Serving Opportunities

One of the best ways for your family to be intentional in this season is to place your focus on others around you (and not just on the gifts you will get on Christmas morning). Here are a few ideas for your family to serve together this Advent Season. 

Angel Tree

Angel Tree is a ministry designed to strengthen relationships between incarcerated parents and their children. By providing Christmas gifts on behalf of their incarcerated parents, we get to extend the hope of the Gospel to families with loved ones in prison.

Come pick up your Angel Tree child on Sunday, December 3, after the service in the second floor atrium. Stop by the Angel Tree Table to choose a child, then shop for that child as a family and deliver the gift before Christmas. If you have any questions, please contact Beth.

Kid's Coat & Clothing Drive 

We still are collecting warm clothes for the many migrants who are coming to our city, often unprepared for the winter weather. Drop off used coats, warm clothes, hats and scarves in the box by the Loop Kids check-in desk and we'll make sure they get to them.

A Silent Night

Click here to sign up to serve as a family for A Silent Night on Friday, December 15th. We will need greeters and helpers to make our Christmas Program a success, not to mention bakers to help fill our dessert table!

Advent Resources

There are many ways to celebrate the anticipation and arrival of King Jesus this Advent at Near North and at home.  See our special service times below, and look to the right to find a few other ways you can lead your family intentionally through this Advent Season.

SPECIAL SERVICE TIMES

A Silent Night
Friday, December 15th 
6:30pm
Near North Auditorium
Desserts & Hot Cocoa
to follow on the 2nd floor.
Sign up here to serve or bring a dessert!


Christmas Eve Center-Region Service
Sunday, December 24th
10AM Service
Hosted at the Near North Location
No Loop Kids Provided

New Years Eve Center-Region Service
Sunday, December 31st
10AM Service
*Lincoln Park Location
(2233 N Clark St)

No Loop Kids Provided
*Note the location change.

Park's Jesse Tree Advent Family Devotional

A Jesse Tree is a way of preparing for Advent by journeying through the stories on Jesus’s family tree. Each day of Advent, read a Bible story about someone on Jesus’s family tree and hang an ornament symbolizing the story on your Jesse Tree.

Designed for individuals and families alike, this printed book from our church includes a set of ornament coloring pages that provide a tangible Scripture experience as we countdown to Christmas Day. Buy the book here. If you already have the book but need additional coloring pages, feel free to download them here

This set of ABC Cards helps your kids understand what the holiday season is all about: Jesus! With simple and concise definitions on each card and gospel-centered conversation prompts, you and your family can make the month of December all about Jesus. 

A favorite in our household, we love pulling this out year after year and retelling the story of Jesus' arrival. Read Luke 2 as a family while playing with this set. 

The Shepherd on a Search Devo

A 25-day family devotional where you journey with a Shepherd to find Christ in Christmas in the days leading up to Christmas morning. Purchase online here. 

Advent Chain Activity

Cut 25 strips of paper. On each strip, write one Scripture reference (you can use this list here). Staple the ends of the paper together, linking them together to form a chain. Each day remove one strip and read that verse. It will become exciting to visually see how much closer Christmas is coming as you count down the days and the chain grows shorter!

Seek and Find | Board Book

Young children will love interacting with the Christmas story as they find, count, and sort over 450 hidden things in this large-format board book. They will learn key truths about the first Christmas through the biblically faithful illustrations and retellings of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth.