Bethlehem Nativity Encounter Shows Muslims True Christmas Meaning
As pilgrims from around the world flock to Bethlehem for Christmas and the Eastern Orthodox celebration on January 6, a Christian group continues to bring the timeless story of the birth of Christ to life. Volunteers from the First Baptist Church in Bethlehem are welcoming visitors as well as the native Muslim population into the Nativity Encounter, a program that runs through Orthodox Christmas.
Metro Voice recently reported that, since the Palestinian and Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, traditional Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem were canceled. That changed this year as a Christmas tree adorned the main square in the city and the new outreach began. The Nativity Encounter persists as a space for both education and hope.
“The demographics of Bethlehem changed quite a bit,” Pastor Steven Khoury told CBN News. “We saw Christianity in Bethlehem go from being the majority, close to 80 percent and 20 percent Muslim population, to today, 22 to 23 years later, completely swapped. The good thing is, we discovered that the Muslim population in Bethlehem is very open. So we see and know there’s opportunity.”
This means the story of the Shepherd’s Field, where angels first announced the Messiah’s birth, and the identity of Christ’s birthplace, remain largely unknown among the city’s population.
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“Now, there are many things we didn’t know — for example, the birth of Christ — we frankly didn’t have that background that one knows,” a Muslim woman said. “So, we learned so many things and honestly, the kids also saw them. I mean, we hadn’t even left the tent yet, and the kids started asking, ‘Mom, what is this?'”
The vision for the Nativity Encounter came during a ministry trip, where Khoury saw an openness to the gospel.
“I’m in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world,” he said. “I see they’re building bridges between a Muslim and a Christian community. Came back to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, where I live, I minister. And we said, ‘Why can’t we do the same thing to help bring Jesus into the eyes and the hearts of both the Muslims and the Jews in Israel in a creative way?”
Organizers said the Nativity Encounter is opening new doors into local schools, with students coming onto the field.
“One of the things that’s new this year is we have, roughly 1,000 students from all of the different K-12 schools going through our Nativity Encounter,” Khoury said. “And this is something new. It gives us an opportunity to sow a very impressionable seed into their lives at a very early and impressionable age.”
For Bethlehem’s Muslim community, the Nativity Encounter is becoming a place of shared learning and understanding.
“There’s only one Bethlehem in the world,” Khoury said. “There’s only one place where we know we can claim to be the birth city of the savior. The king of the world. Bethlehem is a city of hope to the world. But unfortunately, we live in an era where people, local people — community, Muslims and Christians — have forgotten that the Prince of Peace, that this is the city of hope. And we’re trying to bring hope back to his birth city.”
–Alan Goforth
