Every year, Antioch Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas hosts Bethlehem Revisited in December. My family has attended several times and we absolutely love it! Their “live nativity” has grown so big that they now do things a little different than when I was a kid.
Upon arriving, you are welcomed in the church’s foyer, where you register your party. Everyone is assigned a group number and put on a group waiting list. While you wait for your group number to be called, you can enjoy hot chocolate, fresh cookies, and live worship music in the sanctuary. The wait goes by fast when you are having fun celebrating Christmas in the sanctuary!
Once your group number is called, you make the trek through the church to the start of the nativity tour. The tour starts when a Roman Guard comes to collect your group. The guard takes your group on the “long” journey to Bethlehem in search of the newborn King. Along the way, you stop to hear from Isaiah, the wisemen, and more people. As you approach Bethlehem, you are warned to pay your taxes before you can enter the city. When you finally arrive in Bethlehem, it is a very immersive and interactive experience like nothing else!
Bethlehem is a huge city with lots of little fires burning to keep you warm on cold nights. The sheckles you are given upon entering can be used to pay for toys, food, and other cool little trinkets. Stalls line the perimeter of the city for everything you could need. You can make a candle, try beauty products, watch bricks and pottery being made, learn basket weaving, visit the Temple to hear the scrolls being read in Hebrew, learn how to make candy, get a headband with Shalom written on it in Hebrew, sample fresh bread and cheese, and much more! Samples of food and freshly cooked deer meat are available for tasting. Camels and donkeys reside in the city waiting to finish the journey to meet Christ the King.
When you have experienced all the fun and are ready to leave the city, you make your way to the city gates, where you turn in whatever money you did not spend. Once a Roman Guard comes to collect the departing group, you are taken on the last part of the tour – to see the newborn King. At the stable, you will see Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus Christ. After hearing about His birth, you will end the tour at the cross where He died for our sins.
An extremely impactful event, this live nativity is open and free to anyone. It is definitely an event that you do not want to miss! No matter what you believe, both kids and adults have a very fun experience at Bethlehem Revisited every year. Several thousand people attend every single year, with it growing each year. You will neither be disappointed nor run out of things to do in Bethlehem. You will be suprised at how long you will stay in Bethlehem seeing, doing, and participating in the city’s activities!
Look for the upcoming dates to be announced on their Facebook page around November of every year. To view a video of the event that puts it in a much better perspective, click here to see it in action.
I highly recommended this event to anyone who has kids and/or grandkids. While it is still a fun experience for my adult self and mother, it is much more fun with kids running around with us. My mom and I recommend this experience to everyone in our lives that has never heard of it before. While it does make for a late night, it is well worth the time! Make a family date out of it and go to dinner beforehand. Although, save a little room for fresh cookies before and after your journey to Bethlehem.
How was your experience at Bethlehem Revisited?