Christmas Celebrations 2016
This year’s Christmas was extra special as it fell on a Sunday! What a joy it was to gather as a church to celebrate the birth of our Saviour on 25 December 2016 — Christmas Day itself.
Many in our congregation had invited their loved ones and friends to encounter the Lord Jesus at our Christmas services themed, “Hope Alight”. Excitement was in the air at the service venues across Singapore as our ushers and ambassadors greeted the incoming congregation with “Blessed Christmas!” and gave out cards with LED star badges for them to pen down their three prayer requests for 2017.
Our congregation also enjoyed live carolling, while decorative props were available for them to take photos. On this joyous occasion, those at Marina Bay Sands were also able to worship together in one main ballroom.
The services opened to the tunes of time-honoured Christmas hymns like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. This was followed by a musical drama, a creative retelling of the Nativity story, where a harlot discovered divine Love who accepted her unconditionally and restored her broken hopes and dream. As a fitting finale to the musical, the congregation joined in by lifting their voices to the song “O Holy Night” and illuminating their star badges — a beautiful reminder of the blessed hope we have in Christ Jesus.
Hope Alight Musical
Behind-The-Scenes Footage
https://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/nccmain/Updates/Church%20Event%20Reports/Christmas%202016/hope-alight-bts.mp4
Senior Pastor Joseph Prince then took to the stage to share his Christmas message on God's love for us, embodied in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to redeem us so that we do not have to live in fear, but have peace. At the end of the sermon, he prayed with those who chose to receive Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and then he led the congregation to pray for the Lord’s blessing over the three prayer requests for the year ahead. The services ended on a high note with Pastor Prince’s family joining him on stage to lead the congregation in classic Christmas carols such as “Silent Night” and “Feliz Navidad”.
At our children’s ministry Rock Kidz, the little ones were treated to a host of fun-filled activities where they learnt about the true reason for Christmas through Bible stories and games. The children present were each blessed with a Christmas gift.
Over at our Chinese services, the celebrations kicked off with a joyful Christmas medley sung in Hokkien and Mandarin. They were then encouraged by Pastor Mark Ng who shared on the love of our heavenly Father, and the hope we have in Christ.
