Sharing the Christmas message from home
When the Willmott family staged a 'stay-at-home' Christmas service back in 2005, little did they know it would be the forerunner to the current much greater 'stay-at-home' Covid challenge!
Back then, four-year-old Ben and two-year-old Lois had gone down with chicken pox and so mum and dad, Paul and Vanessa, converted the living room into 'church' for a Christmas morning service. This is what they got up to ... They sang carols together, Paul gave donkey rides to the children as they all acted through the Nativity story. They prayed and talked about Jesus being relevant in people’s lives today.
Counties Evangelist Paul, normally visits 28 primary schools across the West Midlands, speaking to around 10,000 youngsters and staff each month. But since lockdown, he's only actually spoken in person to about 130 kids in a handful of settings. Christmas is probably his busiest time of the year and, having worked full-time in the schools for almost half his life, has no intention of being silenced by lockdown! Paul will be making use of today’s technology using video conferencing to present the message of Jesus birth ‘Live’ in classrooms during December.
It's been his mission to share the real meaning of Christmas with children after his own realisation as a ten-year-old that he had "to do something about the Bible messages as they were more than just stories”. Paul therefore fully relates to children's enquiring minds. He recalls one occasion when he was asked if what he'd shared about the Wise Men was true: "..when I answered 'yes', they said 'wow, that's amazing!'. Responses like this make it all worthwhile!”
Paul remains totally optimistic that in this year of great challenges, kids will continue to be amazed at the message of Jesus. Along with live video calls, he will be exploring Christmas this year in a series of assembly videos, titled, “Through the eyes of ...” looking at how different people may have seen that first Christmas?. All of this specially produced from his Stourbridge home. Take a look his YouTube channel: “Paul Willmott”, search for “Paul at Home | thought the eyes of ...”
He has also prepared four puppet videos, on the theme of Advent, featuring his special puppet character, Twist. “I miss the personal interaction with the children but although my numbers in persons are obviously low, in many ways they are up as online videos are available to anyone who wants to watch or use them," said Paul. Why not check out “Twist Online” on YouTube, search for “2 Minute Twist | Advent”.
Meanwhile as a youngster himself Paul always homed in on the 'nice' things at Christmas such as presents...but then "There was a gradual realisation that God was not only real but also wanted to be real in my life”. He adds: "After years of hearing about God, I realised that I could know God for myself, and I have continued to discover even more. It's an exciting daily walk with him."
Zooming into 2020, Paul's own children successfully passed exams - albeit, in these unprecedented times, based solely on teacher assessments. Ben is taking a gap year to do mission work after his A levels while Lois has just started her own A-levels. At 19 and 17, they're both now old enough to remember 'stay-at-home' festivities with a difference ... but the real meaning of Christmas never changes - the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
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