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Today, I am preparing for our family’s Thanksgiving celebration. I can look out my office window and see the vivid fall colors of leaves, scarlet, orange, and gold. I had to wear a jacket to go and check the mail this morning, and I added a splash of my favorite fall-flavored creamer to my coffee. But Advent is fast approaching, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will burst on the scene almost before we can sing “We Wish You A Merry Christmas!”
The upcoming five weeks will be busy and full of people, experiences, tasks, and emotions. Some of us have purchased Christmas gifts (all of them) for family and friends, and others haven’t even made the initial shopping list. Our calendars are filling up with invitations and important dates. But even in the season’s chaos, we have opportunities to offer and receive warm and heartfelt wishes for a “Merry Christmas.” We might even be inclined to let our guard down just the tiniest bit and smile at someone we don’t know, make small talk as we wait in line for the next cashier, or maybe even speak to that neighbor we haven’t met yet who moved in last March!
Christmas is the perfect time to invite visitors to your small church. Outreach, Inc. shared that based on statistics, people are most willing to accept an invitation to church during Christmas. So, let’s prepare for our eagerly anticipated guests! A Christmas Devotional written and distributed by the Women’s Ministry is a beautiful gift to send home with visitors. It will be a reminder of the warm and personal welcome they received from the congregation.
Why Create A Christmas Devotional
In addition to being a marvelous gift to send home with visitors, there are other benefits of writing a Christmas Devotional for your women’s ministry. The initial benefit that comes to mind is that you can coordinate with the season’s theme that the pastor and leadership have selected for the church. Imagine working with your pastor or elders to create a theme that flows through the assigned scripture readings, the sermon topics, and even the decorations! Can you imagine the effect of creating a unified experience for the congregation and visitors? I am excited for you as I imagine the impact your Women’s Ministry can have by writing a Christmas Devotional this year.
Another benefit to writing a Christmas Devotional is that you use the gifts and talents of women that God has placed within your small church. Do you have a woman who can serve as an editor? What about an artistic woman who loves to draw or is a fantastic amateur photographer? Do you have a woman who would never willingly speak in front of a group but would love to share her poetry? Can you think of one woman who would gladly help with typing?
Ephesians 4:7-16 and 1 Corinthians 12 are two passages that remind us that God has placed individuals with different talents in our congregation to serve and to edify the Body. Inviting women to serve within their giftings is powerful and leads to extraordinary outcomes that may surprise you.
Characteristics Of A Great Devotional
Have I convinced you? Are you feeling called to write one Christmas Devotional or maybe even a whole series for the season? Excellent! Let’s discuss some characteristics that will ensure you write a great devotional. Writing with a specific audience in mind allows you to create a memorable devotional. Consider the perceived needs of your small church members and write to address those needs.
For example, young couples who moved to a different state may miss their extended family traditions. Widows and widowers may feel even more lonely during the holiday season. Military families may need extra comfort and support as they miss those who have been deployed. Prayerfully consider how you can speak love, comfort, and encouragement into the lives of your congregation and even community members.
Keep it short. The season is busy, and our schedules have many extras. A word limit of 300-500 words is a good rule of thumb when writing a devotional. Include scripture. The whole purpose is to draw our attention to God, and reading His Word is a powerful method of focusing our attention exclusively on Him. Consider adding a call to action.
In the conclusion, ask the reader to act on the main point. An example may be to include a short prayer or ask the individual to write out two ideas that resonated with them as they read. Each of these suggestions will help you more fully engage your readers.
8 Steps To Create A Christmas Devotional For Women’s Ministry
1. Discuss Roles And Responsibilities, And Set A Timeline
After you meet with church leadership, you are ready to assemble your team. As a Women’s Ministry project, working within your leadership team will be tempting. However, this project is an opportune time to work interdependently across different ministries. For example, you have already included the congregations’ leadership by consulting about planned themes for the Advent season and any planned Christmas services. Could you also work with the children’s and youth ministry teams to find ways to include the next generation?
