3 Easy Ways to Make Easter Enjoyable and Engaging for Everyone

by Reba Collins

Experience is everything at Easter.

At its core, Easter celebrates the single defining experience of our faith – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – and all of us faithful churchgoers know it and love it! But there is a flip side to Easter because many first-time visitors aren’t experienced church people, and don’t know what to expect with their Easter experience. Your members come to Easter with confidence, joy, and anticipation. Your visitors may come with self-doubt, uncertainty, and anxiety.

Easter is a huge opportunity for church leaders to effectively welcome uneasy newcomers into a highly charged group of Easter devotees. Here are three simple prep steps that will make visitors feel more welcomed, engaged, and ready to come back after Easter.

Be prepared to…

1.     Tell visitors WHY YOU’RE GLAD they’re there and HOW YOU’VE PREPARED for their experience. Say it in the Bulletin. Say it in the Welcome and Announcements. Say it during Prayers. Say it again at the Benediction. This assures newcomers that they are welcome, expected, and invited into your celebration. It also reminds your members that not everyone knows your church traditions, and helps them be good party hosts.  

2.     Point out WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT EASTER day and why. Some visitors won’t know what they should be experiencing. Help them understand their experience by providing context – explain what and why you’re doing and saying and singing the things you are. Again, this also helps your members because now they don’t have to try to explain Easter to their invited guests.

3.     Tell them WHAT THEY NEED for the next visit. Your awesome Easter celebration might rock their world, but visitors are conditioned to view it as a once-a-year experience, not a life-changing experience. To help eliminate the “one and done” Easter attitude, let visitors know you  understand what they face in their lives by inviting them back to a “needs-based” sermon or group series on finances, parenting, or relationships. And yet again, now your members will have something specific and meaningful to talk about when they invite their guests to come back.   

We can’t even begin to imagine what that first-hand experience was like for the disciples on the day of Jesus’ Resurrection. BIG SURPRISE! One of the best ways to make an experience positively memorable, enjoyable, and engaging for your disciples-in-the-making is with a good surprise.

As you prep for their experience now, remember that adding our three simple steps can help your visitors and guests discover the wonderful surprise of Jesus’ Resurrection this year.