An Advent devotional app for groups, for Advent 2026

Ordo is an Advent devotional app for small groups on iPhone. From the First Sunday of Advent, Sunday 29 November 2026, the app turns to the season: each day your group reads scripture, writes a short reflection and checks in. Reflections are revealed together once everyone has written.

Advent 2026 at a glance

• First Sunday of Advent: 29 November 2026
• Second Sunday of Advent: 6 December 2026
• Third Sunday of Advent (Gaudete): 13 December 2026
• Fourth Sunday of Advent: 20 December 2026
• Christmas Eve: Thursday 24 December 2026
• Christmas Day: Friday 25 December 2026

For the wreath, the O Antiphons and more on the season itself, see our guide to Advent.

Why keep Advent with a group

Advent is the season the culture around us finds hardest to leave alone. December fills with parties, shopping and deadlines, and the quiet of waiting gets crowded out by the first week. A personal Advent devotional is a good intention that often fails by the second Sunday. Keeping it with a few others, each day, gives it a better chance: someone notices when you are not there, and you get to read how the same passage is landing for people you love.

What to look for in an Advent devotional app

• It knows it is Advent. The readings and prompts should belong to the season, not a generic daily verse.
• Short enough for December. Ten minutes is achievable on the busiest day.
• Room to respond. Writing a few lines turns reading into attention.
• Shared with people you know. A small group, not a public feed.
• An ending. Advent should close, and lead into Christmas.

How to keep Advent 2026 with Ordo

1. Before 29 November, gather your group. Join the waitlist, then invite a few friends, your small group or your household. Groups are invitation-only.
2. Write a short Advent rule. Ordo’s rule of life has six parts: scripture, prayer, reflection, absence, accountability areas and review. In Advent, absence might mean stepping back from one evening commitment a week, or from shopping on Sundays.
3. Keep each day. Read the day’s scripture and respond, write a reflection on the Advent prompt, and check in.
4. Read one another. When everyone has written, the reflections open together.
5. Pray in the waiting. Use Breathe with me for a minute of stillness, with the words of Psalm 46 or the Jesus Prayer paced to your breathing, or pray the Daily Office.
6. Close the season. As Advent ends, you receive a formation letter drawn from your reflections, and Ordo turns to Christmas.

Who it is for

Advent is kept across the church. Anglican, Lutheran and Catholic Christians have kept it for centuries; Reformed, Presbyterian and Methodist churches widely keep it now; and many Pentecostal, Baptist and non-denominational churches have taken up Advent wreaths and readings in recent decades. Orthodox Christians keep the Nativity Fast, a forty-day fast before Christmas, and Ordo follows the Western season of Advent instead. Ordo suits small groups, friends, couples and families with older children who want to keep the four weeks well.

After Advent, the same group can keep going through the church year, and many will want to plan ahead for Lent 2027. For a church midweek group, see Ordo for small groups.

How Ordo differs

Most Advent devotionals are reading material: a book, an email each morning or a reading plan in a Bible app. They can be very good. Ordo is not a substitute for a well-chosen Advent book; it is a way to keep the season with others, in writing, each day. It has no streaks, badges or countdown games, and it does not make you feel behind when December gets away from you. A companion creature keeps watch while the day asks something of you, and rests once it is kept.