GIG HARBOR, Wash.—Discovery Baptist Church is bringing people back to the Christ of Christmas and why He came to earth. On Dec. 6 and 7, the church held a living nativity that was visited by 5,209 people. This was the 16th year the church has held the event, and it was the largest attended so far, with a 19 percent increase over last year.
Discovery Baptist started holding a living nativity in 1998 not long after the church bought wooded property and buildings in Gig Harbor. Pastor Mark Suko says, “It was perfectly situated for a drive-through like I had seen in a Tacoma church, so we started with about a dozen teens dressed up around a simple manger scene made of scrap lumber with some straw on the ground. It was on the edge of our parking lot and nestled in the woods. About 240 people drove by.” The event grew bigger each year, and it now involves about a dozen scenes, 230 costumed characters, a dozen animals, and 5,000 attenders on evenings.
The goal is to depict what it was like in the village of Bethlehem the night of Christ’s birth. Suko says, “We work hard at Biblical accuracy in narrative and interactivity with guests and weaving the gospel in. In a culture that is oriented toward materialism and moving away from Christ, we try to bring that back to the reality of the manger story.”
Originally a drive-through, the event became a walk-through three years ago because of its popularity. Upon entering the village, where characters are busy shopping, each guest is greeted by village elders and Roman soldiers taking the census. As guests move along, rabbis are at a table, discussing the scrolls. Angry Jews and Romans regularly confront one another at the tax collector booth. Near the full inn, women are talking about birth and Elizabeth’s situation. Past Herod’s court on a hill, animals, soldiers, beggars, and farmers are milling about. Then guests enter a magi tent and hear five men discussing the prophecies they have read and the star they have seen. Tiki torches, larger torches, and bonfires light the way to each scene.
Farther into the woods, shepherds are talking about their sheep around a fire. In the distance, angels appear in the darkness with smoke, light, and a flash to make their announcement that the baby Jesus has been born. Guests are encouraged to go to the manger, where they find the holy couple, shepherds, and animals, and are invited to see the baby.
Behind the manger up on a hill is the final scene: a cross next to a huge torch and a display of Hebrews 9:28: “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
As guests depart, they are thanked and given gospel literature about the real meaning of Christmas plus a detailed historical explanation about each scene they have viewed. Some guests walk the grounds again, and others return to their cars, where hot cocoa is provided by a neighboring church.
On the final evening, all of the characters and any guests who are visiting gather at the manger. There, with many moved to tears, everyone sings carols and hears the gospel and a brief message about the birth of Christ.
Discovery Baptist Church has received hundreds of expressions of appreciation from the community for setting up its nativity village. One guest said, “Along with our grandchildren, we were truly transported back to experience a visual understanding of the cultural setting of the arrival and birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our tradition on Christmas day has always been to read the Biblical accounting in Luke of the birth of Christ. Now both we and our legacy will have a vivid visual expression of that event because of your gift of service.
“We remarked on the excellence in detail at every step of the town, the shops, the actors. . . . The Biblical accounts at the Bethlehem town were a testimony for believers and yet were presented to the unbeliever for understanding not stripped of truth/content for comfort or offense.”
This visitor’s response shows “the value of such an event, and even of celebrating Christ’s birth,” Suko says. “We are not commanded in Scripture to celebrate Christmas or Easter, yet it is good to remember all that God has done for us. This becomes especially useful for the church at times when the general culture we live in is more receptive to that message, such as at Christmas.”
As a result of Discovery Baptist’s living nativity, people on another continent will hear the gospel as well. While Suko was spending time in Ukraine, one church asked how they could hold such an event. “I sat down and talked with the pastors and later sent them an information pack,” Suko says. “This Christmas they will do their second one in Odessa. Several other U.S. churches have asked also, and we try to help them when we can.”
