Tell the story of the Bible
This first suggestion might seem like stating the obvious, but with every nativity play featuring an octopus, a robot or Lord Alan Sugar, sticking with what’s actually in the Bible will make your assembly immediately different. In fact, you could go even further: so many traditions have grown up around the Christmas story that are never mentioned by Matthew or Luke. Leaving out the donkey, the innkeeper and, dare I say it, the stable will give you a chance to tell the good news of the incarnation in a fresh and surprising way.
Be creative with your surroundings
You might not be able to do much in terms of setting the scene with props, set or lighting. The likelihood is that you will only gain access to the space where you’re doing the assembly a few minutes before you start. Any props or scenery you use have to be instantly created or brought with you (and a lifesize angel can be a bit of a hindrance on a crowded bus).
Instead, think about the layout of the room you’re in. There is a lot of travelling in the Christmas story; is there any way you can actually travel around, or even out of and back into the room? Even something as simple as this will be memorable for children, who will be used to assemblies (however exciting and interactive they may be) being led exclusively from the front. Indeed, you could do more than that and present different parts of your assembly from different parts of the room (meaning that the children have to turn around to see you).
Props and scenery are still a possibility. If you arrive in a car, you can of course bring a lot of stuff with you, but bear in mind that you’ll still need time to set everything up and take it all down again as the room might be needed straight after your assembly. However, there are simple and effective solutions: throw a piece of coloured cloth over a table or a couple of chairs and it immediately becomes a house or the temple. Use lining paper to create a backdrop, which you could unroll and ask some volunteers to hold up behind you. All it requires is a little imagination!
Be creative with the children
Even if you can’t use any props or scenery, there is one resource in the room that you can use: the children! If the school is happy for you to do so, move the children around to create the different areas of the story. Sitting some children in a square can become Mary’s house when she is visited by the angel or Herod’s palace when he is visited by the wise men. Alternatively, you can create a pathway through the children to symbolise the shepherds’ path down the hillside.
Be reflective
The children will be shown the Christmas story many times in one form or another, but they are likely to experience all these retellings passively, with someone presenting the story to them (and maybe telling them what it means to Christians). However, they are unlikely to be asked to think about the events of the story, to imagine themselves inside it and to reflect on how the characters might have felt or why they acted the way they did. They probably won’t be asked what they would have done in that situation.
Ask the children to imagine they are one of the characters and decide what they would have been thinking or feeling. Encourage the children to imagine that they are there in the story themselves. What are they thinking? What might happen next? Provide space for immediate reactions and longer reflection.
What happened next…
Don’t leave the story with the wise men or the escape to Egypt. Make sure you link this Jesus with the Jesus you may have already told the children about: the one who does miracles, teaches, tells parables and forgives. Don’t let Jesus be put away when all the decorations come down. If you have any suggestions of what has gone well for you in Christmas assemblies, let us know via Facebook and Twitter.
