Four Tips to Prepare for Easter Visitors

Most of us consider every Sunday to be “game day.” And if that’s the case, then Easter Sunday is our Super Bowl. Churches all over the world will see higher attendance on Easter than any other Sunday of the year—with all the non-regular attenders joining your regulars, and bringing along family, friends and guests. Many of us will also see folks who call our church home, but only come a handful of times in a year. With all these people coming, how can we make sure we are ready for the big day on April 5?

1. Start now to confirm volunteers.

In this case, ignorance is not bliss. Confirm your regular volunteers will be serving in their usual place on Easter Sunday. The earlier you find out that you’ll have volunteers missing, the better. Ask other ministry staff or leaders to fill any openings—who knows, the church secretary might turn out to be a great small group leader. Also, try to designate an additional 10-15% of your usual number of ministry volunteers as “on-call” volunteers for Easter services, consider parents of your regular attenders. Your most dedicated volunteers might also be able to serve more than one service. Prep your on-call volunteers to be ready if you need them, and then ask them to step in when a volunteer calls in sick or you have more kids than you expect.

2. Tidy up your ministry space.

Take a minute and give your ministry space a critical look. Imagine this is the first time you’ve ever seen it. Do you see piles of clutter on a bookshelf? A poster that’s started to slip off the wall? A stain on the carpet from the last time you did a marshmallow activity? (Sorry about that.) Take the time now to clean, sort and declutter your space. Repair or replace any broken equipment or supplies. If you’ve got the budget and folks who can help, put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Show your Easter Sunday guests that you’re willing to put some effort into making their kids’ experience at your church at great one.

3. Prepare families for what to expect when they return.

Help visiting families have a familiar face to look for next time they come to your church. Introduce parents to the person who will be their child’s small group leader the next time they visit. Or, introduce them to a regularly attending family with kids a similar age. It’s always nice to feel like you already know someone when you go back to a new place. Also, download and print several copies of both sides of the monthly Parent Cue (find it on the 252 Home tab of the curriculum download page). As you hand it to the visiting family, point out that it describes everything you’ll be teaching for the duration of the month. Visiting parents can feel confident you are prepared each week with life-changing teaching for their kids.

4. Remember to follow up.

Easter Sunday is a day of so much emotion and adrenaline that many of us find ourselves hibernating by Monday morning. But it is so important to follow up with visiting families the week after Easter. A simple postcard, made out to the child, can make such a difference in developing a relationship with a visiting family. To take it a step further, have the postcards ready on Sunday morning and ask the child’s small group leader to sign it before they leave. What a wonderful way to start what could be a transformative relationship.
Need a postcard for this Easter? Download and print this 252 Easter postcard. One piece of card stock paper, printed front and back, will cut into 4 postcards.
252_Easter_Postcard_1

With a solid game plan and some preparation, we can all be ready to show Easter guests how much we value them and the importance of the message of God’s love.