MGC Main and Global Celebrate the Season with “A Starry Christmas”
Makati Gospel Church (MGC) celebrated Christmas with a special production last December 17 at the school auditorium. The joint worship service brought together the congregations of the Dela Rosa and MGC Global branches.
The highlight of the program was a special skit called “A Starry Christmas,” where Church Jr members narrated the nativity story through the lens of a child. The short play concluded with a duet of “Christmas Isn’t Christmas” by Janaye Villanueva and Uel Cawaon.
The Church Jr. choir, along with some grade school students from MGCNLCA, then took to the stage and performed the song-and-dance number “Joy to the World” under the guidance of choir conductor Katherine Surigao.
The message that followed centered on the topic “Immanuel,” the fifth installment in the Christmas series “The Christmas Experience.” Church attendees listened to the message through a video about the shepherds witnessing the birth of Jesus. Reverend Harg Ang, MGC Senior Pastor, shared about the difference between long-lasting joy and short-lived happiness. He further preached about the greatest gift ever offered to humanity — the gift of salvation. “This greatest joy is for all people, at all times,” he emphasized. The special service concluded with a short discussion and a benediction led by Reverend Ang.
The play “A Starry Christmas” was first performed online during the pandemic, with the story conceptualized by alumni Villanueva and Abbie Lim. “Initially, the one online…was an all-teacher play,” Villanueva mentioned, “And then this time, we were saying, ‘Why not [ask] the kids [to] share the message of Christmas with the people?’”
The production team built on the original idea and revived the play. They refined the script to make the play cater better to an on-site audience. Lim shared, “Although there was a challenge in terms of scheduling, there was also a blessing in it [as] it became a chance for students who don’t go to Church Jr to volunteer.”
“We’re really thankful for [the] opportunity… to bring people in, and hopefully, it becomes a start for [parents] to join M-Groups, for them to make disciples, and to know God more even through a simple production like this,” Villanueva added.
