Jan Spence created this short Christmas Eve children's program for her small, rural church. It includes five brief scenes built around a suggested order of worship. Clergy can easily write a meditation to complete the service.
Speaking parts are available for a narrator and two readers. These roles are appropriate for junior or senior high students.
Any number of younger children can easily be added in non-speaking roles as shepherds, angels, and wise men. The program also includes speaking roles for Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.
The service has appropriate breaks for carols or songs by children's choirs.
Narrator: " What shall we do with this baby? Yes this is the question that has echoed through time. Nothing is more helpless and needy than an infant alone. Without human help, a baby alone cannot thrive or survive. What shall we do with this baby indeed " (from scene 1)
Jan Spence was the Sunday School superintendent of West Mendon United Methodist Church, Mendon, Michigan, when she created this Christmas Eve service to involve children, youth, and young families in her small, rural congregation.