Excellent Outreach Ideas for Easter
You want as many people as possible to experience your church on Easter and hear about Jesus, alive and on purpose. What if you could bring to life one idea for Easter that would make it unforgettable? Here are ideas on prayer, promotion, plans, and ideas to help your people reach their community.
THE SOURCE OF PASSION AND PURPOSE
Outreach doesn’t start with a program. We are not depending upon our power or strength but by the spirit of God through prayer. Outreach starts with prayer and a passion for souls. God the Father is the source of that passion. Engage your congregation with outbound prayer. Connect existing prayer ministries and meetings with reaching people for Jesus. Have a focussed time included in every prayer meeting to pray for people in your community who don’t know Jesus. Pray by name. Pray during your Sunday gatherings in February and March for lost people. Enlist people to pray every day for 40 days before Easter for people who need Jesus.
INVITE YOUR ONE
In February and March encourage your people to think of ONE family or friend they will invite and bring on Easter. Teach your people how to have a culture of inviting. Give them tools to use to invite people – printed, business-card sized, colourful handouts, shareable social media images and posts. Teach a Sunday message on how to invite someone to Easter.
EASTER PLANNING TIMELINE
Six weeks prior to Easter
Inform your congregation about how they can be involved.
Set up prayer support for Easter outreach.
Plan your post-Easter message series. Choose a subject that will interest people who don’t attend church (money, relationships, power tools, mental health).
Host an Alpha group as a follow-up to Easter. Recruit your leaders now.
Three weeks prior:
Remind people about how important it is to invite their friends and neighbours to Easter services.
Give your congregation tools like invite cards to take away so they don’t forget to invite friends. These don’t need to be elaborate – a business card with service times for Easter and an invitation will suffice and can be obtained inexpensively.
Update your website. As soon as your Easter service times are decided, put them up on your website.
Populate your church’s homepage with what is happening at Easter.
Make sure people can easily see your location, time of service, fill out a digital connect card, and reserve a seat on your website homepage.
Populate Facebook and Instagram with images of your Easter event(s). Free social media images here.
EXCELLENT IDEAS
Egg-vitations. The Sunday before Easter, give each child ten plastic eggs with candy and an invitation for their friends and families to attend the Easter service. It is great to involve children as inviters.
Easter Egg Decoration Contest and Art Show. Invite children in your community to submit decorated eggs and other pieces of art for Easter. Offer prizes. Promote on social media and a community bulletin board. Print invitations for children and families to your children’s program on Sunday.
Gifts for Neighbours. Easter gifts don't have to be expensive. Put a few Easter chocolates in an "A Gift for You" door hanger bag for each door in your neighbourhood and add your church's information and an invitation to Easter Sunday. Recruit volunteers to deliver the door hangers on the Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday before Easter. Pray with your volunteers before they go out and have them pray as they go.
Canned-food Donations. Encourage everyone who attends your Palm Sunday or Easter service to bring canned food for your local food bank. Seeing the church serve others can offer a different view of the church and ultimately cause seekers to be more open to hearing the gospel.
Eggs for Educators. Purchase chocolate Easter eggs. Bag them and tag them with a handwritten note – God loves you and so do we (name of your church and website). The week before Easter, deliver enough bags to your local elementary schools for each teacher, custodian, and administrative staff.
Serve Sunday. Two Sundays before Easter rally everyone in your congregation to reach out to your community. Everyone meets at the church building at your usual service time. Sing two songs. Talk about you being the hands and feet of Jesus in your community. Have someone explain what each family can do. Pray. Go.
A. Deliver a carrot cake and a large Cadbury Easter egg to every home in the neighbourhood. Tag them with God loves you and so do we (name of your church and website).
B. Use the above “Gifts For Neighbours” idea.
Special Needs Egg Hunt. Host an Easter Egg Hunt for children with special needs and their siblings. Include inflatables, face-painting, games, and an egg hunt. Connect with care providers in your community in February to allow time to plan and promote. Provide separate hunts for those who need more time – those in wheelchairs and who are visually impaired. It’s a great opportunity to serve these families and provide a special experience for kids.
Easter Lily Gifts. Four weeks before Easter, invite congregants to purchase an Easter lily for the sanctuary for Easter decorating. Ask if they would be willing to donate their lily after the service. Rally volunteers to deliver the donated lilies to community senior centres on Easter Sunday afternoon and Easter Monday. Tag each lily – God loves you and so do we(name of your church and website).
Life Jars. Fill canning jars called “Life Jars” with brownie mix, attractively layered, sealed with a lid, and covered with seasonal fabric. Use these as newcomer gifts in April and on Easter Sunday. Tag with God loves you and so do we(name of your church and website).
Handwritten Follow-up via Snail Mail. Handwritten notes make people feel special. It lets them know that you took the time, effort, and expense to communicate in a form they can touch. In the day of digital everything, sending your newcomers a simple, personal handwritten note will have a much bigger impact than any email can. Include your church’s website and an invite to visit again for a special post-Easter message series. It will be worth the stamp.
Fun Giveaways. People love free things, and your congregation is no different. Simple fun things like pens, caps, water bottles, USB sticks, and sunglasses – all with your logo printed on them. Make it a low-cost way to get your church's name out in the community as people use them after the service.
Be Newsworthy. Local papers love covering community events and chances are at least one of your Easter events will be attractive to your local newspaper. Get organized early. Provide the editor or journalist as much information as early as possible to increase your chances of receiving great coverage – pre or post-Easter. Write a “press release” about your event describing how it will help your community.
Engage and Follow Up on your Easter Newcomers. Create clear, actionable, and rewarding steps.
FREE Church Motion Graphics. No budget for social media? No problem. Dozens of professional slide backgrounds, Easter-themed images. While you’re at it, sign into the CMG Facebook group for support with Livestream, media, etc.
FREE message and video resources from Life Church. Easter message ideas, videos to support your message, etc.
Easter online. This post was from early in the pandemic in 2020 but the principles still apply.
Making the most of Easter. Take a never-changing Gospel to an ever-changing world.
Make your church visible for Easter Sunday. In today’s culture, a church’s impact isn’t measured by its productions, theological position, doctrinal statement, or its style of worship, but by what can be seen by the outside world.
Orange Kids. Easter Sunday online curriculum for kids from Orange.
Easter dinner with students. Every year Canadian post-secondary institutions host international students. Many of these students feel lonely and out of place. The Easter weekend is prime time to invite a student to enjoy a meal with you and your family or friends. A meal can build a bridge or form a lasting relationship and easily lead to discussions about faith. Promote the idea to your congregation and pair families with international students in your congregation or your network in your local university or college. Friends For Dinner has suggestions on their website for planning a successful connection.
Host a micro event in your community. Consider asking an apartment or condo complex if you can use their courtyards or picnic areas to host an Easter Egg hunt. Consider including inflatables, games, food, door prizes and music to grab attention. Make sure to have your contact info and invite participants back for the Easter service.
Spring cleanup. Spread the love of Christ by looking for neighbours who may need help with home repairs or cleanup projects (even snow shovelling).
What Easter outreach idea have you used successfully? Please post your idea in the comment section. Thank you.
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre. You can connect with Bob here.