We would like to thank the BUV for their kind support of our annual Christmas Carols event. The carols in Yarra Glen are a much anticipated whole community event, we are excited to find in the crowd, along with the locals, people who have travelled for an hour to be there and have our carols in their calendar as a part of their regular Christmas traditions. It is such an honour and a huge opportunity to share about God’s love for mankind in an open space.

The 2018 Carols was an interesting event, with rain pouring down for the week prior and the morning before, it looked like the whole thing would need to be cancelled. But with determination, many churches praying and the willingness of the sound and lighting team to set up in wet weather we were able to go ahead. Surprisingly even with the forecast report looming the crowd continued to grow to our regular approximate of 1,500!

We are very blessed to have Life Ministry Church from Chirnside Park play as our main carols band. They have a beautiful modern sound, a wide range of instruments and are a truly talented bunch of people! Other entertainment singers bring high quality performances of a Christmas song of their choice, many of these singers have volunteered their time to sing in Yarra Glen for many years, these songs are spread throughout the night along with the traditional carols. We also have performances from the local primary school, kindergarten and a dance performance by our local ballet school. The CFA brings the fire truck and Santa, who gives each child a bag of chocolate from the local Chocolatrie. This event also takes the whole community to run!!

This year we intended to share a Christmas Story of Love through a narrated sand animation, but the weather turned just after half way through the night and we had to finish for the safety of the performers and because the crowd had partially dispersed.  Disappointing as it was to not share the Christmas message as we had planned, we had for the first time written a Christmas message in the program for the night, which had been handed out to each family that came, so we pray that people will read that message of God’s love coming for them and hope that their hearts will turn to Him.

2019, will be a special event, Chapliancy Australia and our MC have volunteered their time at our Christmas Carols for 10 years this year and they would like to be involved in the planning of a pre- carols event, exciting times! Christmas Carols events are a wonderful way to bring a community together, from local businesses donating financially or by volunteering, local community groups running sausage sizzles all the way to the families that gather together on the lawn, friendships are built and the message of God’s love is shared.