Description
Birth of Jesus is celebrated as part of a significant anniversary milestone in an individual church’s life.
DramaShare wrote this script for a church in Washington DC, adjust names and dates to correspond to match your situations. Contact DramaShare for assistance in doing re-writes to make the script just right for your church or group.
This script is appropriate for any time of year, not necessarily for Christmas season.
Cast: 6 readers
- 6 readers (script could be adjusted to accommodate more or less. Contact DramaShare)
- Likely Readers 1, 2 and 3 will be in one grouping and Readers 4, 5 and 6 in another, separated from each other.
Bible Reference: Luke 2
Set:
- bare with music stands for scripts
Lighting: standard
Sound:
- standing mics
Song:
- “The Church’s One Foundation” By Samuel Stone and Samuel Wesley 1866
- could be sung or recording played
SFX: none
Costumes:
- likely standard although you may want to dress Readers 1, 2 and 3 in traditional costuming
- with the exception above ensure that all readers are dressed the same
Props: none
Special Instructions:
- Although memorization isn’t necessary, ensure sufficient rehearsals so that each reader learns to properly speak their lines with meaning and proper force.
- This drama is looking back, reflective, therefore readers need to slow down, allow the words and the thoughts to flow. DO NOT RUSH!
Time: 25
Sample of script:
actors come on stage to individual stations
Reader 1: Life was hard for the Jewish people. Captives in their own land, virtual slaves to the whims of their despised Roman conquerors.
Reader 2: Devout Jews held on to the promise that a Messiah, a Saviour, would be sent by God, to lead them to victory, and release from their cruel Roman masters.
Reader 3: Through hundreds of years of waiting many had given up hope. But some believed that what God had promised, God would deliver, in his time.
Reader 4: In the early 1900’s there were few options for those who were seeking a church home.
Reader 5: A small group of motivated Christians met one evening in 1910 at the home of Mrs. Mary Henderson.
Reader 6: They welcomed to their midst Reverend Adam Hendricks of Hewlett, Ohio.
Reader 1: You Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.
Reader 2: He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.
Reader 3: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he will come and redeem his people.
Reader 4: Understand that establishing a new church is more than finding a plot of land. It is more than identifying leaders, finding a pastor.
Reader 5: It is more than wood and steel and concrete, more than beams and walls and shingles.
Reader 6: The building of a Christian church is, by nature, building on the life, the instruction and on the very fundamentals of Jesus Christ, he the son of the true God.
Reader 1: In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and the line of David.
Reader 2: Joseph went to Bethlehem to register, with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
Reader 3: While Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem were in Bethlehem the time came for their baby to be born, and Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
Reader 4: In the beginning there was the work of assembling the essentials: the finances, the plans, the people for specific jobs and functions.
Reader 5: We can only guess the many struggles those initial church builders faced as they moved from concepts to actualities.
Reader 6: Struggles, problems, setbacks, disappointments . . . Yet they carried on until slowly, steadily, from the dreams and plans came a visible presence, and an emotional awakening in the hearts of all who were involved.
Reader 1: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks.
Reader 2: An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
Reader 3: But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Reader 1: Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Reader 2: This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Reader 3: Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
Readers 1, 2, 3, in unison: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.
Reader 4: Pastor Edwards reminded all of the people that, essential as were the logistics of planning and construction, the sole purpose for the building of their church was the worshipping of their God.
Reader 1: When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Reader 5: Simply being part of the church is meaningless if there is no “going” and no “seeing”, first-hand and on-going, what God is doing in his people.
Reader 2: So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.
Reader 6: A church can only be relevant if it carries Christ’s message out into the community, telling all who will listen about God’s love for all mankind.
Reader 3: And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
Reader 1: The shepherds returned,
Reader 2: Glorifying and praising God.
Reader 3: For all the things they had heard and seen.
Reader 4: And the church grew
Reader 5: And the impact of God’s message spread throughout the community.
Reader 6: And souls were saved. And lives were changed.
Reader 1: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, Magi came from the east.
Reader 2: And they asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?
Reader 3: “We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
Reader 4: Later came new pastors and new leaders. . .
Reader 5: Adams.
Reader 6: Smith.
Reader 4: Jones.
Reader 5: Williams.
Reader 6: Dunham.
Reader 4: Forsythe.
Reader 5: They came to lead, instruct and guide the congregation.
Reader 6: But the essential reason why these newcomers came to the church was . . . to worship God.
Reader 1: On coming to the house where the baby was born, they bowed down.
Reader 2: They bowed down . . . and they worshipped him.
Reader 3: And they opened their treasures . . and presented him with gifts.
Reader 1: Gold.
Reader 2: And incense.
Reader 3: And myrrh.
Reader 1: They gave to Jesus the best they had to offer.
Reader 2: They gave eagerly.
Reader 3: They gave lovingly.
Reader 4: So it has been in this church throughout the years.
