A Missional and Intergenerational Easter Sunday
The fullest Easter service my church ever experienced was the year we did this...
What does your church do for Easter Sunday?
A few years ago now I was in a planning meeting with the church council of a little church I led on the Sunshine Coast when we had a simple yet Spirit inspired idea. Let's door knock our neighbourhood! But not in that weird we want to sign you up to bible studies or convert you to our religion kind of way. Let's give everyone chocolate! And with that chocolate, let's give them an invite to our church on Easter Sunday.
So that is exactly what we did. About two weeks before Easter weekend we had a lunch after church and then our families, young people, and a few others who were excited about the prospect stayed back for the afternoon. We hit the pavement armed with baskets full of chocolate eggs, bright and happy looking invitations, and a whole lot of laughter - like some extra jovial and colourful... well... maybe I won't name our friends in other faith groups that also go door to door, but you get the idea.
Our process was then incredibly simple and the script went something along the lines of this: "Hi I'm _____, from ________ church and we're spreading a little joy in the neighbourhood today handing out easter eggs. We'd also love to invite you and your family to our plans for Easter Sunday. There's no pressure at all and you can have some choccies now even if you don't take an invitation card from us. We're planning a pancakes and fruit salad breakfast on the lawn at 8:30am followed by an easter egg hunt for the kids around 9:30. At that point if you want to leave, you're more than welcome to, and you'll never have to step foot through the door of the church itself. But if you want to stay, at 10am we will be having an Easter service as well. We promise to keep it simple and engaging for the kids. Have a great day, and hope you enjoy the chocolate."
Did some people dislike us interrupting their Sunday afternoon? Yep! Was that a little uncomfortable when it happened? Yep! But, by and large, the vast majority of people were very happy to claim a chocolate on the budget of their local church and have a yarn for a couple minutes. We also got permission to hand out invite cards with a little letter at a local school (some are more receptive than others but it's worth an ask!).
Then Easter Sunday rolled around and every single one of us were gobsmacked! We had never seen our church bursting with so much life and so many people. It was a genuinely lovely moment of relationship building and connecting with our community. The kids all had an absolute blast searching all over our little field for easter eggs (lucky we bought a lot of chocolate in faith!), and when it came time for the worship service, it was standing room only around the edges of all the chairs (and that was after we brought extras in from the hall).
We learned a few things from that experience. One was that people really appreciated that there was not a single moment we bailed them up for details or tried to get them to come back. There were some connect with us cards around for those who felt so inclined but we kept it a zero pressure environment. They also appreciated the chance to leave before the service if they wanted to (some did, most didn't). The biggest thing we learned though, is there's a lot more to be gained by giving something a go and seeing how God blesses than feeling too nervous to even begin. A few families started to regularly engage with our church's activities from that one morning, and a couple of those families very quickly integrated into the spiritual and worship gathering components of our faith.
Maybe this is something you would like to try in your own community this Easter, or maybe there's another idea brewing that this story gives you the courage to give a go. Regardless, Easter is one of those rare moments where people the nation wide at least nominally think about and lean into the Jesus story - and because it's a holiday with so much intergenerational tradition - it's the perfect moment to invite families to engage with your church.
Easter is one of those rare moments where people the nation wide at least nominally think about and lean into the Jesus story - and because it's a holiday with so much intergenerational tradition - it's the perfect moment to invite families to engage with your church.
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