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Advent Devotional

An Illustrated Advent for Families: Preparing the Way

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This is the first truly “family friendly” devotional for Advent that I’ve found. There was something to which everyone in the family could relate – from our preschoolers all the way through adults. The coloring pages were wonderful! Even my little two-year-old was able to participate. My kindergartner read the devotional book as part of her reading practice at night. It was great that the words were easy and straightforward!
– Rev. Meredith Keseley, Senior Pastor, Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, Burke, VA

We are excited to announce the launch of our newest family Advent devotional resource: An Illustrated Advent for Families: Preparing the Way! Click here to ORDER NOW!

Advent Family Devotional

This is our fourth year of providing families with a resource for engaging their children in faith formation at home during the Advent season. Our Illustrated Advent for Families and Illustrated Lent for Families have been used by thousands of families around the world, and we’re looking forward to sharing this new edition.

It can be difficult to find meaningful ways to engage our families in faith formation. It can sometimes feel awkward, we don’t always know what to do, and sometimes we have a hard time talking about our own faith stories.

FREE SAMPLE: Click here to download a free sample of An Illustrated Advent for Families: Preparing the Way.

An Illustrated Advent for Families

An Illustrated Advent for Families: Preparing the Way is one way to do that – to slow down, ask questions, have fun, be intentional about how you spend your time, and try new things. There are coloring pages for your children, but we’ve often found that parents enjoy coloring them as much (if not more…) as their children enjoy the coloring. There are simple but meaningful devotions for families to do throughout Advent, our Illustrated Ornament Set, and our Advent Calendar.

Keep reading to learn a bit more about the activities in this year’s edition, and to hear testimonials from people who have used our previous editions of Advent family resources.

Our family, like many, struggles to find opportunities for prayer and faith formation. My children were attracted by this resource, and even asked about when we were going to do the next portions. As a widow with three elementary-school-aged children, I was grateful for this resource, because it had a marvelous combination of flexibility and structure, and let me find ways to fit activities in as it became possible.
– Elise Erikson Barrett, Consultant with Indianapolis Center for Congregations

Family Advent Devotional

Family Devotions for Advent

This year, in our family Advent devotions, you will be introduced to prophets–or God’s messengers–who helped prepare God’s people for Jesus’ arrival. You will also encounter individuals who faced the unexpected, trusting in the promises of God for their lives, continuing to prepare for Jesus.

Incorporated into the devotion is a time for coloring the Illustrated Ornaments if you would like to do so, however that can also be used as a stand-alone activity.

These weekly devotionals are written so they can be used by children of all ages (and adults as well), and we believe you’ll find questions and discussion topics in each of the devotionals that will work for your children, no matter the age. Each devotion includes scripture, a brief reflection, and discussion questions, an activity a family can do over the week and a short prayer.

Having a weekly Advent activity rather than a daily one was helpful for our family. We liked spending a more meaningful block of time on this activity once a week rather than trying not to squeeze in a daily activity that was shorter but less meaningful. We have felt guilty in the past for missing a day of other Advent devotions, and knowing we had a week to complete the activity removed the pressure and stress.
– Emily Barlow, volunteer worship planner at The Well, Long Beach, MS

Coloring Pages

Obviously, we love coloring here at Illustrated Ministry. But it’s not just that we like getting messy with markers and crayons. It’s really the conversations that happen when you’re coloring that we treasure.

If you’ve used any of our products and resources before, you may have experienced some of these types of conversations with children. When they’re immersed in coloring, you’ll be amazed at what they will share with you.

Our coloring pages for this year’s Illustrated Advent for Families: Preparing the Way go along with the themes for our devotionals.

As a Christian educator who is also a mom, I found this resource to be an excellent guide for our family and our congregation’s families during Advent. I appreciated how both my 8-year-old and 5-year-old could engage with the writings, questions, and prayers. The coloring is always a hit and creates space for conversations and questions around scripture…I’ve done a lot of research on Advent devotionals for families and hands down, An Illustrated Advent for Families is the best. Sound theology with content that has depth and engages families while understanding the realities of a family’s life makes this resource a must-have for Advent.
– Jenna Campbell, Director of Children and Youth Ministry, First Presbyterian Church, Stillwater, OK

Illustrated Ornaments

Illustrated Advent Ornaments

This year, we invite you to create your own Illustrated Ornaments. Each week of Advent, you will have the opportunity to color an Advent Ornament as you read through the devotional materials.

We have put a lot of attention into these ornaments, and if you use nice card stock to print them out, we think they could be ornaments that you’d keep year after year. It is our hope that our Advent resources will deepen your faith and connection with God and your family as you journey together through Advent.

Our family has used An Illustrated Advent for Families for the last several years, and each year it brings a new sense of joy and understanding to our family’s Advent season. Each Sunday night, we all sit down with the activities, light our family Advent wreath, and share in a special time together that helps start off each week of Advent with intention and focus. The devotions are well-written and thoughtful and the calendar has great ideas. But I think the coloring sheets are my favorite part overall. If nothing else, reading the scripture and coloring together offers a point in our week where we can reflect together, pray together, and meditate on Advent as a family.
– Courtney Willis, associate pastor for spiritual formation, First Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC

Advent Activities for Families

While many Advent calendars today come with the promise of chocolates or toys behind each of the numbered doors, this Advent calendar is a little different. Our Advent calendar is more of an activity calendar — activities that can help you get into the Advent and Christmas spirit. Some of these activities will be great for your kids to do by themselves—others will require the whole family. And there are some activities that require you to get out of your house and go into your community.

We think these activities will be a lot of fun for your kids and your family and maybe some of the prompts will cause you and your family to get creative and make up other activities on your own.

Each of the weeks of Advent has a different theme and focus, and we hope that this will provide you with meaningful ways to get into the Christmas spirit. Click here to ORDER NOW!

The feedback from our congregation was that the resources were really great quality and easy to access. Parents felt that they could discuss the ideas without needing to check with the vicar first, and children were keen to undertake the activities. The quality of this product is wonderful! We loved that the devotionals were geared towards families, but weren’t in any way ‘dumbed down’ – adults felt they were just as relevant to them as to our youngest members.
– Deb Scoble, Authorised Lay Minister (Worship Leader), St Mary-the-Virgin Dover, Kent, United Kingdom

We hope you’ll take some time to check out An Illustrated Advent for Families, and let us know if you have any questions. If you’d like to download a sample of the resource to check out before you purchase, you can click here.