We all know that Christmas only comes once a year, but as great as the holiday season is, no one would blame you if you spent the entire year planning for it after having the holidays all but taken from us last year. The good thing about planning early is that by the time Christmas rolls around, all you’ll have left to do is let the celebrations begin.

One of the favorite things for people to do during the holidays is riding around gazing at the holiday decorations. Being that Christmas is analogous to the official holiday of the church, it’s your time to go all out. Continue reading to get some tips that will help your church light up the city “This Christmas.”

Build a nativity scene.

Indeed, people love to see the elaborate Christmas light displays that appear every holiday season, but as a church, your organization has more to offer than Christmas lights. Nativity scenes are a staple of church Christmas displays, and there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel here. However, if you want to take things up a notch, you should do a living nativity scene complete with real people, goats, and sheep. Extra points if you can get a camel and someone in your church has a baby, they’re willing to let you play the part of the star of the show.

The great thing about doing a living nativity scene is that it allows you to direct people’s attention to the reason for the season and even share in-depth with them the story of the nativity. Many churches have someone playing the role of the archangel Gabriel reading the story from the NKJC or NKJV version of the bible. It would be a shame not to take advantage of such a great opportunity to share your message and bring smiles to the faces of families in your area.

Create your own winter wonderland.

There’s something magical about snow, even though it comes with blistering cold and slip and slide road conditions. In fact, if there’s anything that can make the holidays more majestic than they already are, it’s snow.

If you live in a part of the country that doesn’t get much or any snow during the winter and the chances of a white Christmas are slim to none, you should give your community the gift of a winter wonderland. Some churches and even businesses have taken to building their own snow tunnel tours for the holidays.

Queue the artificial snow, change the net lights, and build a snow tunnel that leads to the entrance of your church or your nativity scene if you build one. You will eventually forget electronic devices and new clothes, but the memories people create at your snow tunnel will stick with them forever.

Mix Christian and secular holiday themes.

Christmas provides your church with a great opportunity to evangelize and spread the message of the church. However, if you want to attract unchurched people to your holiday display, you should consider adding secular elements to your decor as well.

Christmas is a Christian holiday, but it’s one that plenty of unbelievers love to celebrate as well. By adding secular elements such as Santa Claus, the elves, and reindeer. Finding a way to incorporate secular elements of Christmas into your church’s Christmas decor is a great way to make people who aren’t Christians feel welcome. After all, Christmas has the ability to bring people together from all walks of life.

Decorating your church for the holidays is not only a great way to spread some holiday cheer, but it could also be a great way to attract people from the surrounding community. When the holidays roll around this year, decorate with the intent of bringing people together and spreading goodwill.