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Creative Easter ideas for your church

Many of these can be done in a low-key way, without speedy internet! 

Sometimes when we see lists we get overwhelmed. Instead, we hope this list gives you some ideas not to add one more thing to your plate—but to help your people connect with each other and their risen Lord, and experience a deep time of worship and renewal even in this moment. 

Remember, you can’t do everything. Give yourself grace. Rest well and seek to serve God and the people in your community strategically. Pick a few things or one thing and do them well. 

  1. Encourage your church to do a time where you all pray or read scripture at the same time of day. Even if your tech does not allow you to connect, this is a fantastically simple and ancient community activity. Some churches are even mailing out daily devotions to parishioners.
  2. Invite your church to each send a picture over text or e-mail to other members of your church along with a prayer or note of encouragement on Easter Sunday. Again this is highly relational and easy to do. Think of it like a digital calling tree. 
  3. Ask each member of your church to rent or stream a movie like the “The Passion of the Christ” or read the Easter account from scripture and invite your community to a moderated conversation online to discuss the text/movie. 
  4. Create an Easter playlist on Apple Music, Spotify or some other streaming service. Don’t have access? Invite people to suggest their favorite Easter music, make a list and mail that to people. Or photocopy pages of the hymnal and mail to people.
  5. Find another pastor or ministry leader, call them and swap “best ideas” for Easter. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! 
  6. Host a QR code (Geocache) Easter egg hunt in your neighborhoods. That way no one has to touch anything and if it’s outside you are social distancing. This works well for small town churches where most of the church lives within a 10 minute radius.
  7. If you are looking for a way to pray through Holy Week this year, Lilly Lewin (author of “Sacred Space”) designed a prayer experience based on a centerpiece and five candles that can be used on your dining or coffee table and prayed around with your family, housemates or on your own. It starts on Sunday and finishes on Easter Sunday morning, taking you through the last week of Jesus’ life: https://godspacelight.com/2020/03/27/freerange-friday-holy-week-at-home-praying-with-a-centerpiece/. The website GodSpaceLight.com has other experiential Holy Week resources as well: https://godspacelight.com/church-calendar/
  8. Online Passover. Register for a time to experience the ancient Jewish feast of Passover and the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples. Meet Jewish staff from around the world, hear their life-changing stores and ask questions through an interactive Q&A: https://jewsforjesus.org/christ-in-the-passover-online
  9. Chalk the Walk, print yard signs with service times, and other practical ideas for inviting your neighbors to online church from LifeChurch.tv: https://openblog.life.church/ideas-for-easter-at-home/
  10. Low tech option: Movie theatre “drive-in church” or “drive-up prayer” stations. See these cool stories on doing this here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/churches-offer-drive-services-coronavirus-forces-social-distancing-n1170896
  11. Create a “Zoom Easter Coffee Hour” for your church. There is a free version of this software that is easy to set up and a fun way to see faces on Easter Sunday. Have kids make “lego tombs” to show off during the coffee time (https://zoom.us). More advanced Zoom options (for a pretty cheap purchase price) can even be an option to host services online. 
  12. Signs of Hope outreach idea. Good exercise, community connections and creative evangelism. 
  13. We are not the only ones trying to figure this “digital Easter” thing out! Here are a few other denominations or organizations putting out creative guides that are feasible and not overwhelming! https://www.la-umc.org/easter2020 and https://churchmarketinguniversity.com/the-ultimate-coronavirus-guide-for-churches/ 
  14. If you want to “live stream” your services, Facebook and YouTube are the most user friendly. BEWARE however that you need good internet speed and Sunday a.m. on Facebook has been a bit iffy given how many churches are using this option … So what if you plan a “live digital” service on non-peak time? You can also upload services ahead of Sunday mornings to make them run smoother and not demand fast internet connections during the actual time the service is streamed by your people. Details here: https://www.wix.com/blog/2019/02/how-to-upload-video-youtube-guide/. Note: YouTube uploading and streaming is slightly less intuitive than Facebook and you need a YouTube account first to post or stream. Use Google to find out more. 
  15. Online giving is also something to consider if you currently don’t have a provider for this. Many options are available: Tithly https://get.tithe.ly or https://www.planningcenter.com/giving are two of the easiest to use. Obviously this is not the point of Easter but was added to the list given the nature of the moment.