two couples greeting each other with a handshake at church. Crafting the Perfect Easter: planning for guests and their return title slide. — Image from Leading Ideas

Easter is just a few months away and that means that you’re thinking about and preparing for the Super Bowl of Christendom. This is a season where we ministers pray, plan, and prepare for the largest attended Sunday, and hopefully the biggest harvest.

But what should you do on Easter Sunday? Should you do an Egg Hunt? Family pictures? A kids musical? An adult musical? Communion? Baptism? Big giveaways? Small giveaways?

The options are endless, and the short answer is yes… and no.

Let me explain.

When I first started as a pastor, I was indoctrinated in the Attractional model of church. To put it in Craig Groeschel’s words. “We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don't know Christ.” That’s a great mantra, and I’m not knocking it. However, the attractional model over the last few years has started to lose it’s luster. People are not looking for flash as much as they’re looking for authenticity. They still want excellence, but not at the expense of depth.

“We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. ”

— Craig Groeschel

So, for Easter, I believe the planning strategy should create the perfect Easter.

The Perfect Easter

What I mean is, imagine if everything in your service went perfectly. All your volunteer spots are filled with happy and well-trained people. Your music is on point, bringing people into the worship experience. Your guest reception is top notch. Announcements are informative and applicable. Your message is relevant and moving. Whatever you envision to be the perfect Sunday where the stars align and everything goes right, that’s what you need to shoot for.

So, in your planning go ahead and start recruiting for Easter. Plan a training meeting with your guest team. Pick out your music or outline your sermon. Better preparation creates a better service.

“Better preparation creates a better service.”

Whatever you do, your guests will expect you to do again

I’ve done a lot of Egg Hunts. You can read about how to do one at your church here. But I don’t think they belong on Easter Sunday, unless you plan on doing that every week. (I actually prefer the Saturday before Palm Sunday, but that’s another post.) I have a love hate relationship with skits and musicals, but if that’s something your church does regularly, then go ahead and do it on Easter Sunday. If Easter and Christmas are the only time you host musicals, then maybe rethink your strategy.

Look at your service from a guest’s eyes. This may be their first time at your church or any church in a long time or ever. So, whatever they see during their visit is what they’re going to expect the next time they come. We naturally look for patterns to make sense of the world. So, if your service is 3 songs and sermon, that’s what they’re going to expect next time.

If you have a family service, they’re going to expect to attend with kids and students. If you do big giveaways, they’re going to expect to see that kind of thing regularly, if not the next time they come.

This is why I advocate for the perfect Easter service. This way, when they come back, and we hope they do, they won’t get whiplash because of the huge change in quality and experience.

I learned this best when I lead VBS. We’d have hundreds of kids with a 1:5 volunteer ratio. I had a large worship team made up of kids all wearing theme shirts. We’d travel from room to room and do fun crafts, play games, eat snacks, just to come back the next day and do it all over again.

But when they’d accept our invitation to visit us on Sunday it was a different story. Our best service had only 50 kids. Our volunteer ratio was closer to 1:10, on a good day. The worship team was me and a few kids I may pick from the crowd. We might do a craft or a game, but we’d stay in the same room and be done in 75 minutes.

Now, I know VBS and Sunday morning are different, but again, look at it from a guest perspective. All they know is the fun and excitement of VBS. Then they get a very different experience on Sunday. Some will stay, others won’t.

Leverage the day to invite guests back

I’ve called Easter the Super Bowl of Christendom, but I like what Church Marketing University calls it. It’s the first game in the playoffs. Your goal is to get as many guests as possible to return. So, invite them to something. Open your small groups, talk about your Mother’s Day plans, and announce your next sermon series that answers a burning question they may have. (Anything on identity, belonging, or purpose will do.)

Your announcements should be short and to the point with a clear call to action. This is not the week to announce the cake auction for the Women’s ministry. Rather focus your announcements and your follow up systems on next steps. Can they be baptized? Join a group? Start serving? Have the websites and forms ready so you can capture their information and get them started on the Journey.

Remind them of Jesus

All I’ve talked about so far in this post is the elements of Easter, but the most important part of Easter is remembering that Jesus died for us and rose again. It’s why we celebrate and make such a big deal out of this day. So, put Jesus first in your plans.

Do you have a new convert with a great story? Then have them share their story on video or from the stage. Even better, baptize them. Take communion to remind everyone, believers and non-believers, what Christ did for us. Your music should be about His redemption, grace, and salvation found only in Jesus. Your message should end with a call to repentance and discipleship.

Begin praying now for the harvest. Ask God to prepare their hearts and minds. Encourage your people to invite their unsaved friends to church, and if they don’t have any to find some. When your guests do arrive, you can remind them of Jesus and what He did for us. Then let the Holy Spirit work. I like what Mark Batterson says, “Pray like everything depends on God, but work like everything depends on you.”

“Pray like everything depends on God, but work like everything depends on you.”

— Mark Batterson

I pray your Easter is the best yet. You have more people and more conversions than you’ve ever had before. May God prepare your heart and mind for the harvest as you plan for the big day. And when it’s all over, take some time to celebrate with your family. You earned it.

A few years ago, I hosted the biggest Easter Egg Hunt my church had seen to date. We had hundreds of kids and thousands of eggs. We saw many kids accept Christ and everyone had fun. It was all a big lead up to the next day, Easter. As I drove home thinking about the wins and losses, it hit me like a kid remembering his semester long project is due tomorrow and he’s done nothing. Easter is tomorrow.