Event: The Magic and Mystery of Christmas
Church: St Luke's, Northmead
When: Sunday December 24, 6pm
The activities: The church was decked out in a "winter wonderland' of decorations.
"Often churches choose to rubbish Christmas as overly commercial, but we decided to totally buy into the Christmas spirit and embrace the positive aspects of this time of year," says Northmead assistant minister the Rev Neil Durrant.
The church band performed Christmas carols with a rock edge merging carols like "We Three Kings' and "Joy to the World' with chart hits like Franz Ferdiand's "Take Me Out' and The Knack's "My Sharona'.
There was an evangelistic talk, Bible readings illustrated by Lego figures and the pulling of Christmas crackers.
Where: St Luke's church building
Attendance: 300 in total including 50 guests
Elements that worked best
"The injection of rock music and pulling crackers created a good vibe for people," Mr Durant says. "The talk reminded people that Christmas and Christianity have many good aspects but they're fundamentally about forgiveness. That's the "magic' of Christianity."
What could be improved?
"I would probably have more carols because people expect to sing a lot," Mr Durrant says. "I would like to go bigger on decorations, get a smoke machine and begin organising things earlier in the year."
"We had kids do the prayers which was good, but I would get an adult to wrap up prayer time to make clear to guests the seriousness of prayer."
