Easter’s Over, Now What?

Well, we made it.

Another Easter in the books.

Churches everywhere celebrated big.  My twitter, instagram and facebook feeds were full of pictures of crowded rooms, overflow solutions, stories of salvations and baptisms.  It was a great day.  Love won!

For church staff, Easter is like the Superbowl of Sundays.  So much work and preparation goes into this day in anticipation of God revealing his heart to those who don’t yet know him.

We also know that Easter marks the beginning of Spring… of outdoor activities… Summer just around the corner.  Graduations. Vacations.

All great things but all things that move church-going a little lower on the priority list.

As church staff, whether consciously or not, we can approach Easter as the finale.  We know people will be hyper-engaged on this day and then we also realize that all those great things about Spring and Summer will be the distractions that hinder momentum for ministry.

Time and time again I’ve seen church staff give up after Easter.  We check out until the Fall when the routine of life will make church-going convenient again.

I want to challenge you to think differently this year.

Choose to build upon your Easter momentum rather than let it fizzle.

Here are 3 suggestions for how to maximize your Easter momentum:

1) Make people feel human.  Whomever you connected with this weekend, reach out to them this week.  First time guests, new families, people who accepted Christ or were baptized.  Whatever step they took, find a way to connect with them.  Make them feel like an individual not part of the masses.  Reach out with genuine interest and care for how to help connect them further.  Let there name be more than a line on a card or an entry in the database.

2) Build a plan.  If you don’t already have reasons for people to engage with your church after Easter, make a plan.  Give them a reason to come back.  Make it compelling.  Meet a need.  Serve your city.  What’s the best way you can communicate that you care about the lives of the people you connected with at Easter?

3) Commit to work on it.  Rather than wallow in the frustration of lighter attendance numbers this Spring or Summer, commit to work on it.  What can you and your team do to improve ministry experience for those who will return this fall?  Does your guest experience need an overhaul?  Do you facilities need a spruce up?  Do your staff or volunteers need additional training?  Define what you need to work on and use the summer to make it better.

Don’t let this Easter pass without some thought for how you can maximize it!