Interactive Nativity Provides Lively Experience at Bella Vista Church

A large, bright star will guide people to Bella Vista Christian Church for its living, interactive nativity.

The portrayal of the night of Christ's birth will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday.

The church's star sits atop a barn-like structure filled with hay bales and scattered straw. It is part of the nativity set church members have been working on for the last several weekends. Church members in costume will tell the story of Christ's birth among cattle, donkeys, goats and camels as people stroll through the manger scene.

"I want people to fully experience the Christmas story," said Amy Talbert, worship arts minister of Bella Vista Christian Church and organizer of the event. "The idea is for people to get out of their cars, walk up and experience it."

The animals will be behind pine fences to keep them from roaming, but they will be available for petting.

Talbert -- who also organized the event last year -- said the nativity is a way her church can reach out to the community and share the Christmas story.

"Nonbelievers can come and hear the true meaning of Christmas -- in a nonthreatening way -- and have a good time," Talbert said.

Mary Maurer of Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fayetteville has organized her church's live nativity for 28 years. This year's presentation was Dec. 7.

"It gives the spirit of Christmas that people may be missing, she said. "After we do the nativity, it signals to me that Christmas really is here."

Rolling Hills has church members dressed in costume to answer questions about the story of Christ's birth, but it also has costumes available for viewers to wear, so they can be a part of the experience, Maurer said.

"I like looking at the statuettes, but to actually see the people moving and to see the livestock, it helps the mind absorb the whole concept to understand more of what it was like," she said.

Riding a camel around the church and up to the nativity also helps patrons experience what it might have been like for the wise men, Maurer said.

"The last several years we've had camel rides, and it's an experience in itself," she said. "You come around the corner and see the set lit up with the characters and the costumes. It just overwhelms you."

Camel rides will not be available at Bella Vista Christian, but children who attend will receive an ornament, a sticker page and a candy cane, Talbert said.