Something new is brewing at Elevate Europe, and we wanted you to be among the first to know.
About 30 years ago, I (Jeff) wrote a play telling the Christmas story through the eyes of the innkeeper and his family. The Bible doesn’t give us much to go on, so I filled in the gaps with imagination — weaving the birth of Jesus around an ordinary Bethlehem family suddenly thrust into the middle of God’s redemptive plan.
The play, ‘Christmas at Bethlehem Inn’, debuted at Cornerstone Church in Jackson, Mississippi. And a few years later, after we moved to Brussels, we used the play in our annual Christmas production at Brussels Christian Center.
A Story That Traveled Further Than We Expected
Soon after that, I built a website and quietly offered the script to other churches. Word spread slowly — but it spread.
Since then, churches in 16 states, plus Spain, Portugal, South Africa, and Belgium have used the play.
Some of the more memorable productions include:
- A two-thousand member church in Ft. Worth, Texas produced the play with such excellence that it inspired me to upgrade the website, script and bonuses, to help it reach a wider audience.
- A Sri Lankan radio producer produced the play for a Christmas Eve audio broadcast – reaching more than 100,000 listeners in that part of the world!
- And a church in Michigan used the play as a Christmas outreach dinner theater.
But we believe it has much further to go. And that’s where you come in.
What’s Next — and Why It Matters
Right now, we are working to relaunch ‘Christmas at Bethlehem Inn’ as a multilingual resource provided by Elevate Europe and planning to offer the play to churches at no cost in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Our hope is that more churches will be able to use this play to share the Christmas story in their own language and cultural voice. (Europe has 24 official languages — so there’s lots of room to grow!)
You’re Part of This
Your support makes it possible to invest in translations, web development, and promotion to help that happen.
You’re on the ground floor of what we hope will become a long-term resource for churches across Europe and beyond.
Thank you making this resource possible and for helping us carry this story farther than we ever imagined it would go.
You continue to make a difference!
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