Worship

Creating a Virtual Stations of the Cross Worship Experience

The Stations of the Cross are a popular and meaningful way to journey through Lent and Holy Week, and we have created tools that you can use to create a virtual Stations of the Cross experience for your community. Learn more and order here.

Learn More: If you’d like to learn more about our Stations of the Cross Worship Videos, how you could use them in your community, and see a sample of the Liturgical Script and Reflection Booklet, click here to receive a FREE PDF with all the details.

We are now in our second Lent and Easter season amid a global pandemic. Pastors and church leaders now have a year’s worth of experience doing digital ministry. And yet, there’s still a challenge to walk through Christmas, Lent, and Easter when people in faith communities have such strong connections with the liturgical seasons.

Last year we asked the Illustrated Ministry Community Facebook Group what they most needed from us for Lent. The most popular request was for family devotional resources for Lent (which we already create, so that worked out well!). The second most popular request was for a “virtual Stations of the Cross.”

Illustrated Ministry has a variety of resources for the Stations of the Cross. Over the years, thousands of churches, schools, and communities have used our Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters, Coloring Pages, and Devotional Guide. You can check out those three products below:

We try to listen to our customers and provide them what they’re looking for, so we started dreaming up what a virtual Stations of the Cross might look like.

Virtual Stations of the Cross

Our Stations of the Cross Worship Videos provide you with everything you need to create a meaningful Stations of the Cross prayer and worship experience. You can create a virtual Stations of the Cross experience this year, but you can also use it in the future for in-person worship gatherings, Good Friday services, or retreats focused on the Stations of the Cross.

These Stations of the Cross are based on the 14 Scriptural Stations of the Cross, which Pope John Paul II introduced on Good Friday in 1991. They are presented as an alternative to the traditional stations and as a way of reflecting more deeply on the Scriptural accounts of Christ’s passion. We have added a fifteenth Station, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, which you may want to save for Easter or omit altogether.

When you order our Stations of the Cross Worship Videos, you’ll receive the following:

Liturgical Script: This script guides participants through this virtual experience and accompanies the videos. You can read the script while showing the videos in a live (in-person or virtual) worship service. You can also use the script to create a voice-over (read by one person or many different voices) to add to the videos.
Worship Videos: These 15 videos feature the full-color Illustrated Ministry Stations of the Cross illustrations with music, sound effects, on-screen scripture, and prompts that directly tie in with the provided liturgical script. We include 15 videos for the fifteen Stations (with background music and sound effects), and two additional videos that include only the sound effects (in case you wanted to add your own background music in, but still wanted the sound effects). If you use the videos for all 15 Stations, your service will run for about 45 minutes.
Stations of the Cross Reflection Booklet: This booklet is designed as an add-on to accompany the virtual experience. It includes a modified version of the script, with additional space to write notes and reflect. You can give the booklet to participants to enrich their experience of the virtual Stations of the Cross. However, you don’t need to use the booklet for your virtual Stations of the Cross to be a meaningful experience.
Media Kit: We have included graphics to help you advertise your virtual Stations of the Cross experience on social media, in emails, and on your website and newsletter.

How to use this resource

There are a variety of ways you could use these worship videos. Here are a few ideas we had in mind as we created the Stations of the Cross Worship Videos. We know, from experience, pastors in our community are amazingly creative, and we can’t wait to see all of the additional ways they end up using this resource to create Lenten experiences for their communities.

Zoom Good Friday Service

We imagine many will decide to use these videos during a live worship service, most likely on Good Friday. To give you an idea of what that might look like, our team recorded Station 3 on Zoom, and you can watch it below:

This option allows for the most amount of participation from people in your community. You can have multiple people read the different scripture passages from each Station and potentially have different people read the scripts that go along with each Station. If you run through all fifteen (or 14 Stations, saving the fifteenth Station for Easter morning), this service would run around 45 minutes. In addition to having people go through a guided experience of the Stations of the Cross, you can also provide them with the Reflection Booklet, which they could use during the service, and have for additional reflection after the service is done.

Individual Prayer Experience

Another option for using these worship videos is to take the videos, import them all into your video editing software of choice, and create a custom prayer experience for your community that could be shared on Facebook, used during a Zoom worship service, or premiered on YouTube/Vimeo for your community.

You could also invite people from your community to submit audio recordings of the scripture readings or narrations of the script for different Stations. You could import those voice-overs and use them to create your prayer experience.

This allows you the most flexibility. Whether you want one person or multiple people to read the scripts for each Station, you have the option to go either route. You can also choose to use the background music we provide, or just cut out the audio tracks from the videos, and add in your own background music (perhaps music from your own context and congregation members).

Making a virtual Stations of the Cross worship experience available online for your community allows people to go through the experience whenever it is convenient for them. You could also plan a time to gather together to reflect on their experience with the Stations of the Cross.

Outdoor Prayer Walk with QR Codes

Over the years, we’ve seen churches set up outdoor prayer walks using our Stations of the Cross illustrations. That opportunity is an excellent option right now, as it allows you to create a safe, socially-distanced worship opportunity for people in your community. Below is a photo from one church that has chosen to offer this to their community this year.

