Christmas Plays, Pageants and Prayers

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and, if you’re feeling pressure to put on a pageant but haven’t yet nailed down the details, here are some ideas.

One of my favorite bloggers is Presbyterian pastor Theresa Cho. In addition to excellent ideas for intergenerational ministry, she has posted two Christmas play possibilities. Both are easy and meaningful. Check out Theresa’s ideas for 'No Stress, No Fuss, Christmas Pageant and Worship' and her plans for an Interactive Nativity Story .

The Very Best Gift of All, Child of God and More Than a Story are just three of the excellent One Rehearsal Christmas Plays available from Faith Alive Resources. I’ve used all of the plays in this series at my own church and they really are only one rehearsal!  Authors Robert and Laura Keeley believe that a Christmas program should be meaningful, value children, project a sense of wonder, and be as fun to prepare as it is to put on. Child readers are assigned roles the week before the program (yes, the week before) and commit to reading their lines aloud once a day. Young children sing familiar and simple Christmas choruses and songs. The day of the program (yes, the day of) children arrive early for a walk-through of the play. The result: kids who feel great about leading worship, families who enjoyed watching their kids participate, and a meaningful message for all.

If you’d like to try something intergenerational and interactive, consider pulling the Christmas event ‘God Moved Into the Neighborhood’ from WE: The Epic Story or, gather all ages and make simple ornaments together using WE: Expectations.  Traci Smith, author of Seamless Faith: Simple Practices for Daily Family Life (a great gift for the families in your congregation) has adapted ideas to create these instructions for Advent Prayer Stations .

How about you? Have any ideas to share about other ways to include children in a congregation’s Christmas celebration?