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Culture, Music & Film, Social Media, Christmas

Christmas & Advent Videos 2019

One of the most increasingly popular ways of communicating the Christian message at Christmas is through video content on social media. And there’s such an amazing amount of gospel creativity out there to help us do that. These examples below are perfect for sharing online or playing at carol events & school assemblies, etc.

You can download many of these for free through Go Chatter, an online hub of bitesize videos that get people talking about Jesus. I’ve include the relevant download links below each video. You can read my interview with Go Chatter’s Digital Evangelist, Dan Rackham, here.

1) Happyland Nativity – Speak Life

Very cute – great for assemblies and the like – and with this killer line: “So come to the manger, see God become small; the true Christmas story has room for us all.”

gochatterdownload1

2) Myrrh for a Baby – Ed Mayhew

Love this spoken word piece on the surprise that myrrh was given to this baby.

gochatterdownload1

3) The Gift – Speak Life

Clever and witty musical number on the theme of gift-giving, which ties into an accompanying evangelistic book to give-away, The Gift, by Glen Scrivener.

gochatterdownload1

4) There IS a dragon at Christmas — John Lewis/Waitrose response

Clever re-telling of the nativity to link in with this year’s Christmas advert from John Lewis.

gochatterdownload1

5) The Coming — A Christmas Poem – Speak Life

R.S. Thomas’ moving poem with some beautiful videography to help us marvel at the Incarnation.

gochatterdownload1

 

6) Instead of You – Phil Knox & EA

Phil Knox riffs on those all-too-familiar lines from cheesy Christmas classics to reflect on the heart of Christmas.

7) The Mystery of Noisy Neighbour – Bible Society

Not got your primary school Christmas assembly planned? Why not begin here? And you can find more info & resources here.

 

8) Mess – Dai Woolridge

Dai teams up with the Bible Society and captures the powerful truth that Jesus was born into our mess…

9) Lift Up Your Eyes – Co-Mission & FIEC

Is it a John Lewis ad… definitely not… discover a love to come home to this Christmas!

10) It’s Nearly Here – Inspire Saint James Clerkenwell

What do we need to make Christmas happen? You can contact Pete at Inspire St James Clerkenwell for branded and unbranded versions to use.

 

11) Christmas in 10 Words – Steph Williams

Simple and short, but brilliant.

12) Be Grateful – Forest Hill South Park Church

Ha! Clever idea… although maybe this is one for Thanksgiving more than Christmas? I suppose the point is we can make the same mistake with Christ…

 

13) Meet The Nativity – Glen Scrivener/Speak Life

Last year Glen Scrivener & the Speak Life produced a mini-soap: a family of four twenty-first century characters who each find their place in the first century Nativity. The standalone website for Meet the Nativity is here, where you can also find the films as four seperate episodes, as well as ‘behind the scenes’ films introducing the characters and the ‘story behind the story’.

14) Wrapping Paper – Co-Mission

The story of an old teddy bear’s Christmas wish takes us deeper into our longings for acceptance and sense of shame, and presents the wonder of the Christian gospel this Christmas. This actually picked up best online film at the Premier Digital Awards earlier in November.

gochatterdownload1

 

15) Mary’s Song – Cath & Dai Wooldridge (Bible Society/Spoken Truth)

Cath Wooldridge performs Mary’s Magnificat from Luke’s gospel. Chord chat available here.

gochatterdownload1

 

16) He Came Down – Glen Scrivener

A powerful film picking up on how the Christmas story is all about a God who comes all the way down to the manger, who entered into our helplessness and humanity – showing both the goodness of human life and the wonder of his grace.

17) The Greatest Journey – Bible Society & Dai Wooldridge

Clever re-telling of the Christmas journey in the style of the popular kids’ book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

gochatterdownload1

18) Light in the Darkness – Ben Moon

A special spoken word piece well worth sharing.

 

19) The Holy Office – Dai Wooldridge

After all the political controversy of the last couple of years, Dai asks, “who’s really in charge?” before seeking to persuade us that the baby in the manger may have everything to do with it.

