'The best school trip I have ever been on' 

A small Baptist church in Hampshire has given the local community a sense of awe and wonder through its evocative recreation of the nativity story. 

The Christmas Walkthrough at Lyndhurst Baptist Church features theatre quality sets with appropriate smells and sounds alongside a group of hard working volunteers to share the story of how Jesus was born.  

Since launching in 2019 the church has welcomed nearly 2000 people to the experience, with excellent feedback. This year it featured widely in local media, including on BBC South Today and Radio Solent. 

Minister Paul Burnish explains more  

We first did the Christmas Walkthrough back in 2019, then in 2021 and again this year. We really wanted to do something that would share the real meaning of Christmas with others around us. I had heard from my sister of a church near her that did something similar where children from the local school would go along and meet a shepherd, a wise man, Mary, Joseph and of course the baby Jesus.  

I thought this sounded great and then we found a book called Christmas Through the Keyhole, written by Redlands Trust. We read it and thought we could do something with it. It might be a good outreach to our local schools we had been working hard to build a good relationship with.

I went to visit one of my members, Peter Webb, who is a builder and carpenter. We talked about wanting to really wow the children and give them a sense of awe and wonder. We decided that we would try and make it as good as we possibly could, and instead of problems we found solutions.  

We thought what we were doing was completely normal but only afterwards did we realise that we had put on something exceptional. We built theatre quality sets and created an immersive and interactive experience.  




The different elements of the walkthrough

We are blessed to have a separate hall and church and some nice grounds, and have used these to their fullest extent.  

We turned our hall into a modern day front room, complete with chimney breast. To start the journey we created an enormous present in front of one of the doors so the children had to go through the present into the past.  

We utilised a lean-to at the side of the church hall and turned this into Joseph's workshop. We turned our vestry into Mary's House.  

The sanctuary was emptied of chairs, completely blacked out and we then hung black roof liner round the walls to create a shepherds field with a fire. It was in here that we really managed to create that sense of awe and wonder. We created a screen of clear plastic and then back projected a night sky onto it.  

At the appropriate point an angel appeared and spoke to the children accompanied by music and a heavenly choir and then just as quickly disappeared.  

Our church foyer was turned into the Magi's tent and was filled with beautiful fabrics, ornaments and the smells of frankincense and myrrh.  

We created a door for the children to knock on where they met a very grumpy innkeeper and then finally we turned our creche into the stable.  



In the stable we had a wise man, a shepherd, Mary, Jospeh and baby Jesus.  The children could ask them questions. Without fail every adult and child walked into the stable and were whispering so as not to wake the baby.  

One child was so involved in the whole experience and convinced that not only had we taken them back in time but had transported them to Bethlehem that when they were asked by one of the nativity characters where they had come from they replied, "We're from England!"

In every room they were told pieces of information, they could handle the artefacts and we filled the rooms with sounds, smells and lighting to make them as atmospheric as possible. In the stable for example, we had some wool which still had all of the lanolin in it and so made the stable smell very authentic!  

Also in every room the children were given a souvenir to put in their envelope to remember what had happened in each room. These were: a piece of wood from Joseph's workshop, a cut out and colour in Angel in Mary's House, a colour in sheep with some very important information on it in the shepherd's field, a sparkly star to hang on their Christmas tree from the Magi's tent, and a bundle of hay on the stable to also hang on their Christmas Tree.  


The church volunteers

Over the three years that we have done it we have had nearly 2000 people come through our small church. Most of the people who help me are retired and essentially go back to full time work for two weeks.

Some of those who helped have even taken time off work just to come and be involved as they feel it is so important to do it. They all fulfil essential roles and without them the whole thing would not be possible as each person has an important part to play, which makes the whole thing work.

I am very proud of them and their commitment to sharing the gospel with the community. 
 

An item about the Christmas Walkthrough at Lyndhurst Baptist Church appeared on BBC South Today on 27 November. Pictured is minister Paul Burnish 
 

'Amazing' feedback

We have had some amazing feedback from the teachers, children and adults who have come along. Some of the teachers then brought their own families along to experience it when we opened to the public.  

The headteacher of Bartley Junior School, Miss Karen Stonehouse, visited the first year. She was so impressed she said when we did it again she would like her whole school to come and experience it.  

Another lady who runs a business in the village was also there on the same tour and said she would pay for the coach travel for the school to come. So, 370 children came over a period of 4 days with coaches doing shuttle runs between Bartley and Lyndhurst. Every child in Bartley wrote us a thank you letter.  

Our village school, St Michael and All Angels CE Infant School, have come every year. St Michael's is part of the Oaks Learning Federation and this year brought the other two schools, Copythorne and Netley Marsh Infant Schools with them.  The headteacher, Mr Mathew Bowen, remarked to me the other day that the children were absolutely blown away by it, as were the staff. One staff member remarked they felt "ready to start Christmas" and another just loved seeing the looks on the faces of the children and the excited chatter about having been to the walkthrough. 

Tiptoe Primary School who were recommended the walkthrough by a teacher at St Michael's, came. One child said it was, "The best school trip that they had ever been on" and another said, "I will never, ever, ever forget this." We already have schools asking about when we are doing it again and can they book.  


'The entire event is free because the gospel is free'

The entire event is free because the gospel is free, but this also serves as a talking point and gives us an opportunity to explain why we are doing it. People are amazed at the quality and the amount of work that has gone into it - and cannot believe we don't ask for money.  

We tell them it is more important for people to know the true meaning of Christmas than it is for us to make money. Our mission budget goes towards it and it is a conscious decision of the church to do it.  

Paul Burnish is the minister of Lyndhurst Baptist Church