Blog | How to Design Your Church Stage for Christmas

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It’s October, which means Advent is right around the corner. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your Christmas services and how you’ll dress your stage for that special time of year. Sometimes, it can feel intimidating to come up with a brand new approach for Christmas. After all, this time of year can get busy and sneak up quickly. Here are some ideas to help break down this task and help you both choose and implement the right stage design for this Christmas:

Start with a theme

While set design sets the mood and helps people get in the Christmas spirit, it’s also capable of so much more. Your stage design will be the most impactful if it is aligned thematically with your church’s advent series. If your teaching pastor is leading your congregation through “the light of the world,” creative use of lighting will make sense. If you’re examining “the characters of Christmas,” you could dress your stage like the nativity. When you draw inspiration from the sermon series to help set an atmosphere, you’re helping create an environment for those messages to be received and absorbed by the congregation.

Understand your space

Once you understand your theme, it’s time to think through your space, your budget, and other factors that will help shape how you interpret your theme on your stage. If you are working with more complex elements or have lots of props on the ground, remember to consider people moving on and off the stage. Create safe, neat pathways that will help people avoid tripping, hurting themselves, or tearing down the set.

Less is more

You don’t have to transform your stage into a movie set to elevate your space. A few strategic elements can go a long way. If you have limited time or limited resources, a new light arrangement and a couple of wintery plants— poinsettias, evergreens— can help transport your congregation into a sacred seasonal space.

Use all your tools

You have your stage and its dressings, but you also have other tools at your disposal to help set the scene. Consider how you can use lighting, mood music, media, and even scent to evoke your desired atmosphere.

Some ideas

Still feeling overwhelmed? Here are some excellent resources to help you brainstorm ideas for your Christmas stage design.

• – Find holiday videos, stock photography, and design trends at ProChurch Media.
• – Learn what (and how!) other churches have done for their stages for Christmases past at Church Stage Design Ideas and Red Damian.
• – Don’t forget to check out Motion Worship’s Christmas-themed backgrounds, videos, and countdowns to find media that supports your advent stage design.

We hope that you have fun creating a new stage design for your church this Christmas season! Don’t be afraid to keep it simple and remember that, while your intention and inspiration is such a beautiful way to honor God and serve your church, at the end of the day God will use what you have to win hearts and change lives.