Speeches and Poems for Church Programs

The short pieces children and teens say from the front of the church: welcome speeches, rhymes about the nativity, Bible verses learned by heart and a closing word to send everyone home. Each collection is sorted by age, so you can find the right length for the child in front of you.

By occasion

• ❧Christmas speeches for kidsWelcome and closing speeches, rhymes for ages 3 to 12 and talks for teens
• ❧Christmas poems for kidsShort rhymes, funny poems and classics by Rossetti and Longfellow

What makes a good piece for a child to say

• It is short enough to say well. Two lines for a preschooler, a verse or two for a school-age child. Nobody remembers a long speech; everybody remembers a small child who said two lines loudly and bowed.
• It rhymes, or it sounds like the child. Rhyme carries younger children from one line to the next. Teens do better in plain words they would actually use.
• It points to the story. Snowmen and reindeer have their place at home. At church, every piece should tell a little of why Jesus came.
• It has something for the hands. A star to hold up, a wave, a bow. An action gives a nervous child somewhere to put the nerves.

Who wrote these pieces

The speeches here are written for ChurchSkits and are free to print and use in your church’s program. Bible verses are quoted from the King James Version, which is in the public domain in the United States. Where we include an older poem, like Christina Rossetti’s “In the Bleak Midwinter,” we name the poet and the source and use only works old enough to be in the public domain.

Pair a speech with a skit

A children’s program usually mixes speeches with a short skit and a few carols. Browse all scripts, or start from our list of Christmas program ideas for the whole evening, with running orders and a planning calendar: church program ideas.