Three Things for a Better Easter

How would you like to have a better Easter? I know you can’t get better that a resurrection and the Gospel message. But I am talking about a better expression of that. New guests at church, friends bringing friends, eternal decisions, a great spirit, and folks wanting to return! Yep, That kind of better!

You see, I love Easter. It is such an inspiring day in so many ways.

I want others to love Easter too! That is why my goal is to get folks to come church, respond to the message and keep coming back. If you share my goals, then here are a few simple ideas to help you reach those goals.

Getting Folks to Church-

Here is the simplest and most effective way to get your community to know you are there and want to come to a service.  Facebook. Create some simple posts and get them out into the community stream this week. But you need to hurry!  This YouTube video (Facebook Ads for Churches) will show how to do “paid” ads and “free” ads. You can spend as little as five dollars a day. The ad below with the “feet” has cost me less than $15 so far and has been seen by 3500 people within 10 miles of my church.  The black silhouette ad was a free ad I did about four weeks ago. A family responded to the ad and has attended almost every service since.

Three Tips on Your Ads-

1. Aim them at families
2. Link them to your Facebook page or website
3. Don’t get fancy. Just get them posted.

Responding to the Message-

Make sure you really welcome folks to the service in a kind and thoughtful way. Show you care about them. In a few moments you will be giving the Gospel, which includes some hard choices. Figure out a way, as the pastor, to warm up to them ahead of time.  Here is what I am doing this year. We are creating a half sheet bulletin insert that shows all our major events over the next six months. I am going to leave ample time, right before the sermon, to thoughtfully explain why we do what we do. People love to know why churches do things. I will make this an important part of my time at the pulpit. It won’t get cut short or delegated. It is amazing how folks respond once they know what you are all about and once they know you care.

Getting Them Back-

Lets be honest, folks don’t always come back to church because of the great oratorios that we present. Sometimes it is the friends that they made, or the good experience they had, that helped them get up and get going on a Sunday morning. Here is a small thing we have done that helps bond people to the church and to each other. We take pictures (impromptu) on Sunday morning as people arrive. I just use my iPhone and a few handout cards like below. You can stream the pictures to a monitor, (the kids love it) or you can just email them out to the family later in the week with info about the next service. Either way, it is a simple and effective way to create belonging.

The ones below are from Mother’s Day last year. We will use them this year for promo.  This year, my Easter pics will include two cards that they will hold. One will say our theme, “Easter is for Everyone”. The other will say “We are the Everyone”.  I will assemble random groups of folks, tell them I taking a pic, hand them the signs, have them squeeze in tight and shoot the picture. Then, I’ll just go to another group. It is really fun and creates a community spirit.

Conclusion

You don’t want to let the the best day of the year sneak past you.  Take a few moments and figure out how to implement these ideas and lets make some flourishing churches!