There were several favorite faith formation events which were set aside to focus on Campfire Christmas (a family worship experience NOT on Christmas Eve, but rather Christmas Adam) and a Live Nativity to welcome the West Cobb county community to a Bethlehem experience. Both events happened the week before Christmas and after school let out. Those were the priorities of last December in addition to Sunday mornings, and were the best investments of people and resources successfully meeting their goals.

Yet our littles were disappointed we weren’t able to Christmas carol our church saints. Our littles really enjoy any multi-generational opportunity to serve those who have gone before them. 

This was the inspiration for Christmas in July.

We scheduled a Christmas carolling event to sing three songs at each location. Phone calls to the church saints were made and church buses reserved. A generous family hosted us mid-event for a pizza dinner, water and potty break. With a new senior pastor and his wife having just moved into the parsonage, they graciously agreed to be our last stop and it was fabulously over-the-top with a Christmas tree, displayed nativities, garland hanging from the railings, and inflatable table trees. A Christmas in July porch party! Inflatable pink flamingos with water were gifted at each stop. Jingle bell bracelets made with beads, bells, and pipe cleaners added so much to the songs sung. 

The best parts of Christmas caroling in July: daylight until 9pm, short-sleeves and flip flops, inflatable flamingos, and watermelon!

The typical Tall Small Paint Party will be of Christmas trees. Lots of green paint has been ordered with a devotion to be shared about how Christians are Christmas and Easter people.

A photo station with snowmen, Christmas trees, and flamingos was prepared and the giggles from the senior saints’ Sunday school classes who meet in our hallway were worth every bit of deep diving into the holiday storage closet.

National Ice Cream Day is celebrated on the third Sunday each July, so an ice cream truck arrived to give free ice cream treats to all who attended worship services. Each ministry lead was given different colored carnival tickets to hand over in exchange for an ice cream treat. I pay the total bill at the end with a tip (God’s people are generous) then prorate the expense to each area based on their number of colored tickets used for payment. We paused our regular Sunday morning programming to use Deeper Kidmin’s special event which was perfect.

Sunday morning programming include Christmas songs in large group and various Christmas visuals placed here and there to keep the theme rolling. Even the Children’s Moment is Christmas in July themed with ‘we serve a God of celebration’ from Deuteronomy, singing Joy to the World (songs remind bigs of Jesus’ story and teach littles the truth of our faith); singing Go Tell It On The Mountain (shepherds were the first to go tell/our marching orders today); and Christmas foods help us remember to ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good,’ (Psalm 34:8) which coincides with National Ice Cream Day.

Celebrating Christmas in July has been a surprise and delight for many in our church, unexpected, joyful, and smiles are all around. We’ll definitely do this again.

In the words of our new Senior Pastor’s lovely wife, “Jesus is the reason for every season!”

“Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hill and every where. Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.”