As we discussed in Part 1 of our Easter series, we must make the most of the opportunity Easter affords us, and in that vein, here are 5 tips to plan an effective Easter service.
#1: Don’t turn your Easter service into the extravaganza of the year.
This is one of the most common mistakes I see. At first glance, this strategy makes sense; however, if you pique your guests’ interest with an out-of-the-ordinary service, you are setting them up for disappointment when things go back to normal the next week. Let the goal for your service planning be to provide a great, quality service that reflects what attendees will see the rest of the year.
#2: Utilize Connection Cards.
Whether you use connection cards on a regular basis or not, use them on Easter. At some point during your service, preferably during your welcome, encourage members, regular attenders, and first-time guests to fill them out. Doing this ensures that you have the most updated information on your members and regular attenders as well as provides you with information to follow up with guests later. Remember, you cannot invite them back if you have no way of getting in touch with them.
#3: Send first time guests home with a gift.
Make sure first-timers don’t leave without something in hand to remind them of your church. You can give them a small book with a note from you or anything else you think will reinforce the service. You can even tie it in with our last point and tell guests if they fill out the Connection Card, they will get a free gift. (For a free copy of Unshakable, the book I use at the Journey and one you can customize for your church, click here.)
#4: Include a “wow” factor.
Although you don’t want to make Easter your extravaganza of the year, you can include a “wow” factor to encourage people in your community to come to your church. For example, you could offer family photographs by setting up a “Photography Corner” in the lobby and emailing guests their photos later in the week. We have seen success with this incentive at The Journey.
#5: Build toward Easter with publicity, personal evangelism, and spiritual preparation.
Since people are more likely to attend church on Easter, publicity is crucial when planning an effective Easter service. Social media, Google Ads, and general online advertising are some examples of ways to promote your service, as well as mass mailing and newspaper ads.
Ask your people to invite their friends and family to church on Easter. An easy way to do this is to put the Personal Evangelism Equation to work. It follows the form of x = a + b + c with x equaling high levels of personal evangelism.
a = Tools. Give your people tools to make evangelism easier. Some examples are postcards about your Easter service that they can give to their friends and cards to write down the names of people they are planning to invite to Easter.
b = Training. With some training, your people will feel more confident in sharing their faith. Consider preaching on inviting loved ones to church the week before Easter.
c = Timeliness. Provide a sense of urgency to invite people to church. This can be the prompting they need to go ahead and make the big ask.
High levels of personal evangelism = tools + training + timeliness.
If you want to hear a more detailed description of the Personal Evangelism Equation, be sure check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of our blog series on the topic of evangelism.
And for FREE resources to lead a Difference Maker evangelism training in your church — showing your people how to invite others to church — click here. To learn more about buying The Difference Maker book in bulk, click here.
Don’t miss the importance of spiritual preparation for both yourself and your staff. You can study the passion narratives together, commit to inviting three unchurched friends to Easter, and participate in a day of prayer and fasting on Good Friday to ask God to have his hand on the service and continue to grow you all into the leaders you need to be to lead his church to the next level.
Stay tuned for our final post in the Easter series on following up with guests after Easter.
Your partner in ministry,
Nelson
P.S. If you found this article helpful, please forward it to others.
And then join me and Jason Hatley next week for a FREE online training, Maximizing Easter in 2025. I’d like to help you make this Easter the best one ever as we go in-depth on the above strategies and much more!
You’ll discover brand new tools and strategies to meet today’s opportunities — and reach more people than ever for Christ.
Space is limited to just 100 spots at each of the 5 available training times on March 11, 12 or 13.
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