Community Corner
Park Evangelical Church Hosts Drive-Through Nativity Scene (VIDEO)
The church has held the event for about 20 years
For about 20 years, the Park Evangelical Free Church on Roosevelt Place has hosted a drive-through nativity scene, with members of the New City church acting out the birth of Jesus.
There are five scenes to drive and see, some with live animals, and each car that comes to the church is given a CD or cassette tape to listen to while driving through that reads the scripture each scene is depicting. The entire show runs maybe 15 minutes or so.
“We felt like the media was not telling the true Christmas story,” said Pastor Doug Welch of the Park Church. “We wanted to share the story with the community about the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s something that we feel gets lost in all the focus on other things around this time of year.”
The drive-through is a one-night event held the second Saturday each December and is free. Welch said they don’t make anyone sign up for anything to come see the show. Each car was given a few pamphlets, some about the story of Christmas and others with some information about the church in case anyone was interested in joining or learning more about youth programs the church offers.
Welch estimated the drive-through brings about 150 cars to the church each year, bringing somewhere between 500-525 people to the grounds.
“If we tried to do a live nativity scene inside or even on the lawn, we wouldn’t get that many people here,” he said. “There’d be no room for all of them to park.”
