Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Journey to Bethlehem

Last week, I had a wonderful meeting with a friend from college. She was in the area visiting her brother for a few days. Melissa is a missionary to Romania where she ministers to young ladies and children. After eating our lunch, she pulled out her photo album from her most recent years in Romania.

I was encouraged by all the creativity they put into their ministry opportunities. One of them is so fitting for this season; it's called, "The Journey to Bethlehem." Basically, the church rooms are set up as parts of the Nativity story. I received these pictures via e-mail a few days ago, so I hope I've put them in the right order and have described them correctly. I love this idea as it really brings the Bible story to life. I'm definitely keeping this in mind for next year. Perhaps the pastor will let me help put this together. (wink;) Some of you may not know this, but the pastor is my husband!

Here are the pictures of "The Journey to Bethlehem":

I believe this is the part where everyone is paying their taxes. At each stop, there were people who dressed the part and helped the children participate in the activity.

The angels are proclaiming to the shepherds that baby Jesus was born.

These are the shepherds on their way to see Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.

The innkeeper tells everyone that there is "no room at the inn."

Mary, Joseph and Jesus are surrounded by the animals and visited by the wise men.

Isn't this such a great idea? I love it! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, remembering why we celebrate. Jesus came to earth to die on a cross to take away our sin. We can have eternal life through Him because of this precious gift.

Merry Christmas from me and Q! 

1 comment:

Erin said...

The church my dad used to pastor did this, but it was outside and with real animals. They had a wonderful community response every year.