#GodWithUs: How Christingle services can bring communities together

The Church of England's second #GodWithUs Christmas film focuses on the Christingle service used in many churches to support the work of The Children's Society.

Last year 4,195 churches held a Christingle service on behalf of the charity.

The #GodWithUs film features children from All Saints church in High Wycombe preparing Christingle oranges and taking part in the family service led by children and family minister Ruth Harley.

The Christingle service was invented in Germany in 1747, when Bishop Johannes de Watteville gave children candles wrapped in red ribbons.

In 1968, John Pensom of The Children's Society adapted Christingle and introduced it to the Church of England.

This involved children decorating an orange with a red ribbon, dried fruits, sweets and a candle to create a new visual representation of Christ, the light of the world, celebrated by the lighting of the Christingle candles.

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Since then the celebration has been very widely used across all Christian denominations.

According to The Children's Society, it is usually explained as the orange representing the world, the red ribbon God's love for the world and the blood of Christ shed on the cross, the dried fruits and sweets symbols of God's creation and the lit candle Jesus, the light of the world.

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