For example, youth and children could help hand out informational flyers to build excitement about the upcoming devotional. What about Sunday School and Small Group leadership? Don’t hesitate to ask for collaboration to help create or promote the forthcoming devotional. As you consider the skills available within your women’s group and congregation, reach out to individuals who can support the project.
When I stepped into the new challenge of writing books, I recruited a retired teacher, a church member, to help edit manuscripts. She had the needed skill set, could offer feedback objectively, and was someone I trusted. As a new author, I needed the support of an editor, and she enjoyed working in one of her areas of gifting. Pray and ask God to guide you in recruiting church members to help with the project. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of skills and talents possessed by the people God has placed within the Body.
If this is a project for this Christmas, establishing a timeline is essential. Plan what date you would like to distribute the finished product. Once you have that date, you can reverse engineer the submission deadline and other important milestones for completing the Christmas Devotional. Consider what responsibilities to delegate and which responsibilities to accept. You may be the one to cast the vision and recruit volunteers while someone else manages the details of the project. Remember that the completed Christmas Devotional is for God’s glory and the edification of the Body. Be humble and share both responsibility and credit for the project.
2. Choose A Theme
The theme for the devotional may correspond to the theme that leadership has chosen for the season, or you may choose a different focus. Regardless of how God leads, work with your team to select and refine the theme. The theme will help guide all the team members working on the project, whether you create one simple devotional or complete a short series and include illustrations and a beautiful photograph on the cover. A theme guides the content and helps the author be concise so the reader can quickly grasp the main point.
3. Choose A Format
As an author, I find this step to be one of the most fun, with different components to consider. Do you envision a print, a digital, or a hybrid format? A printed format allows you to place the finished product in the hands of members and visitors. If you find joy in envisioning offering a gift that people can take home with them, a print format is a great option. A printed devotional also gives the option of including your church name, address, and service times and can be an effective outreach tool. The downside of a print version is the expense of material and printing; the cost may be prohibitive for a smaller congregation’s women’s ministry budget.
A digital format may allow a greater level of creativity, the use of color, and a more polished final product. Several free or low-cost computer programs can help with design and formatting if you choose a digital version. Creating a digital version may be the perfect spot to plug in some of the youth or youth workers you recruited for your project team. Once created, the digital version of the Christmas Devotional is shareable via email, on the church website, or on social media.
A final option is to create a limited number of printed versions and share the digital version with a larger audience.
Another vital component of choosing a format is the flow of the reading. Most devotionals include a scripture, an explanation of the Scripture and how it applies to everyday life, a call to action, and a prayer. How will you order the devotional? Some begin with Scripture; others place the Scripture at the end. Will you include the entire scripture verse(s) or offer a reference for the reader to look up in their Bible?
The design of the daily reading is entirely up to you as the author. Choosing the format is one of the ways you can personalize the devotional. One of the benefits of writing the devotional instead of purchasing it is that you will have a unique offering designed to meet the needs of your women’s ministry, congregation, and visitors.
4. Consider Including Scripture From Both The Old And New Testaments
As you create the Christmas Devotional, especially if you include a reading for multiple days, expand the scripture references you include. The Gospel accounts are beautiful and hold significant meaning for Christians. But, consider the impact of including scriptures that contain the prophecy of His coming, His life and teaching, His death, and His resurrection.
Here are some scriptures that you might use as inspiration for your devotional:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:2-6
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORDas the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
Isaiah 11:1-10
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
Micah 5:2-3
Scriptures that you may not intuitively connect with Christmas but that help give depth of understanding of the season include Zechariah 6:12-13, Deuteronomy 18:5-19, Psalm 89:1-4, Malachi 3: 1-6, John 1:1-8, John 1:16, and other verses that the Lord brings to mind as you pray, plan, and write.
5. Write In Your “Voice” – Even With Multiple Authors
As you write, don’t attempt to mimic someone else’s style. Use your everyday vocabulary. Be authentic and share your conviction with the reader. You have a unique perspective, and someone needs to hear from you. Ephesians 2:10 reminds us, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Read that again. God created you, exactly and precisely, to complete the work He prepared for you.
Have you ever read a passage that resonated so clearly that you were tempted to believe that the author was speaking directly to you? Authenticity reaches even the most hardened heart and creates a bridge for sharing essential truths. In His sovereignty, God uses our obedience to reach a lost world with the Gospel. Write in your own voice. If you collaborate with other authors to create readings for multiple days, encourage them to do the same. You have chosen a theme, and that will unify the readings. The reader will benefit from hearing from each of you, and the content will be powerful because it will be authentic.
6. Pray Before, During, And After Writing
One of my favorite quotes on prayer is from E.M. Bounds.
I feel it is far better to begin with God, to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another. In general it is best to have at least one hour alone with God before engaging in anything else.
E.M. Bounds
Before you start this project, pray. Ask God to lead you as you meet with church leadership. Ask for Him to reveal the theme He has chosen for the devotional. Pray for wisdom and discernment as you select team members and lead the project. If you are writing, boldly ask Him to give you the words He wants you to share.
As you write, pause and pray for the individuals who will read the devotional. Ask that the Holy Spirit give each person ears to hear and a heart responsive to the reading. Pray for each team member as they work on the project with you. Ask the Lord to bless their obedience and to guide their work. Pray for the congregation and ask God to give them the courage to share the devotional with family and friends boldly. Ask the Holy Spirit to prompt them to invite others to church this season, to seek out those who don’t know Jesus, and to share the good news of Jesus’ birth lovingly and engagingly.
After the Christmas Devotional is written, gather your team and pray. Pray that God will be glorified. Ask Him to work in ways you can’t even imagine, placing the devotion in the hands of individuals who may have never heard that Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas. Pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal truth as they read and draw their hearts to Himself. Boldly pray that this offering of time and talent from church members will be a tool He uses to spark a mighty revival in your town. God is able and loves to answer the prayers of His children- go ahead and ask for great and mighty things that bring glory to His name!
7. Include Personalized Examples That Will Speak To Your Audience
Share stories and insights from your own life. Choose to be vulnerable and transparent with your reader. Have you struggled with feeling lonely at Christmas? Share how God has used Scripture to encourage and comfort you.
I had a neighbor who shared that, as a child, she thought the preacher was referring to the Wisemans, a family that lived on the next block, when he read the scripture about the wise men traveling to find Jesus and worship Him. She is able to use humor and gently guide the conversation to the real reason for Christmas as she shares that story with others.
Sharing a small piece of your life creates a sense of intimacy with your readers and allows them to empathize or even identify more closely with you. You build a form of trust with your vulnerability, and your words will impact the reader more personally.
8. Edit, Edit, Edit
Devotionals are designed to be a short reading that has a powerful impact. Editing for correct grammar and punctuation is a must. Don’t let a comma splice or misspelled word distract your reader from the beauty of God’s Word! Also, strive to be concise. Often, as I write, I will create the first draft and then, a few days later, go back with a fresh perspective and cull the excess and the fluff. A few well-chosen words and powerfully written sentences can make a much more significant impact than a paragraph that “wanders” and distracts the reader with non-essential information.
If you are working with a team, consider a round-robin approach so that each one reads and makes editing suggestions on someone else’s writing. Encourage the team to make suggestions for any needed edits gently and in love. Remember that the goals are to glorify God and to reach others with His love; a well-edited devotional can accomplish both.
Grab Hold Of This Excellent Opportunity
A Christmas Devotional can be a project that utilizes the many talents and gifts of the people God has placed in your small church. The women’s ministry team can work interdependently with the other ministries to create a well-polished devotional that can be shared with the congregation and visitors. Choose a theme to coordinate with the scripture readings and messages planned by your pastor and leadership. The devotional will be an added layer to the overall worship experience the church offers this Christmas. What an excellent opportunity for the women’s ministry to encourage and edify others and, more importantly, glorify God as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Read More:
How To Host A Christmas Tea Party For Your Women’s Ministry
7 Christmas Fellowship Ideas For Your Women’s Ministry
Christmas And Tea Time For Women’s Ministry
Carla Adams is a wife, a nurse, and a women’s ministry leader. As an author and a speaker, she seeks to encourage women to use their God-given tools, talents, and gifts to serve Him and others.
