Every year throughout the month of December, a tiny church nestled in a quiet North Lawrence neighborhood opens its doors to hundreds of visitors.

The Centenary United Methodist Church, located at 245 N. Fourth St., is the host of a long-running annual event called the Festival of Nativities. By the time this year’s festival opens Dec. 2, the church will have transformed into a serene, softly lit metropolis of crèche sets — made of varying materials in different shapes and sizes, representing every continent on Earth except Antarctica.

Needless to say, it takes a village to pull everything together — or a church, in this case.

“I have a lot of anxiety attacks over this,” jokes congregant Connie Hadl, who has helped organize the Festival of Nativities for at least 15 years now.

“Everybody helps in the church,” Hadl said. “Nobody is a slacker, because it takes all of us to put this on.”

This year, it’s mostly Hadl and her core group of five volunteers. They call themselves the “MacGyverettes” because they “can make something out of nothing,” Hadl jokes.

It takes about 300 hours to assemble and tear down the nativity display every year, but it’s worth it for Hadl and her fellow volunteers. With each holiday season, the church’s collection of nativity scenes continues to grow, Hadl said.

This Christmas, volunteers will have more than 400 sets to choose from in designing their display, though Hadl doubts they’ll have room to accommodate the complete collection.

The church boasts sets from 39 different countries, including a new addition this year from New Zealand. Others hail from Italy, France, Germany and Russia, though Hadl’s favorite — a tiny, delicate scene with miniature forest creatures — was made a little closer to home, in Branson, Mo.

“When people come, they just open their eyes and their mouths, and they just say, ‘Oh my gosh,'” Hadl said. “They can’t believe a display of nativity sets could be pretty spectacular.'”

The festival itself is free, though the church does generate modest funds from its gift shop, stocked with homemade cookies, candies and other holiday and gift items.

Hadl said the event, though a staple of the holiday season, has never reached 1,000 visitors in a season. She hopes to reach that goal this year.

“We just do it because we love to do it,” Hadl said of the festival. “It’s the beauty of seeing people enjoy that part of Christmas.”

Festival hours this year are noon to 4 p.m. Dec 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 30.