20) Christmas in Dark Places – Glen Scrivener

The haircut’s changed, but this is still one of my favourites. A video that particularly recognises that many find themselves in a dark place this Christmas season.

gochatterdownload1

21) The Characters of Christmas – Go Chatter

Cute video of children re-enacting and narrating the nativity story. Solid. And there’s an accompanying book

gochatterdownload1

22) The Well Good News of Christmas – Bible Society

Dai Woolridge & Emma Randall team up for the Bible Society to create this short, poetic animation exploring how the nativity story fits with the Bible’s big story. Get the accompanying book here.

gochatterdownload1

23) Are You Ready for Christmas? – Go Chatter

Roger Carswell warmly narrates this graphic and asks the question, “are you ready for what God wants to give you this Christmas?” You pick up an accompanying book and free downloads of posters, invites and the high definition version of this video here.

gochatterdownload1

24) Who Would Have Dreamed?

Who Would Have Dreamed? from Sovereign Grace Music’s stunning Prepare Him Room album is fast becoming one of my favourite Christmas songs. Here the song’s beautiful arrangement and lyrics are set to a thought-provoking animation of the Christmas narrative.

25) A Great Light – Moving Works

Contemporary re-telling of the promised events of Isaiah 9, ‘for to us a child is born’. More information here.

26) Christmas According to Kids – Southland Christian Church

Mostest Cutest?!

27) “Away in a What?” – Tiger Finch Creatives

In essence, a fun Bible overview in everyday language…

gochatterdownload1

28) The Gift God Gave Us – Video Bible Talks

Video Bible Talks is all about creating free expositional Bible teaching that equips, resources and supports leaders with faithful Bible preaching and teaching using the medium of digital video. These aren’t super-short because they’re more designed to play in a teaching setting, but still well worth checking out and making use of.

29) Miracles can’t happen (and an exception) – Plungepool Media

Jonathan Greenaway gets under the surface of the response that God becoming human ‘just couldn’t happen’.

30) Jesus: Truth or Fairytale – Youthscape

I reckon this is particularly apt for secondary-school age. Meg Cannon particularly highlights how there’s much in the nativity story for young people to relate to, whilst asking whether it’s fact or fiction.

31) Four Kinds of Christmas – Glen Scrivener

Fabulous one-shot video from 2015, and so well thought-out. I love the way it get us to consider which of the ‘four kinds’ we are, after all everyone loves working out their ‘type’. Again, there’s an interactive website and book, which could be a great conversation starter.

gochatterdownload1

32) What’s in the Box? – The Good Book Company

Clever animation designed to get people re-thinking about Christmas. Comes with accompanying book by Rice Tice & Nate Morgan-Locke.

33) The Beggar – Mike Hood

A simple, moving and refreshing piece of story-telling that gives Soren Kierkegaard’s musings on the wonder of Incarnation a contemporary feel.

34) An Unexpected Christmas

The story of Christmas told by the kids of St Paul’s Church, Auckland, New Zealand. The cute level is going up…

 

What did I miss? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below!

Want more? Have a look at the archives from previous years below:

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2018

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2017

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2016

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2015

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2014

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2013

 

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December 4, 2019by Robin Ham
Culture, Music & Film, Ministry, Interview

All Together Now – Awesome Cutlery on their new album

Back in April 2017, I interviewed Dan Adams & Gareth Loh, aka Awesome Cutlery, about their new album ‘This is Awesome Cutlery’. Awesome Cutlery aim to produce fun music that helps families worship Jesus together. The chaps kindly took the time to give us the lowdown on life since then and shared the vision behind their new record, ‘All Together Now’, due out in December.

– Congratulations on the second album guys! It’s now been three years since the release of ‘This is Awesome Cutlery’. My impression is that the first album was really well received! What have been some of your reflections on the past three years?

Dan: When we recorded the first album, we just had some songs for our families and churches. We didn’t know what to expect, but thought the songs might be useful to others, so we asked God to use it to encourage families to talk about Jesus and worship him. It’s been overwhelming to hear from parents about conversations they’ve had on the back of a particular song or sketch. Others have said they really started doing family devotional times because of the booklet we brought out. What a joy!

