6 Ways to read Scripture together in your youth ministry during Advent

One year at our youth ministry’s Christmas party, we decorated middle schoolers like Christmas trees. While holiday tunes blared, each team wrapped a lucky student in streamers and garland, tacked on ornaments, and paraded them around the fellowship hall. Then we decorated and ate sugar cookies.

There was a lot of laughter and cheer. There was no meaningful reflection, prayer, sharing, or Scripture.

Now, I’m not all humbug about fun holiday parties. Laughter can be healing and leads to connection. But I wondered if we missed an opportunity.

The span between Thanksgiving and Christmas can feel like a long haul in youth ministry. It’s just four weeks, but somehow we cram in several months’ worth of buzz. No wonder so many leaders feel burnout creeping in just as we’re singing “Joy to the world.” Perhaps it’s why I was grumpy about that party.

In the midst of all the holiday flurry, Advent—the four weeks leading up to Christmas—is one of the most meaningful seasons for Christ followers. Historically, the start of Advent is the start of the new church year. We retell the stories surrounding the great mystery of our faith that God came to live as one of us in the vulnerable form of an infant.

There’s no shame in hosting fun youth group Christmas parties. But if you’re also looking for more than party ideas this season, here are a few fresh ways you might incorporate Scripture into your ministry’s rhythms.

6 ways to try communal reading of Scripture with teenagers this Advent and Christmas:

These ideas are oriented around the practice of Communal (or public) reading of Scripture, which is exactly what it sounds like: coming together with others to listen to Scripture being read aloud. When we listen to the Bible being read aloud together, we often see and experience God in new ways—ways that we may very well have missed on our own.

While you can certainly incorporate communal reading of Scripture in worship, you can also practice it any time you’re with young people. Advent offers a great season to try it out.

1. During the four weeks of Advent, read and listen to whole chunks of the Bible together each time you gather. There’s tremendous value in reading long passages aloud. Rather than explore a passage verse by verse, during Advent, ask someone to read the whole passage at once. Ask a second person to do the same so students have the benefit of hearing it from multiple voices. Then ask teenagers what they notice about the passage. (Here’s another way to do this practice with additional reflection questions you can use). You might be surprised by what young people observe when they hear passages read aloud.

2. Craft your teaching series around Bible passages the church has historically used during Advent. If your congregation follows the lectionary, this might simply mean teaching on the passages from either the preceding or subsequent Sunday. If it doesn’t, consider exploring the stories about Jesus’ origins from each of the gospels, inviting students to pay attention to what’s included and what’s missing (John, for example, announces Jesus’ arrival without any reference to his birth at all).

3. Engage Scripture through prayer stations. Set up a few different areas in your gathering space where students can read a different Bible passage related to Advent and invoke other senses through lighting candles, drawing, adding to communal art, writing prayers, kneeling, or some other way of bringing the passage to life. (Short on time and creativity this season? We’ve put together a seasonal prayer experience you can use without having to come up with all the ideas yourself).

4. Alternate among different translations of the Bible. Sometimes teenagers (and let’s be honest, adults) tune out Bible passages because they’re too familiar. Just like the brain tunes out teachers or parents who repeatedly tell us the same thing, if we’ve heard a verse dozens of times, there’s no need to pay attention. This is particularly true for Bible stories repeated year after year, like the Christmas and Easter stories. So this year, rather than use the translation your faith community regularly reads, choose a different one—or several. Ask young people to consider what phrases sound new, different, or unfamiliar to them.

5. Memorize passages together. Have you ever listened to someone recite a Bible story from memory? Not retell it in their own words, but actually recite the passage? It’s absolutely captivating. Because the speaker has spent so much time memorizing the passage, its words mean something more to them. Invite an adult leader, a student, or a small group to memorize a passage of Scripture related to Advent and then recite it for everyone. One of the “songs” from early in Luke or the seasonal passages from the Old Testament prophets might work well for this. Then discuss what young people see and experience as they listen. Alternatively, choose one set of verses your whole group will memorize together for the season, reciting it during your meeting times and reinforcing it by text or other ways throughout each week.

6. Extend your communal reading of Scripture beyond youth group by creating a Bible reading calendar for the four weeks of Advent. Give families a copy and invite everyone connected to your ministry (or your whole church) to commit to listening to a particular passage on a particular day of the week. That way, even though you’re not physically in the same place, you’re still listening to the Bible being read aloud together. Then when you meet, ask students to reflect on what they noticed about that week’s passages as well as where and how they encountered God while listening.

Hopefully, some of these ideas can help you make meaning in fresh ways with your students this holiday season. And if you also decorate cookies and dress kids up in shiny wrappings, all the more cheer to share! 

Further Resources

Find more seasonal youth ministry ideas:

4 more Advent activities you can use in your youth ministry

5 ideas to make Advent and Christmas more meaningful with students

Read more on practicing Communal Reading of Scripture with teens:

How to read the Bible with teenagers

10 strategies for using communal reading of Scripture in small groups

8 ways to read Scripture together in your youth ministry during Lent

To learn more about how Communal Reading of Scripture can help you and the young people you care about, visit https://prsi.org.

Teach teens to pause and pray in their own way this holiday season

Prayer helps young people deepen their connection with God—even in their busiest seasons. Praying for our Weary World at Christmas gives you easy-prep prayer stations to help your students notice and celebrate the light Jesus brings to their lives. Find it in our On-the-Go curriculum collection today.

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