Christianity Church of England & Ministry

Christmas Videos Resource

Updated for 2018!

I’ve spent a few hours over the last few weeks looking for videos to use in some of our Christmas services and so I thought it might be useful for some to share my research. I’ve listed them below under various headings but tagged them with themes and length of each video in minutes/seconds and whether there is a cost to them (£). There’s also a list of resources at the bottom which have a load more videos…

If you’ve got other suggestions, let me know and I’ll add them on…

 

 

Spoken word //

Spoken word videos are good as they can be more accessible, especially for those with visual impairments, given that the main part is sound. One of my faves for spoken word pieces is Dai Wooldridge, I’ve used both ‘Christmas C(h)ord’ and ‘Joseph’ previously but he has a few:

The Chritsmas C(h)ord – clever use of the often used Christian joke and very good video, black and white, a few years old but still very contemporary. (4.26  // £4.99/£5.99)

 

Dai’s new video with the Bible Society for 2018 is ‘Mess’ – free to use (download it here), he tells the story of Jesus in a farm setting. Clever use of mess/message/messiah. (4.38// FREE)

4 words 4 stories (3.30 // £4.99/£5.99)

Joseph (4.26 // £4.99 / £5.99)

Christmas chord (4.26 // £4.99/ £5.99)

Well Good News – ideal for kids/family services (4.47) Produced with the Bible Society and is free.

Mary’s song (7.50)

Ickle king Script to use (£2.99)

..o0O0o…

Glen Scrivener, another great spoken word artist and has produced some awesome videos over the years and they are free.

4 kinds of Christmas from 2016 is great for any Christmas service, looks at 4 different ways people approach Christmas in a clever way. (3.30/free) also with booklets available and an online quiz too! Check out all his other videos here. Including the epic new series, ‘Meet the Nativity’ – one episode releasing each week in December this year, first one is out now!

Other Christmas vids from Glen:

Santa vs Jesus is what is says! 3.03

Christmas in Dark Places 3.15

 

..o0O0o…

David Bowden // Merry Christmas from American, David Bowden – another great spoken word poet and this is his Christmas  offering  (2.17 // $14.99)

 

Santa vs Jesus (2.50) is another American spoken word one with funky font graphics and full on gospel message (though the line ‘our destination without Jesus is hell’ might be a bit too much for a Christmas service – see what you think!) I can’t find an obvious cost to this one. (words on screen, good for those with hearing impairment, though they are quite fast at times)

 

Nativity retold – various parts, this is the shepherds  (1.52)

Miriam Swaffield from Fusion also has a selection of pieces, again this one is shepherds  (2.38)

 

 

Videos with kids sharing the story //

 

No pressure   A Nativity Factor winner, features 2 cute kids as angels giving Joseph a reality check. funny and cute 🙂 (3.00). All spoken so accessible for those with visual impairments (though you’d miss some of the cues from on screen)

An Urban Christmas carol – cute kids again!

 

New Zealand kids Nativity – this has been widely shared and I’ve used it a few times so you might have seen it but still a great one (3.52) It’s from St Paul’s Arts & Media and they also have a few other videos.

 

 

 

Animation //

Bible society 2017 a bit like ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ if you know the book.

Saddleback kids has various, here’s a shepherds one (can you tell our theme this year!) (2.25)

A prayer is lovely and arty ($15 // 2.30) from Shift Worship and would be great at the end of a service of instead of traditional prayers (all words on screen and not too fast!)

Christmas story (2.05) animation, nicely done but not very exciting!

Retooning the Nativity   ($18 / 3.49) From Igniter Media (who also have lots of others). Very funny, tries to tell the actual story of Christmas, putting the facts right, again one I’ve used before (again good use of spoken word so could work for those with visual impairments and the comedy works too without the pics)

 

There are a few that use social media to tell the story, some better than others.

The SMS Christmas story (2.58) is another Nativity factor winner and a few years old but still clever and relevant (all on screen, no spoken sound)

Facebook style – ($18 // 3.58) not as good as one above in my opinion, also from Igniter Media

 

Arty videos //

not sure how else to label them, but these are ‘arty’, clever and creative

 

The First Christmas  tells the story with silhouettes and words on the screen (1.00) says it’s available to buy here but I couldn’t find it at a quick glance, might need a trawl.

 

line drawing (3.04) goes from birth to the cross, quite moving. No spoken sound, pictures tell the whole story

line drawing 2  (2.32)

 

Christmas in 50 words  (2.18 / another Igniter Media one, so there is a cost also) B&W, nicely done, words are on the screen

 

Bethel TV – On this Night – arty and v cool but 7 mins long. Youtube seems to suggest you can use it for free: “On This Night”, a short Christmas film produced by the Bethel Media team is our gift to you this holiday. We hope you’ll use the film as a way to share the real reason for this season — the birth of our Lord and Savior

 

simple message (£15 //1.40) this one tells the story just with words up the screen (accessible for those with hearing loss)  

 

Video providers // Channels

If you’ve got longer the I have to trawl through, here are some places that produce lots of videos for you to choose…

Igniter Media

Worship house 

The Christmas Channel – features the entries to nativity factor over the years

Spoken truth

Speak life

 

St Paul’s Arts and Media channel (St Paul’s Church, Auckland, New Zealand. ) 

 

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1 Comment

  • Reply
    Martin Horton
    December 1, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    Thank you so much, Jules, that is really kind of you to share these. May even use some on our Wycliffe twitter prayer account, esp if they are to do with prayer or mission.

    Blessings,
    Martin

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