Evangelistic Outreach through Christmas Musical
A growing trend of churches reaching out to the seeker or the nonbeliever in high-tech or culturally relevant ways does not erase the many who are willing to use traditional formats like musicals.
This Christmas, churches across the country are performing the original Christmas musical, Jesus, Our Treasure, produced by LifeWay Worship Music Group, along with tips on how to evangelize effectively through it.
"God wrote this," said Harland, director of LifeWay Worship Music Group. "It is the most evangelical thing I have ever written. It just all came together, and it had God’s hand all over it."
The Christmas story of the birth of Jesus is told from the perspective of Jacob, an old shepherd, telling his young granddaughter his personal witness of Christ in the manager and Christ on the cross.
Throughout the musical, the old shepherd Jacob shares with his granddaughter Miriam his firsthand experience at seeing the angels and then traveling to see the baby in the manger.
The musical also explores Herod’s fear and insecurity that led to the death of the firstborn sons. Jacob then shares how God’s firstborn Son was sacrificed to cover the sins of mankind, including Miriam’s.
"The musical is relevant because it is about forgiveness and Christmas is a time when people are feeling joyful and happy, but might be dealing with family strife as people come together, or have painful memories that haven’t healed,” Kimbrough said. “This musical addresses all of that."
Eric Burton, music minister at Big Stevens Baptist Church in North Augusta, S.C., selected the musical for his choir’s performance because of "the strength of the music and the drama married together."
Burton was also impressed with the evangelistic touch of the story.
"We love musicals that don’t leave Christ in the manger, but presents the whole story - the birth, death and resurrection of Christ," said Burton. "The story doesn’t show that Christ was born and then expects audience members to come back three months later for the Easter musical to see that he died and was resurrected. This story presents Him as the Redeemer."
To maximize any musical’s outreach effectiveness, Gary Hardin for LifeWay, wrote a ten-step guide that included methods like scheduling properly by clearing the calendar so that “the most people can be present,” and having multiple shows. Also he included marketing tactics like promoting it as a “gift” to the community and printing free tickets for distribution.
Hardin also said to train the cast and crew so that they know the purpose of the event is evangelistic and also including a time to invite people to come to Christ at the end of the musical, and offering refreshments at the end of the event so that attendants have time to talk about it with nonbelievers.
A last suggestion is to pray for God’s blessing.
