Parishioners have been busy painting pebbles to look like baby Jesus and hidden them for people to discover just in time for Christmas.

Members of St Francis Church, in Strood, have painted quite few pebbles which now look like the holy infant child and scattered them around the parish.

The idea came from the Love Rocks phenomena, where people decorate small rocks and leave them for others to find and keep or hide again for someone else to find in random acts of kindness.

Those who go along to the church, in Galahad Avenue, thought they would do a festive take on the craze and came up with the baby Jesus idea.

The Rev Sharon Copestake, said: “Finding the Baby Jesus is what we hope everyone will do over the Christmas time.

“With #StFrancisRocks people will literally discover the meaning of Christmas.

“If you are fortunate enough to find one of these rocks, you are invited to bring it to any of our Christmas services in St Francis Church to receive a small gift.”

Services are being held on Sunday, December 17, the first at 10am and then a special carol service will be held at 6.30pm.

On Christmas Eve, two services will be held, at 10am and 4pm.

• People can follow the discovery of the baby-shaped stones using the hashtag #StFrancisRocks on Twitter, and through the St Francis Church Facebook page.