Outdoor Stations of the Cross Prayer Experience — Stations of the Cross at Kenly UMC (Kenly, NC)

One option would be to create voice-overs for each of the Stations of the Cross videos, upload them to YouTube or Vimeo, and then create QR codes that would direct participants to each of the videos and guided reflections. Whether or not you use the full-color poster illustrations (as seen in the above photos), you could create a walking prayer experience for people to experience throughout Lent, especially during Holy Week, as they remember Jesus’ death and prepare for his resurrection.

Why you should use this resource to create a Virtual Stations of the Cross

Engage with your community in a new way

Perhaps you’ve never used the Stations of the Cross with your community. This would be a great opportunity to try something new with your congregation.

One of our editors who reviewed this product wrote the following after reading through the script:

“You all have redeemed the Stations of the Cross for me. Thank you for the solid theology, the beginning with beloved-ness, the beauty of the writing (seriously gorgeous), and the overall pastoral sensitivity the team exercised in the creation of this resource. It’s lovely, and I would totally use it whereas I have been turned off by other presentations of the Stations of the Cross in the past.”

We obviously can’t use this as an official testimonial for the product since it came from someone on our team. But we still wanted to share it with you because their comments meant so much to us and to how we attempted to translate the Stations of the Cross for our community.

Recruit volunteers from your community

Because there are so many opportunities to help lead this Stations of the Cross experience, it provides a wonderful opportunity to involve many different people in creating this meaningful prayer and worship experience. You could invite multiple people to read portions of the scripture passages or even the narrated scripts for the Stations. This could also be a great youth group project for Lent. Invite your youth group to work on putting this service together and allow it to be a gift to the entire church.

Provide multiple experiences with one program

Depending on how you end up creating and sharing your service, this resource could provide you with many different touchpoints for your community during Lent. If you end up creating a 45-minute video/service, you could use it for a Good Friday service and share it live over Zoom. However, you can then make the link available for folx in your community who could not watch it live, and they can watch it on-demand.

You could also create the videos as standalone Stations and release them daily on Facebook or Instagram (using IGTV), leading up to Easter morning.

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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

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.

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

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

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:

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.

6 Ways to Welcome Visitors at Your Church This Christmas Eve

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

Welcoming visitors effectively to church on Christmas Eve takes a good deal of forethought and a multi-faceted approach. Here’s our list to help you!

christmas eve visitors 101

During the holidays more visitors come through the doors of the church than any other time of the year. It’s a great opportunity to welcome them with greater intention.

We’ve put together a list of five easy ways to help newcomers feel cared for and acknowledged.

We hope our ideas help to create a culture of welcome and hospitality within your community this season and throughout the year.

How are you welcoming newcomers this Christmas Eve? Tell us in the comments below!

christmas eve 2013

Have name tags. On a table near the entrance to the sanctuary, set out name tags and markers. Calling each other by name creates a sense of community and belonging. This helps visitors as well as those who’ve been in the pew for decades.

Make clear what your church stands for. Put in writing what your mission statement is and how your church includes the marginalized. This is important in order for all of us to feel safe and know if we’re a part of the faith family.

Say hello, Pastor. If a personal greeting from the pastor isn’t possible, create a team of leaders who keep an eye out for those who are new. Don’t assume it’s someone’s first time; it might not be. If you say something to indicate you think it’s their first time when it isn’t, things get awkward for you and them. Say hello, tell them you’re happy to see them.

christmas eve 201

Have quality refreshments. This goes for any worship service, in my opinion. If you have yummy stuff out, make it good. Most people have become familiar with boutique coffee and high-quality bakes. So, throw out the coffee in a giant can that goes beyond earthiness into muddiness. Also, offer tasty allergy-free options, too.

Additionally, think of families who would rather not have their kid on their way down from a sugar high as they drive home. Perhaps put out some festive cranberry granola instead of sugar cookies, for example.

Provide information for biblical passages. When reading scripture, describe where the text is located in the Bible. Additionally, give context for the passage. Consequently, people are more likely to feel there isn’t insider knowledge they don’t have. This is helpful for all of us, whether newcomers or long-time members.

Leaders, introduce yourselves up front. Have those who are up front speaking in any capacity give their name and role in the church. Do this whether the person is giving announcements, singing, or preaching. This helps visitors get to know who’s who. And it makes getting involved easier for them, too.

christmas eve 202

Hospitality as Community Culture

Welcoming visitors to church is more than checking boxes. Hospitality is for all of us. When we live out our faith through care with intention, we actually help those who are already regular attendees feel more connected, too.

Furthermore, we communicate our common humanity, our personhood as individuals, and worthiness as children of Creation. We hope you discover ways to welcome visitors to church this Christmas Eve as an expression of your unique faith community and continue them the whole year through.

Do you have more ideas? How are you welcoming visitors this Christmas Eve? Don’t forget to share with us in the comments!