Cartoons and comic books used to tell Christmas story

The Diocese of London is using animated cartoons and comic books to explain the significance of Christmas to school children throughout Advent.

The Diocese of London's Christmas project has been rolled out across London' s classrooms with the aim of helping parishes and schools to teach the story of Christmas in a modern and exciting way.

The diocese has produced a series of animated cartoons aimed at introducing primary school children to some of the key themes of the Christmas story. This is coupled with a teaching pack, which includes assembly and lesson plans focused on helping young people understand why Christmas is celebrated each year.

The teaching resources are complimented by a series of electronic comic books that are designed to accompany each lesson and provide a faithful retelling of the Christmas story in way that is fun and appealing to young people.

The diocese has distributed these teaching resources to London's 479 parishes and 130 Church of England schools who have around 40,000 pupils across the capital. The teaching resources are designed to be completely flexible and can be used in both church and non-church schools alike. This has resulted in a number of London clergy being invited by their local non-church schools to help pupils of all faiths to learn about Christmas.

Sam Donoghue, Children's Ministry Advisor, the Diocese of London said, "The Christmas season is a great time of year for celebrating with family and friends, but we also wanted to help young people in understanding the occasion's significance.

"We hope that the resources we have produced for schools tells the Christmas story in a different way that is not only exciting for pupils but also furthers their understanding of why we celebrate Christmas."

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Dr Richard Chartres said, "The Diocese of London is committed to telling the story of Jesus Christ in a modern way that is accessible and appealing to our capital's young people.

"Christmas is at the heart of the Christian Faith and I hope that these excellent teaching resources will provoke thought and generate discussion amongst school pupils throughout Advent."


On the web:

All of the resources have been made fully accessible and are available to download from the diocese's dedicated Christmas website at www.londonchristmas.org.uk/children