Most of the time we have a nativity play because it is expected. Expected by the pastor, expected by the parents or even expected by the congregation members. That, however, should not be our main reason for doing a nativity play. Our main reason for doing a nativity play is to see people come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should see this as an outreach opportunity. A nativity play is a great occasion to invite people who wouldn’t normally come to church, with the intention that they will hear the gospel and be saved. Furthermore, we should see this as a way to remind us of the truths that we already know.
1) Choosing your Nativity
It is a good idea to have a different nativity each year. Otherwise the children and the adults may get bored of seeing and acting in the same play year in and year out. A good place to start is to search the internet. There are a vast number of nativity plays out there. You can also borrow a play idea from someone else. Speak to the others who have done plays before and ask them what has worked well. Otherwise you can write your own if you like. One of the most important things, however, is to make sure that the play is gospel centred. In other words, Jesus is the most important person.
Here are a few ideas of plays that I have done previously:
* One year I borrowed an idea from someone else. We did the traditional Nativity Play, with the angels and the wisemen and Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. But we did it in silhouette. So we put up a white piece of material with a light shining from behind the children and they acted the whole Christmas Play from behind the screen. It worked really well.
* Another year I got an idea off the internet where the only characters that spoke in the play were the animals in the stable.
* We also did a Play called “The three Wise dudes”. Putting a modern twist on the Christmas story. In the play the three wise dudes or wise men went from place to place looking for Jesus. They knew that the Star had stopped in this City, but they didn’t know exactly where the King had been born. So they went to a hospital, the prime minister’s office, a hotel, and lastly they went to the City Mission station, which is where they found Jesus and they gave the gifts. It was different, but it was fun.
2) Who are your actors?
Once you have found a play that you like and that is gospel-centred, you can adapt it to suit the children in your church. Ideally you want as many of the children acting in the play as possible. If the play has too many characters you can cut some of the non-important characters out or you can add extra characters if there aren’t enough.
Some of the children in your church may be too young to act in the play. Please don’t leave them out. Be creative. You could give them a non-speaking role.Otherwise, you can get the younger children to sing some Christmas songs before the play begins.
Sometimes there just aren’t enough children for all the characters in the play, even after you have cut out all the non-important characters. That might be because you only have a few children in your church or it might be that some of the children don’t want to act. A good solution is to use some of the teenagers or even the leaders to act. Alternatively, you could get some children to play two different characters.
3) Venue
Figuring out a venue may not be as simple as you think. Your church building might be too small to accommodate so many extra visitors. Or maybe there is simply just a need for an alternative venue. For example: The year that we did the silhouette nativity we needed to move the congregation into our hall instead of the usual sanctuary because the lighting was better. So just think through if your venue is the best place to have it or if you need to have it somewhere else.
4) Date
Likewise, figuring out the date for your nativity may not be as cut and dry. Think through when is the best time to do your nativity. Should you do it on a Sunday or different day? If you do it on a Sunday are you going to do it during the normal service or at a different time? Should you do it on Christmas day or not? In one of my previous churches we always had our nativity play at the end of November. We did this because we knew that most people, especially the families, would be away over December during the school holidays.
5) When do you practice?
You need to see when is the best time for your children, their parents and the leaders. Keep in mind the fact that a lot of the children’s lives are very busy with extra murals at school and their parents don’t want to add more to their schedules. You could choose to practice the play for about 15 mins before the end of each church service for a few weeks leading up to the play. Then on the Saturday before the play you could practice everything altogether for a few hours.
6) Costumes and Props
You will already have enough on your plate to handle without trying to organise costumes and props so try to get someone else involved or maybe even a team of people in your church to do this if possible. You can buy your costumes or props, but that can sometimes be expensive. Otherwise you can make them, but again try to get others in your church who are gifted in sewing and/or painting to do this for you.
7) Outreach Opportunity
Earlier I mentioned that the most important reason for doing a nativity play is as an outreach opportunity. First, you must make sure that you have your pastor’s support.
Second, you will need to advertise. Here are a few different ways in which you can advertise:
– Announce it in your church.
– Make flyers to hand out in the community.
– You can put posters up in the community.
– Make invites for your church to give to their family and friends.
– Make banners to put up outside your church.
– Send out emails and post it on social media.
Next you will need someone to do an evangelistic talk before or after the play. It can be your pastor if that makes sense or it can be someone else. You don’t want the talk to be long because your visitors didn’t come for a sermon, they came to watch the nativity play and you don’t want to upset them. But you do want to give a short gospel message that ends with a call for them to believe.
After the service you should have some people available to speak to or pray with those who may have questions or who made a commitment.
You also want there to be special snacks and tea or coffee available before or after the service. So that if you have visitors there is an opportunity for them to talk to others, meet new people and even engage in what was said during the talk.
Thanks for reading my post. I hope you found it helpful. Please send me any feedback, comments or questions that you may have. I would also like to hear if there are any topics that you would like me to deal with in the future. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Bye for now.
