December may be the busiest month of the church year. There’s the Christmas Eve service, the kids’ program, the youth party, the food drive, and somewhere in all of it, you still have a group meeting on Wednesday night that needs a lesson.
So we made twenty of them with DiviNav AI, the lesson-planning tool our family built, and put them online for free. How we made and checked them is explained further down. There are Advent and Christmas lessons for most kinds of groups, plus a set for the first weeks of January. Most are complete plans: an opening, the teaching, discussion questions, an activity, a closing, and notes for the leader. Open one, read it through, and make it yours.
Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany Lessons
For youth group
– Hope in the Waiting: Isaiah 9 and the long wait for a Savior. A good first week of Advent. Grades 7 to 12.
– Good News of Great Joy: why the shepherds couldn’t keep quiet. Written for middle schoolers.
For kids and Sunday school
– The Angel’s Big News: Gabriel visits Mary, and God keeps His promise. Ages 5 to 10, 45 minutes, with a game.
– The Shepherds Run to See Jesus: Luke 2 for ages 5 to 10. Works well the Sunday before Christmas.
For small groups
– Emmanuel: God With Us: Matthew 1 and what it means that God came close.
– The Magi: following the light all the way to Jesus. A fit for the first week of January, around Epiphany.
For women’s and men’s studies
– Mary’s Yes: trusting God when your plans change.
– Joseph: Quiet Obedience: the man in the Christmas story who never says a word, and what his obedience cost him.
For young adults, new believers, and couples
– Peace on Earth When Nothing Feels Peaceful: for college and twenty-somethings.
– Why Christmas Matters: John 1 for people who are new to faith, or new to your church.
– Making Room: holiday stress, family expectations, and your marriage.
For people who are grieving
– A Blue Christmas: a gentle session for a grief group or a “longest night” gathering. It doesn’t hurry anyone toward cheer. Read this one closely before you lead it, because grief needs a person’s judgment more than any other topic here. It is spiritual care, not counseling, so have a pastor or counselor you can point people to. If anyone mentions thoughts of suicide, call or text 988.
New Year Lessons
The week after Christmas comes fast. These are ready for the first Sundays and Wednesdays of January.
- Youth: New Year, New Creation, on 2 Corinthians 5:17
- Small group: Teach Us to Number Our Days, on Psalm 90
- Women: His Mercies Are New Every Morning, on Lamentations 3
- Men: Run the Race: spiritual discipline that lasts past January
- Kids: God Makes All Things New
- Young adults: Seek First the Kingdom: setting priorities for the year
- New believers: Reading the Bible This Year: where to start and how to keep going
- Pastors: Forgetting What Lies Behind, a sermon outline on Philippians 3:12-14. Treat it as a starting point for your own study, not a finished sermon.
If your group wants to read through the whole Bible in 2027, we also have a free printable Bible reading plan.
How These Were Made
These lessons were written with DiviNav AI, the lesson-planning tool our family built for ministry leaders. Each plan was written to a specific church tradition (Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, non-denominational, or broadly evangelical), and you’ll see which one at the top of each lesson. Then it went through an automatic check for theology, sensitive topics, and borrowed writing. Each lesson page says plainly how it was made.
We haven’t read every lesson line by line ourselves, and that check is a help, not a guarantee. Read a lesson all the way through before you teach it, and change whatever doesn’t fit your group. You know your people. A plan doesn’t.
Need a Different Lesson?
For example, maybe your youth group meets for 40 minutes instead of an hour. Maybe you want Advent week three, on joy, for a group of eight retirees. Maybe your church’s statement of faith is more specific than the ones above.
You can build your own lesson in about a minute. Pick your group, your topic or passage, how long you meet, and your tradition, or paste your church’s own statement of faith. Your first three lessons are free, and you don’t need a credit card.
We’re praying for the people you’ll lead this season.