This Easter is shaping up to look different than in years past, but there's no reason why we can't celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Check out this video as I share some creative ideas for Easter service alternatives.
Feel free to contact me to brainstorm additional ideas. I'd love to walk alongside you. Email me or schedule a time to talk.
Darrell
Full Transcript
Hi friends, I trust and pray you are all doing well today. We are walking in some uncertain times and certainly in some unchartered territory, especially as we start considering how we are going to do Easter. How we do Easter in 2020 is going to be different than how we did it in 2019, 2018, and all the previous years. It's going to have to be a multifaceted approach, I believe. I want to take some time just to share some creative ideas I've heard from other churches and that we're considering doing in our church that may help you and may spark some ideas. Easter has to take place. I think if you don't, there's going to be a huge void in your community. There's going to be a huge void in people's lives. This is something that many people only go at Easter time, so we need to be able to provide that resource and that connection to God to our communities. That I believe is something that God will bless, and I think we need to spend some money on doing that in our communities.
Some of the ideas that I'm hearing are things like drive-in church. That may seem a little far-fetched, but if you have a drive-in theatre in your community, you can reach out to them and see how you can set this up and work out where they come in and you just hand them out a bulletin or a guide for the day. Also include, I would say, some social distancing policies and asking them to stay in the car or windows down when they speak to their friends and all, and keep their distance if you do this. We want to still honor and respect the authorities and all that put these things in place. That's one idea that I'm hearing.
Another one that we're talking about and some others have done in the past is church in a box. What that means is you will create curriculum for your kids. You may create a CD for those that can't get online. You'll have a link. You will have resources in this box that will allow them to do Easter together. It may be a fun little piece that you put there, a game or something that they do. Create the link that they can go to, watch as a family, engage people in a family setting. Just be creative about how you do it. Maybe you even have a drop-off location that you work out with your vendors or people in the community that they can go pick up that box without being around people. So it may be a way to honor the social distancing and yet be in their homes.
Another one that we're considering is to do Facebook Live watch parties. That's something where you can really take the invites and move them into all the world. You don't even have to be just your friends. I had my family watching our church online last week and they live in another state and really had a great experience. Because there are a lot of churches, a lot of ministries that cannot do that online. So that's one of the creative ideas that I'm hearing as well.
Also a sunrise service with proper social distancing. Maybe you do a sunrise on Facebook Live. Maybe you do it on your church online platform. Maybe you have an environment where you can come in cars and keep that social distancing and just have a sunrise service, maybe with acoustic worship or something like that, so everybody has their distance apart. Certainly in all this I would encourage you to have some good yard signs that promote the church online, promote whatever experience you have. We are looking at doing every member this year, whereas in the past we've had a certain amount allotted to each campus. But I would encourage you to get this out as much as possible because, again, many churches are not going to be able to do church online for Easter. I would encourage you to really reach out and think about how you can impact your community.
Some of the others, maybe look at your local TV stations if you have one in your area. Do a broadcast. See how you can reach out. Partner with some of your, whether it be your bank or your... some of your vendors and see how you can provide a package of Easter in a box that you can get out into the community. Don't limit this to just your people. I would say have a lot of conversations in the community. Ask questions. How can we engage you between now and then? Get all your creatives in a room, virtually of course, but in a room and start talking about, how would they do church if we could never meet again. I think you'll come up with some great ideas.
As you do these and gather your creatives, I would say again spend on Easter is something I believe God would honor. I believe it will impact your community because the people are going to fill a void because they had planned to come as a family to Easter Sunday. Create hashtags, things like that where they can interact online. This is how our family did Easter this year. Tie it all together somehow. Create a hashtag of #hope or #easter2020, something that will have people interact on Instagram, Facebook, and all those areas. Do Facebook frames that will give details. Anything that you can do that's outside of the box, I really think is going to help you win this year. Thanks, and I pray you all have a great Easter.
