Carlisle, United Kingdom – The Belle Vue and Raffles Community Churches of the Nazarene, in Carlisle, held their first major joint event, The Bethlehem Experience, on 17-19 December, 2010. The event brought the Christmas message to the community in a new way by challenging people to ask themselves, ‘Who am I worshipping this Christmas?’ About 170 from outside the churches attended.
The Bethelehem Experience is a twist on the traditional “living nativity” concept. In a living nativity, church members dress as biblical characters and re-enact scenes from the Christmas story. The Carlisle churches took this further to link Christ’s birth with His later resurrection.
In the main hall, visitors heard first-hand stories from actors playing the parts of the angels, shepherds and three wise men. The visitors then moved through to the stable area, expecting to see a manger scene with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus surrounded by animals.
Here’s where the twist comes in: Instead of the usual manger scene, they saw an empty stable with an empty manger in the centre and a cross casting a shadow over the entire stable area.
The churches wanted to portray the message of the connection between Christmas and Easter.
“People were initially confused as they had never made that connection,” said Barrie Thomas, senior pastor of both churches. “So, this was a great opportunity to share with them the actual truth of the Christmas story. This link between the incarnation and the atonement was a powerful message. It was a connection that surprised them, for it was unexpected and so the message of Christmas was made all the more real to them.”
At one point, there were so many people eating in the inn, that innkeeper Gyula Fiak was able to say “There is no room in the inn!’’
“What made The Bethlehem Experience so exciting is that we were able to very blatantly tell the Gospel story,” said Jennifer Blake, pastor of the Belle Vue church, who played a villager with a baby at the inn. “People often won’t attend a Sunday morning church service, but they will come to an event like this.”
The two churches came together in August to plan the event. They had seen it done on a larger scale in bigger U.S. churches, but were unsure if it would work for two small churches. They eventually decided to give it a try.
Sheila Foster, a seven-year attendee of Raffles church, served as a waitress in the inn where biblical figures mingled with the visitors. Foster loved experiencing first-hand what it was like when Jesus was born. She invited several family members; for many of them, it was their first time attending church.
The community’s positive response has encouraged the churches to hold The Bethlehem Experience again. A public school and a Catholic school asked them to host it during the school year so the school can bring groups of children.
For Blake, the event didn’t just bring in the community; it brought the two churches together.
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