kim marxhausen publications

christmas services

From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise.  Psalm 8:2

Children's Christmas services are an important part of church Christmas tradition and worship.  They are also a vital opportunity for the youngest of the congregation to lead God's people in praise.  The challenges inherent in such services are many. The length of the service, the involvement of the children, the skill levels involved and maintaining doctrinal integrity make something as simple as the praise of children and infants a great challenge indeed. 

Are these services appropriate for young children, too? 

As an early childhood teacher I have been involved in children's Christmas services for 25 years.  I have been blessed to work with many wonderful children as well as some awesome fellow church workers.  A few years ago, our congregation gave up on adapting other programs to suit the skills of our early childhood children and I began writing services for our use.  The programs available on this site have been written for and field tested at Faith Lutheran Church (LCMS) and School and Touching Hearts Early Childhood Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. We have for many years had a second service for our pre-school/childcare through first grade students in addition to the service for second through sixth graders.  Recently we have separated into three services with our early childhood center providing their own service and our kindergarten and first grade children doing their own service.

With which age groups can we use these services?

Two services, Are We There, Yet? and Children Go Where I Send Thee were written for ages two through grade one.  However, the adult speaking parts could be divided up for older students making these programs easily adaptable for services including older students.  

Two services Peace Angels and Shine like Stars were written for ages two through five and are suitable for an early childhood setting.  All is Well was written for primary age children but could also be adapted for use with older children. 

Do these services include music?

All of the services have two sets of song selections; one set of early childhood appropriate songs and a set of hymns.  All songs are chosen from popular Concordia Publishing House publications, including hymnals used by the LCMS.  This allows for further adapting for older and younger children.  Two services, Children Go Where I Send Thee and All is Well are based on spirituals that have extra verses added.  I wrote the verses and my husband, Paul, the arrangements of the songs. All services are downloadable as Adobe Acrobat PDF files. 

Can I copy, reproduce, or distribute these services?

All materials are © 2006 Kim Marxhausen, with all rights reserved.  At the present time you may reproduce and distribute these services for local use in your school and church.  You may not publish them for commercial sale, singly or as a collection, or distribute them widely in your corporation, denomination, or wider organization without first requesting permission from Kim Marxhausen.

May God bless your work with His youngest lambs.  May the praise of these children and infants glorify His name and lead His people in praise.

Scripts:

All is Well
Are We There, Yet?
Children Go Where I Send Thee
Peace Angels
Shine like Stars

Scores:
Well, The Savior Is Born   (Song from "All Is Well")
Children Go Where I Send Thee

Sound Files:
Well, The Savior Is Born (MP3 demo recording)