Gareth: Looking back, we had a bit of soul-searching before starting the album in earnest – were we qualified? Were we allowed to do it? Would people think we were arrogant for trying? I’m glad God helped us find the right entrepreneurial approach of seeing the need and trying to meet it, but doing so with constant feedback along the way. We would have stopped if Christians we trusted told us, ‘Nice try, but music ministry isn’t for you’!

Dan” It’s still slightly strange to arrive at a Christian event and be approached by an enthusiastic parent who wants to share something of how the album has blessed their family. Each of those conversations is an opportunity to thank God for his faithfulness in answering prayer and his grace in using failures like us!

– Good stuff! Now, second albums are notoriously tricky! Was making All Together Now difficult?

Gareth: The thing that made it hardest was a sense of expectation. The first time, we didn’t know if anyone would listen – in fact, we only had 100 CDs printed the first run because we were worried about having garages full of unwanted copies! Knowing that this time quite a lot of people were likely to pick it up meant that we worked even harder on the songs, trying to fine-tune lyrics and melodies. As part of that, we were able to have a bigger budget, which means the album sounds a lot bigger than the first.

Dan: On the first album, G and I hardly spent any time in the same room writing together. All the songs were written by one of us then emailed across for feedback or suggestions. This time round we spent much more time together, and most of the songs are co-written. Sometimes we would meet for a day to write songs and come away with nothing useful. Other times, it really clicked and songs came very quickly. We’ve learnt much more about each other’s strengths and how we work together. I can come up with a lyric and melody idea and know that G will be much better at figuring out what chords should go with it.

Gareth: And likewise, Dan is great on coming up with a singable, catchy melody. I’ve very thankful to God for a team-mate on the project who is hugely gifted, and for the way that makes Awesome Cutlery better than the sum of its parts.

– Beautiful! Glad to hear it! So tell us, what are the super heroes up to this time?

Gareth: Still being pretty underwhelming! The hardest thing Captain Awesomeness tries to tackle is laying the table.

Dan: Just like the first album, the hero sketches fit around the songs. The album doesn’t really have a story-arc. It was more a matter of writing as many songs as we could, choosing the best ones, and then working out which ones would benefit from being introduced by a sketch.

Gareth: We’ve heard lots of parents say the sketches have helped children listen to the album, and also talk about discipleship issues together. It’s been fun aiming to continue that with these characters, whose relationship has definitely developed over time. Cutlery Boy especially really understands the Captain now, and that was nice to bring out in one or two of the sketches.

– What would you say have been your aims with this second album?

Dan: Our big prayer is that it might play a small part in God’s hands of raising up a generation who have a biblical worldview. A child’s worldview is being built all the time, based on what they see and hear. We hope that these songs and sketches will help children (and parents!) see themselves and the world the way God does. This is a tool that parents can add to their toolkits as they seek to teach their children how to see the world.

Gareth: Beyond that goal, and generally wanting to encourage singing together, there isn’t an overall theme for the album. We chose songs by things we got excited about ourselves. A few things I studied at Bible college – Union with Christ, and God’s plan & timing – ended up as tracks on the album. It was great to share those things with my own children as I was writing, and we hope that others will benefit in a similar way.

– Is there anything in particular we can be looking out for?

Dan: One song we’re really excited about is ‘Who I am’, which is a response to the pressure children are under to work out their own identity. I remember being at a school assembly and watching a group of children passionately singing a song from ‘The Greatest Showman’ – it contained glimmers of truth but ultimately gave them a self-centred way of understanding themselves. We wanted to write something that put God’s design for us in its true, positive light, and that helps us to celebrate the joy of being made in God’s image.

Gareth: There’s also a song called ‘We Are The Church’ which people have already enjoyed at some of our live shows. It’s got an anthemic feel, all about how huge church is – part of God’s masterplan of bringing all things under Christ. We hope churches might pick it up if they don’t have much like that in their repertoire.

