Open Church

In 2024, we set up a nativity scene and invited people to dress in Biblical costume and have their photo taken. Nobody came. On December 6^th 2025, the same invite was combined with an Open Day and handed out to shoppers by shepherds roaming Shanklin town. Around 100 people came!

Whilst the others carried sheep, our largest shepherd, Leon, was deliberately given something the size of a newborn, which he tucked into his tunic – a novel take on ‘the lion and the lamb’.

On arrival, guests received a warm welcome and were offered a bag containing Christmas gifts. There were different ones for adults and children, and 50 were given out.

Several people dressed in costume to have their photo taken. This was done on their own device so there was no issue with Data Protection. An elderly man with restricted mobility was thrilled, and looked forward to sending his photo to his daughter. He was accompanied by an Irish lady with dark hair and eyes. She said that, when she was at school, it was always a blond-haired blue-eyed girl that was chosen as Mary. She was delighted that we had a dark doll in the manger.  We invited people to email us their photo if they were happy for it to be used publicly. The father in the one below said they had only left the house to get their turkey from the butcher and never expected anything like this. He told us that his children used to love coming to our toddler group, CatURpillars, but they are now at school. When informed of the upcoming ‘Messy Christmas’ event, he said they would all be there. Children enjoyed deciding which costume their parents should wear, and invariably chose animals. Various families had adults dressed as a camel, a cow, or, as in this photo, a donkey.

Around 30 church members took it in turns to help, whether by setting up, clearing away, or during the time the church building was open to the public.

Free drinks and snacks were available from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, with soup offered at lunch time. More and more chairs had to be added to the café style tables.

In addition to craft activities and toddler toys, a prayer tent was set up to which people could withdraw from the crowd, either by themselves or with prayer partners.

The whole event definitely shone a light on the real meaning of Christmas.