STATIONS OF THE CROSS COLORING POSTERS

We are excited about our newest offering of coloring posters for Lent 2017: our

Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters. Even though we know it’s not quite

Christmas yet, Lent will be here soon and we wanted to share with you a little about

this next project.

If you aren’t familiar with the Stations of the Cross, or would like to learn more, you

can find out some details about the history of them at Wikipedia here. One of the

earliest versions of the Stations of the Cross may have begun around 1217 by St. Francis, who started the Custody of the Holy Land, a group that guarded and

promoted the devotion to certain holy places. But it was around 1200-1500 when it

was noticed that travelers to the Holy Lands followed a certain sacred route to

walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

The Stations of the Cross allow us to follow Christ through his last few days,

stopping to ponder and reflect along the way.

There is a rich visual history of the Stations of the Cross, and the stations have

been painted, sketched, illustrated and drawn in some beautiful and creative ways.

However, if you do a google images search for Stations of the Cross coloring

sheets, you’ll see artwork that all looks very similar. There is not a child-friendly

portrayal of the stations that we have been able to find. Additionally, because many

of the versions we found online use the traditional form of the stations of the

cross, many of the coloring sheets look very similar. In the traditional form, you

have Jesus falling three times, Jesus meeting his mother, the women of Jerusalem,

and Veronica wiping Jesus’ face, and these all end up producing almost visually-identical images.

We thought we could create something more creative and meaningful to both

children and adults, and so we are looking forward to launching our Stations of the

Cross Coloring Posters next month for Lent 2017.

In addition to our posters, we are also going to include a short discussion sheet for

each of the stations, with the scripture text and a primary reflection question for

each of the stations. We think this will allow the Stations of the Cross to become

even more relevant to children, youth and adults.

Below you can find some specific information about how we’ve decided to approach

these coloring posters.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS: SCRIPTURAL FORM

The Illustrated Children’s Ministry community comes from over 25 different denominations, some of whom may not be familiar with the Stations of the Cross.

We also felt more drawn to the scriptural form of the Stations of the Cross, which

Pope John Paul II introduced as the Scriptural Way of the Cross on Good Friday

1991. The stations are listed below, along with their accompanying scripture

reference:

• Station 1: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-41)

• Station 2: Jesus, Betrayed by Judas, is Arrested (Mark 14:43-46)

• Station 3: Jesus is Condemned by the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66-71)

• Station 4: Jesus is Denied by Peter (Matthew 26:69-75) • Station 5: Jesus is Judged by Pilate (Mark 15:1-5, 15)

• Station 6: Jesus is Scourged and Crowned with Thorns (John 19:1-3)

• Station 7: Jesus Bears the Cross (John 19:6, 15-17)

• Station 8: Jesus is Helped by Simon the Cyrenian to Carry the Cross (Mark

15:21)

• Station 9: Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem (Luke 23:27-31)

• Station 10: Jesus is Crucified (Luke 23:33-34)

• Station 11: Jesus Promises His Kingdom to the Good Thief (Luke 23:39-43)

• Station 12: Jesus Speaks to His Mother and the Disciples (John 19:25-27)

• Station 13: Jesus Dies on the Cross (Luke 23:44-46) • Station 14: Jesus is Placed in the Tomb (Matthew 27:57-60)

We are also going to include a fifteenth station: the Resurrection of Jesus (Mark

16:1-6).

While the traditional form of the stations depict some stories that are taken from

tradition, rather than from scripture, the scriptural form of the stations presents

a version of this devotion that more closely aligned with the biblical accounts.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS COLORING POSTERS

Our coloring posters for Lent, this year, will be our Stations of the Cross Coloring Posters. They will be available as 8.5×11 coloring sheets as well (and will be able to

be purchased separately). For each of the fourteen stations, we have taken one

word that highlights what is happening in the station, and used that word to focus

our illustration and questions. Since we knew that having 14 posters to color during

Lent would be too much, we decided to put two stations on a poster, and they look

like an open Bible, to remind folks that these events and stations come out of the

gospel accounts of Jesus’ last few days.

Details about posters: We will have seven 36″ x 24″ posters which will display the

fourteen Stations of the Cross based off the scriptural form of the stations, and

then we will have an eighth poster for the 15th station, Resurrection, that can be

incorporated into Easter Sunday.

Below you can see an example of the poster designs for the stations completed so

far.

IDEAS FOR USING OUR COLORING POSTERS

This is our second year using coloring posters for Lent, and we continue to be excited to see how churches, schools, and other communities decide to use our

coloring posters. Below are just a few ideas for how you might be able to

incorporate our posters into your programs or communities:

• Children’s Ministry: Find ways to incorporate the posters into your Sunday

morning programs for children (whether that’s during Sunday School or during

another time)

• During Worship: Dedicate a section in your worship space to allow young people

(and those who are young at heart) to color during worship. We’ve heard this is

a great way to allow children to engage with worship in a fun and creative way

• Youth Ministry: Children aren’t the only ones who like to color. We’ve had

hundreds of youth programs around the world use our coloring posters.

• Intergenerational ministry opportunities: By far, one of the most popular uses

for our coloring posters is to create intergenerational worship and fellowship

opportunities during Advent and Lent. Many churches do a Wednesday night

Lenten supper program, or have weekly opportunities for gathering, and our

coloring posters work great in those settings. Whether you just have the

posters out on tables for people who are waiting to eat, or you create an entire

program around the Stations of the Cross for an intergenerational group, you’ll

be amazed at the conversations that can be had while multiple generations get

together and color.

• College/campus ministries: We’ve also had many campus ministries use our coloring posters and this would be a fun opportunity for a campus ministry to

do during Lent.

• Private/Parochial Schools: Some private Christian schools have purchased our

posters and found ways to engage multiple classrooms in creating a

collaborative art project. Many schools could use these Stations of the Cross

coloring posters to create a really unique educational opportunity by creating

art together.

What are YOUR ideas?

HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION

ABOUT YOUR STATIONS OF THE CROSS

COLORING POSTERS?

I’m glad you asked. We will be launching these in early January, and having them on

sale during the month of January, and will begin shipping them in February so

churches and communities have them in plenty of time before Ash Wednesday. Here

are some places you can connect with us and get more info:

The best place to find out more about these products, as well as all the other

resources and freebies we offer, is to get on our email list. You get a free sample

pack of our products when you sign up here.

We often offer promotions and discounts to our Facebook Group, and it’s a great place to learn more about how people are using our resources. We also get a lot

of great ideas from our friends there. If you’d like to join our Facebook Group, you

can do so here.

This guide was created by Adam Walker Cleaveland, the

Founder & Illustrator of Illustrated Children’s Ministry.

Illustrated Children's Ministry creates illustrated faith

resources for the church and the home, encouraging

creativity and active engagement with faith.

You can learn more about us on our website and we’d

love to connect with you on social media. You can also

contact Adam at hello@illustratedchildrensministry.com.

website: illustratedchildrensministry.com

store: store.illustratedchildrensministry.com

Facebook: fb.com/illustratedcm

Twitter: twitter.com/illustratedcm

Pinterest: pinterest.com/illustratedcm

Instagram: pinterest.com/illustratedcm

© 2016 Illustrated Children’s Ministry. All rights reserved.