Figures Stands
Making stands for the characters
PVC stands for characters
PVC stands for characters

Plan Placement

Before their Christmas Eve service, they placed all of the pieces on the “set.” They then put small pieces of blue tape on the floor to mark where each nativity figure would go. They rehearsed with their set crew, starting first with all the pieces in their final placement to see where everything needed to be placed. Then they rehearsed with each of the pieces in their “off-stage” places, and they practiced putting them in place with the timing of the readings.

They made their idea come to life and added each “character” to the set as they read through the Godly Play story. Using the intentional and slow movement from Godly Play, their “set crew” (including youth) walked each character on the set slowly so everyone could watch the placement.

Your Projected Costs

Check with your local printer for costs of printing the digital images, and check your local hardware store for prices of the supply list items.

Ideas for Using Illustrated Nativity Figures

We are so excited for you to start imagining and making fantastic creations with these Illustrated Nativity Figures. Here are a few photos from customers who have used our Illustrated Nativity Figures:

Illustrated Nativity Figures
Illustrated Nativity Figures
Illustrated Nativity Figures
Illustrated Nativity Figures
Illustrated Nativity Figures

We know you will have more ideas, but here are a few ways you could consider using these Illustrated Nativity Figures:

  • Create a brand-new nativity scene to go outside your church. We all know the look of the ‘traditional’ Nativity scenes, and perhaps your church is ready for a new, modern, Illustrated Ministry-designed Nativity Scene.
  • Have children, youth, or even individual families, agree to help paint and decorate one of the Illustrated Nativity Figures.
  • Consider setting them up in your church’s parking lot and doing a drive-thru experience. Create a liturgy or set of readings that families could do together as they drive past each of the Illustrated Nativity Figures.
  • Are you looking for new graphics for your Advent/Christmas worship bulletins? Or perhaps you could use them for slides, or even include them on Zoom backgrounds while you preach?

Nativity Figures in Bulletin

There are many ways you can use these in your ministry, especially when we’re all needing to rethink and reimagine what Advent and Christmas look like during a pandemic.

Click here to download a PDF version of this post, supply list, and instructions to share it with friends and colleagues in your community.

3 Dynamic Ways to Engage Kids on Ash Wednesday

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

Ash Wednesday is fast approaching, peep, and the beginning of Lent is right around the corner!

ash wednesday 101

So, you wanna celebrate with your kids but need some ideas. We’re here to help! Use these ideas to foster discussions and more fully engage your kids.

How do you invite your kids into the celebration of Ash Wednesday? We want to know and so does your ICM community. So, share in the comments below!

How’d We Get to Forehead Crosses?

The ashes we receive today are a relic of what was long ago called the order of penitents. Before the Middle Ages, it was only possible to receive forgiveness for one’s sins after Baptism once or twice, and sins had to be confessed publicly to the bishop.

The bishop would then place the person seeking forgiveness in the order of penitents for one to three years. The penitents would sit outside the church begging for alms, wearing itchy sackcloth and covering their heads with ashes.

Over time, churches began the ritual of placing ashes upon the foreheads of the whole congregation instead. Together, the community together recognizes the sinfulness all carry. And it takes notice of the fleeting nature of our earthen footsteps, for from dust we came and to dust we will return.

ash wednesday 101

Talking About Sin with Kids

Talking about sin with kids can be a daunting task. Since it’s a relevant concept to Ash Wednesday, try approaching it this way.

Explain to your kids that we all miss the mark sometimes by doing things that don’t lead to good things for us, the Earth, other people or creatures. Discuss some examples.

Missing the mark, which we call sin, is part of being human and God lovingly invites us to live each day in alignment with God’s hopes for the world.

When we celebrate Ash Wednesday, we recognize how we all miss the mark, no matter who we are. And in receiving the ashes on our foreheads we remind ourselves that we will continue in our quest to follow God’s ways each day.

ash wednesday 106

3 Ways to Engage Kids on Ash Wednesday

Create Ashes

If possible, it can be a fantastic experience for children to be a part of the burning of last year’s palm branches. Some churches gather in the courtyard or even at a location off-campus for Ash Wednesday worship, so they can participate together in setting the palms ablaze.

Color

Create a coloring station or hand out coloring sheets and utensils to children as they enter. This is a wonderful way to keep them engaged. And it helps them listen and reflect during the service. Pssst. This is great for kids and adults!

Lenten Practice

Give each congregant the opportunity to write what practice they will give up or take on during Lent. This can be done on paper cut in symbolic shapes. For example, try crosses or butterflies. Then, at a special time during the service congregants can take their intention to the altar or baptismal font.

ash wednesday 105

Benefits of Engaging Kids on Ash Wednesday

Sense of Belonging

Ash Wednesday is an opportunity for children to see themselves as part of the whole congregation. We all have a fundamental need to be part of something greater than ourselves. Children develop their identity in relationship to others, which means their church can be vital. Rituals like these are powerful reminders that they are not alone.

Learning by Example

The celebration of Ash Wednesday is a beautiful example for children of humility. Together, adults and children alike admit to messing up and commit to strive for God’s ways in their lives. Children learn the curriculum of honesty, vulnerability and grace represented in the practices of their faith family on Ash Wednesday. Additionally, and more importantly, children learn that in spite of missing the mark, we are in God’s presence loved and lovable.

Sensory Experience

Receiving ashes is a sensory experience, which brings to life the intangible elements of faith in the unseen. These experiences engage the body in a way that is not done at any other time during the church year. As a result, children connect more easily to the practice and theology.

ash wednesday 106

The Power of Ritual

Dr. Barbara Feise, psychologist and professor at Syracuse University, researches the power of ritual in community. She and her team find that it improves overall well being and strengthens relationships and identity. She tells us also that “rituals…provide continuity in meaning across generations.”

As you begin the preparation for the mystery of Easter, we hope you find these ideas helpful and that this Ash Wednesday creates and carries on meaning for your faith family.

And don’t forget to share with all of us in the comments what ways you’re inviting kids to engage in Ash Wednesday this year!

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