For lots more ideas for your church’s Live Nativity Scene:

See my article printed in Baptist Press today!

(This article will also appear in the next issue of Indiana Baptist.)

[I know it's just October, but if your church is planning to do a live nativity scene, it's time to get busy!  I'll post several tips on this subject, and my newest Fresh Ideas article on this topic will be in November's issue of the Indiana Baptist and Baptist Press.]

Here’s a different version of a live nativity scene your church may enjoy.

Instead of one large live nativity scene, we created six smaller stops, each telling a different part of the nativity story. Artists in our church painted large murals on hinged plywood, and each one was based on a Christmas carol. They looked sort of like giant Christmas cards.  We staged a few live characters at each one and created a “drive-through” path for cars.

As cars arrived, they roll down their window to receive steaming hot chocolate, a printed invitation to worship with us next Sunday, and a CD. The CD was prepared to play the carols as they drove through. 

Funny, but the year we did this event, we had a rare hard freeze in Houston TX. We went ahead with the event, but shortened the length of shifts for characters.  We had record numbers of cars, and God blessed in a major way. We lovingly called that event our Frozen Christmas Carols.

More tips for live nativity scenes to come!