I KILLED THE LIVING NATIVITY

I love Christmas time, I really do. But what you are about to read is likely to make you think I’m a descendant of Ebenzer Scrooge or the Grinch.  

So, Buckle up Buttercup.

I became a youth pastor at a very traditional and affluent 125 year old (at that time) church in the deep south. It was an awesome church in many ways but also one which was struggling with the fact that it was no longer what it once was in terms of effectiveness at its location. 

Granted, it supported missions, church plants, one of which was succeeding wildly at reaching the community in which it was planted, and that daughter church was about to sponsor its own church plant. The granddaughter church would grow to eclipse both the grandmother and mother church in years to come-but I digress.

I was called as the Student pastor and rolled into town with a few years of ministry experience under my belt, a seminary degree, a young family and the pragmatic sense to know that if you are having to manufacture energy to do some ministry activity, if people weren’t volunteering for a ministry initiative, if a ministry activity you were doing was overburdening your people, exhausting them, causing everyone who spoke about to roll their eyes and….that activity which was creating all this was not bearing fruit it might be time to rethink doing that activity, it might be time to shut it down, say goodbye to it or at least deep six it for a while and do a very very critical evaluation before ever bringing it back.

All that being said….

I killed the Youth Living Nativity, not actively mind you…just through some important questions and observations. 

Even more true, I don’t think I killed it actually, it was mostly dead when I got there. 

Every time someone would reference the Living Nativity they would….

• Roll their eyes
• Say; “did you hear about the time the donkeys ran away?”
• Remark; “It’s really difficult to get volunteers.” 
• Laugh about the volunteer who struggled to put ointment in the camel’s eye and was almost bit each time.

I asked a few simple questions; 

• Why are we doing it then? 
• Why is it fully on the student ministry to lead the Living Nativity?
• Isn’t it or shouldn’t it be something the entire church does? 

Something wasn’t adding up, people eye rolled at its mention, no one wanted to volunteer and we really couldn’t point to lasting fruit or impact…Why were we doing this?

Enter a church deacon with the taped together news article copied on a well worn paper.  I’ll call him “The Advocate.” He was a really nice guy by the way.

Apparently at some point in time, some place in US America, a depressed and suicidal man during the holiday season drove through a living nativity, he listened to the cassette tape he was given which guided a participant through the Live Nativity experience. The man was so moved he decided not to end his life, he wrote a letter to the local newspaper of his account and the Advocate clipped the article, and this source document became the yearly justification for the Youth Living Nativity. 

First, praise God that the man found hope and help through a ministry of the local church, I’m for that. Let’s not ever forget that there is hope in Christ and ministry to be done in reaching the hurting, especially during the holidays.

Second, accessible public ministry where random passers-by can engage?  Again, all for that, but let’s also recognize the sovereignty of God in orchestrating all the variables that December night for this despondent man. 

Third, that it happened once doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen every year, nor does it necessarily justify a yearly commitment to one specific ministry. 

What are we to do? 

• Repeat something over and over because it worked once, sometime, somewhere?
• Be manipulated into continuing a specific ministry program because of a success story that took place years ago-and not even at the place God has located us as a church?
• Only do things which are guaranteed to be fruitful?
• Keep burdening God’s people during an already busy season and never or rarely evaluate if we should keep a ministry going?

It’s not simple, although we want it to be.  Here’s my suggestion.

Listen for the guidance of God, through the Holy Spirit as demonstrated in the people of God, together. 

The clipped article, presented by the Advocate, had assumed the place of authority-it was directing our ministry, it was telling us what we must do, had to do, even when passion and support was waning in the body. 

And a little additional information…like it is in many places, The Advocate was no longer offering to organize, lead or volunteer to make this happen, he wanted it done, he wanted me and others to do it, but he wasn’t offering to help.

Did God want us to continue the Living Nativity? I didn’t think so based on what I saw and heard from the body.

So we stopped doing it.

Hear this, I was not against doing a Live Nativity. What I was not for was it being something that only the student ministry shouldered each year. I was against propping up a program that people thought was nice but really didn’t want to volunteer for and I was not for allowing a paper clipped article determine the direction of our ministry.

By the way….the church I’m talking about, they’re doing the Live Nativity again.  And I for one, hope that it reaches someone in need…that the volunteers are enthusiastically serving and that the Camel doesn’t bite anyone.

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