The Diocese of Bath and Wells Go Team have been working with Send a Cow and Movement on an Advent resource for young people that not only journeys through the account of the birth of Jesus found in Luke’s gospel, but gives a global perspective too.
The collaboration has produced five short videos (one for each week of Advent plus one for Christmas Day featuring Bishop Ruth), four youth group session outlines and an Advent social media campaign complete with daily challenges: all based around the themes of Hope, Joy, Peace and Love.
Each week of Advent will begin with a two-minute video presented by Sam Davis and Emily Hatton, both part of the Movement family, and featuring Send a Cow project workers in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia reading part of the Christmas story from the Good News translation of the Bible.
Youth group session material and daily social media posts then unpack the theme of the week with ideas for listening, reading, sharing and acting as well as reflecting and praying as we journey through Advent together. There’s also extra information and links giving a spotlight on the life changing work of Send a Cow in Africa based on each of the four themes.
Send a Cow’s Ann Hatton commented:
“As you take part in Advent Around the World, you will have the opportunity to celebrate with Send a Cow the amazing achievements of families we work with in rural Africa. At the same time, you will be challenged to find out about what Advent means to you personally. We’re excited to hear about what you learn on this journey! If you like what we do, share what you’ve learnt and tag us @SendaCow”
Go Team Adviser, Andy Levett added:
“It’s been great to work together on this and we pray that young people at home, church and in school groups will be able to journey with us as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus this year.”
Youth leaders and churches can download the youth group sessions for free from the website, and watch the videos on Send a Cow’s Youtube channel too. They can also encourage young people and their households to follow the journey on Instagram or Twitter from Sunday 28 November right up until Christmas Day. Follow @goteamadvisers or @sendacow and use the hashtag #AdventAroundTheWorld