Created by the National Church of England, this year’s Christmas campaign, called ‘Comfort and Joy’ aims to bring some festive cheer to people and churches everywhere. At the same time, there is an acknowledgment by the church that we are still in difficult times and that people have lost loved ones and livelihoods.
Not all will be in the frame of mind for feeling celebratory or jubilant, and for those, and there will be many, the church has a great role to play, both nationally and locally in welcoming, caring, and praying for them. In the words of St Paul in Romans 12.15, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep’.
What does 'Comfort and Joy' mean to parishes?
The Church of England has been preparing for Christmas for months and have made available, a wealth of digital and print content that individuals and churches can download and adapt to their own requirements. Every church that joins in with the ‘Comfort and Joy’ theme will be adding to the groundswell of people’s understanding of who we are as a church and how we celebrate and rejoice in the birth of Christ.
The campaign will run over the Christmas period and will be supported with daily posts and reflections on social media, from Christmas Day to 2 January. Contributions from Kate Bottley, Jonathan Bryan, Bob Chilcott, Martha Collison, Stephen Cottrell, Justin Welby, and others will ensure that the campaign will have widespread appeal among the UK population and globally.
Previous Christmas campaigns that were organised by the Church of England benefitted from excellent results in terms of engagement and recognition and this year’s campaign is likely to do even better. Parishes who join in with the campaign will benefit from all of the work and effort that has gone on to bring Comfort and Joy to fruition.
If your church has a presence on ‘A Church Near You’, as almost all churches do in our diocese, you will be given free access to the ‘Resource Hub’ which will include dedicated ‘Comfort and Joy’ content, such as customisable videos, images, social media graphics and approaches to online giving. If you haven’t logged on to your ACNY account recently, it’s a good idea to update your pages with information about any changes in service times over the Christmas period. You can even let people know if you are having service online.
For those parishioners who don’t have the internet available to them to access prayers and services, ‘Daily Hope’ offers music, prayers, and reflections as well as full worship services over the phone. Calls are free on (0800 804 8044). This will enable as many people as possible to access the content that the Church of England are developing.
Key elements of Comfort and Joy
Reflections
Weekly reflections published on social media and available by email and app for each Sunday of Advent.
Services and events
Nine online services throughout Advent and Christmas.
Printed materials
Includes bookmarks, Christmas cards, banners, flyers, posters, booklets and more
To find out more about how your church can benefit from being part of ‘Comfort and Joy’, just visit the Comfort and Joy webpage.