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101 Easter Sermons and Others Ideas for Your Church

40. Host a Special Needs Easter Party 

The hunt was tailor-made for children with special needs, and the eggs she found contained audible beeping devices that let her track them down with no external help. Her only competition for the eggs came from others with visual impairments.

The egg hunt was part of a special needs Easter party at Guts Church on the Saturday before Easter. Beeping eggs were hidden for visually impaired children. For those with autism, the church roped off a special section in a quieter area, and for people in wheelchairs, the church hid eggs containing magnets, retrieved with metal poles provided to each participant. The eggs contained candy, change or even paper money, with the occasional large bill.

41. Distribute Butterfly Chrysalises on Good Friday 

During Easter, purchase butterfly chrysalises online and give them away; it’s even possible to purchase chrysalises that can be timed to hatch within a day or so of your target. The butterfly is often seen as a symbol of the resurrection of Christ. Death, transformation and life are all found in the chrysalis. Distribute the chrysalises on Good Friday, with a special connection card, and the butterflies will emerge on Easter Sunday. Find butterfly breeders in your state at ButterflyBreeders.org.

42. Where’s Jesus? 

Kids will make Jesus disappear from his tomb-and learn that Jesus’ real disappearance was no illusion.

Best for: Ages 5 to 9

43. Sunrise Magnets 

Kids will make fun magnets as a reminder that Jesus rose, just as the sun does each day. Then they can share the good news with church visitors.

Best for: Ages 3 to 9

44. Community Garden 

This spring, help kids start an outreach to feed the hungry in your community.

Best for: All Ages

Easter Sermons and Ideas for Reaching Visitors

churchleaders.com offers these field-tested ideas for connecting with Easter visitors

45. Include a meal

Easter guests are the hardest to assimilate. Slow them down by offering lunch afterward.

Most moms don’t really want to cook on Easter, so if you can offer them an alternative, they’ll jump on it.

We invite local restaurants and food trucks to set up in our parking lot. Add some tables, chairs and hosts, and you have the makings of a feast and a chance to get to know your guests.

46. Throw a party

People like to party around the holidays. Provide them one by hiring in jumpies and other inflatables.

For the past three years, we’ve hosted a carnival in our atrium. It includes inflatables and also simple games where kids can win toys.

Add a cotton candy booth, popcorn and some music, and you’ve got a great excuse to invite the neighborhood.

Host this on Saturday, and guests are likely to return for church. Host this immediately before or after your services, and guests are very likely to attend your service.

47. Entice with eggs

We know the Easter bunny has nothing to do with Jesus, but years ago I did a survey of our pre-Christian neighbors and discovered that they were far more likely to attend Easter services if their kids could participate in an Easter egg hunt there.

Our church doesn’t have a lawn area, so we promise eggs in all our promotions, but skip the hunt. Instead, we hand each child a bag of eggs (with candy enclosed) at the end of their Sunday School class.

The kids go home happy. Which means parents go home happy, too.

Here are six important ways you can follow up with your Easter guests:

48. Make sure they have a great experience.

This is the best thing you can do, in my opinion. If we spent more time up front making people feel welcome, we wouldn’t have to spend as much time afterward trying to get them to come back. If people have a bad experience, it doesn’t matter how many times you call them or write them, they are not going to come back. Meet and exceed their expectations on their first visit. Create irresistible environments and they will return. This includes everything from parking to directional signage to children’s ministry to greeters to worship and more.

49. Send them a personal, handwritten note within 48 hours.

We live in the day of digital communication with email, text, video, Twitter and generated form letters. A simple, personal, handwritten note can have an even bigger impact than a letter created by mail merge or an email with a cool video attached.

50. Give them a personal phone call if they ask for one.

Give them the option to request a phone call on the guest card and if they check “yes,” call them by Wednesday. The phone call should be relaxed and not come across as a “sales pitch.” Ask them if they enjoyed the service, if they have any connections at the church, and if they have any questions about the church. Listen a lot more than you talk. Sincerely thank them for coming and let them know they are welcome to come back any time. Offer to help them get connected if they are interested.