– How might families and churches use the album?

Dan: One thing we want to do for ourselves is fill family times together with thinking about God, working at getting to know him better together. Sometimes it’s as simple as listening to music on a car journey. One reason we invested so much in the production quality is so that it’s not painful to parents to listen multiple times over!

Gareth: Repetition is really powerful with children, it’s the way we learn when we are younger, so stick with it. It doesn’t take long for them to absorb the words better than you know them. You can also have fun with it – for example, one song says that God does AND doesn’t have a birthday, so a parent could easily say ‘What I’ve learned from that song is that God definitely doesn’t have a birthday.’ Children love correcting mistakes (don’t we all!?), and the conversation can go from there.

Dan: As for churches, we worked hard to make some of the songs really suited to singing congregationally. Along with that, we’ve been able to get sheet music and singalong videos done professionally, which we’re making available for free at www.awesomecutlery.com. Please visit and help yourselves!

–

You can pre-order All Together Now from 10ofthose here, ahead of it’s 4th December scheduled release!

November 27, 2019by Robin Ham
Culture, Music & Film, Social Media

Christmas & Advent Videos 2018

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas – and there’s an amazing amount of gospel creativity out there to help us communicate the message of Christmas. Perfect for sharing online or playing at carol events & assemblies, etc.

You can download many of these for free through Go Chatter, an online hub of bitesize videos that get people talking about Jesus. I’ve include the relevant download links below each video. You can read my interview with Go Chatter’s Digital Evangelist, Dan Rackham, here.

1) On Earth As In Heaven – Glen Scrivener & Speak Life

Glen has pulled out the stops and this year has produced a 90 second trailer that introduces a 13-minute mini-documentary focusing on the Apollo 8 mission that took the first ‘earthrise’ fifty years ago – and subsequent Apollo 11 mission that put man on the moon – showing the parallels between our mission to the heavens and God’s mission to earth.

The 90 second trailer:

The thirteen minute documentary:

The documentary will shortly be available in two 6-minute segments to show in halves at carol services, etc.

 

2) Instead of You – Phil Knox & EA

Phil Knox riffs on those all-too-familiar lines from cheesy Christmas classics to reflect on the heart of Christmas.

 

3) The Mystery of Noisy Neighbour – Bible Society

Not got your primary school Christmas assembly planned? Why not begin here? And you can find more info & resources here.

 

4) Mess – Dai Woolridge

Dai teams up with the Bible Society and captures the powerful truth that Jesus was born into our mess…

5) Lift Up Your Eyes – Co-Mission & FIEC

Is it a John Lewis ad… definitely not… discover a love to come home to this Christmas!

6) It’s Nearly Here – Inspire Saint James Clerkenwell

What do we need to make Christmas happen? You can contact Pete at Inspire St James Clerkenwell for branded and unbranded versions to use.

 

7) Christmas in 10 Words – Steph Williams

Simple and short, but brilliant.

8) Be Grateful – Forest Hill South Park Church

Ha! Clever idea… although maybe this is one for Thanksgiving more than Christmas? I suppose the point is we can make the same mistake with Christ…

 

9) Meet The Nativity – Glen Scrivener/Speak Life

Last year Glen Scrivener & the Speak Life produced a mini-soap: a family of four twenty-first century characters who each find their place in the first century Nativity. The standalone website for Meet the Nativity is here, where you can also find the films as four seperate episodes, as well as ‘behind the scenes’ films introducing the characters and the ‘story behind the story’.

10) Wrapping Paper – Co-Mission

The story of an old teddy bear’s Christmas wish takes us deeper into our longings for acceptance and sense of shame, and presents the wonder of the Christian gospel this Christmas. This actually picked up best online film at the Premier Digital Awards earlier in November.

gochatterdownload1

 

11) Mary’s Song – Cath & Dai Wooldridge (Bible Society/Spoken Truth)

Cath Wooldridge performs Mary’s Magnificat from Luke’s gospel. Chord chat available here.

gochatterdownload1

 

12) He Came Down – Glen Scrivener

A powerful film picking up on how the Christmas story is all about a God who comes all the way down to the manger, who entered into our helplessness and humanity – showing both the goodness of human life and the wonder of his grace.

13) The Greatest Journey – Bible Society & Dai Wooldridge

Clever re-telling of the Christmas journey in the style of the popular kids’ book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.

gochatterdownload1

14) Light in the Darkness – Ben Moon

A special spoken word piece well worth sharing.

 

15) The Holy Office – Dai Wooldridge

After all the political controversy of the last couple of years, Dai asks, “who’s really in charge?” before seeking to persuade us that the baby in the manger may have everything to do with it.

16) Christmas in Dark Places – Glen Scrivener

The haircut’s changed, but this is still one of my favourites. A video that particularly recognises that many find themselves in a dark place this Christmas season.

gochatterdownload1

17) The Characters of Christmas – Go Chatter

Cute video of children re-enacting and narrating the nativity story. Solid. And there’s an accompanying book

gochatterdownload1

18) The Well Good News of Christmas – Bible Society

Dai Woolridge & Emma Randall team up for the Bible Society to create this short, poetic animation exploring how the nativity story fits with the Bible’s big story. Get the accompanying book here.

gochatterdownload1

19) Are You Ready for Christmas? – Go Chatter

Roger Carswell warmly narrates this graphic and asks the question, “are you ready for what God wants to give you this Christmas?” You pick up an accompanying book and free downloads of posters, invites and the high definition version of this video here.

gochatterdownload1

20) Who Would Have Dreamed?

Who Would Have Dreamed? from Sovereign Grace Music’s stunning Prepare Him Room album is fast becoming one of my favourite Christmas songs. Here the song’s beautiful arrangement and lyrics are set to a thought-provoking animation of the Christmas narrative.

21) A Great Light – Moving Works

Contemporary re-telling of the promised events of Isaiah 9, ‘for to us a child is born’. More information here.

22) Christmas According to Kids – Southland Christian Church

Mostest Cutest?!

23) “Away in a What?” – Tiger Finch Creatives

In essence, a fun Bible overview in everyday language…

gochatterdownload1

24) The Gift God Gave Us – Video Bible Talks

Video Bible Talks is all about creating free expositional Bible teaching that equips, resources and supports leaders with faithful Bible preaching and teaching using the medium of digital video. These aren’t super-short because they’re more designed to play in a teaching setting, but still well worth checking out and making use of.

25) Miracles can’t happen (and an exception) – Plungepool Media

Jonathan Greenaway gets under the surface of the response that God becoming human ‘just couldn’t happen’.

26) Jesus: Truth or Fairytale – Youthscape

I reckon this is particularly apt for secondary-school age. Meg Cannon particularly highlights how there’s much in the nativity story for young people to relate to, whilst asking whether it’s fact or fiction.

27) Four Kinds of Christmas – Glen Scrivener

Fabulous one-shot video from 2015, and so well thought-out. I love the way it get us to consider which of the ‘four kinds’ we are, after all everyone loves working out their ‘type’. Again, there’s an interactive website and book, which could be a great conversation starter.

gochatterdownload1

28) What’s in the Box? – The Good Book Company

Clever animation designed to get people re-thinking about Christmas. Comes with accompanying book by Rice Tice & Nate Morgan-Locke.

29) The Beggar – Mike Hood

A simple, moving and refreshing piece of story-telling that gives Soren Kierkegaard’s musings on the wonder of Incarnation a contemporary feel.

30) An Unexpected Christmas

The story of Christmas told by the kids of St Paul’s Church, Auckland, New Zealand. The cute level is going up…

 

What did I miss? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below!

Want more? Have a look at the archives from previous years below:

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2017

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2016

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2015

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2014

Christmas & Advent Videos for 2013

 

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find this post useful? Why not forward it on?

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November 28, 2018by Robin Ham
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About Me

Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and church-planting. I’m based in Barrow in South Cumbria, England, where my family & I are part of Grace Church Barrow.

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