With Easter coming up in about two weeks, you’re probably deep into finalizing plans for Easter services. The activities at churches across the country vary from traditional services to massive outreaches and Easter productions.
Whatever your church leadership decides to do, there are several details that are easy to overlook amidst the chaos of Easter planning. Here are seven things you may want to consider as you put the finishing touches on your Easter plans:
1. Insurance coverage
If you’re planning a helicopter Easter Egg Drop or any other special event, contact your church’s insurance agent to find out if your current coverage is sufficient. You might need to purchase coverage specific to that activity.
2. Live animals
If you want to have real bunnies on hand in addition to (or in lieu of) someone dressed up as the Easter Bunny, here's a tip that will help you avoid issues with parents and children afterward: Borrow bunnies from someone who will watch over them at church and who will also take them home.
You don’t want parents mad at the church because their child "won" a bunny at church and now they have to figure out how to take care of it.
3. Volunteers
If you haven’t already done so, start contacting people today to ask them to serve at Easter services.
Don’t wait until the week before to make those requests. You’ll likely need more volunteers for Easter than you do for a typical Sunday.
Make a list of how many volunteers you’ll need in each role (greeter, usher, parking lot, child care, etc.) and start contacting potential volunteers.
4. Campus cleanup
Easter is a time when we expect to receive more guests than usual. When you invite people into your home, you do extra cleaning and straightening up. The same principle applies to welcoming guests at your church.
Walk through your church campus starting at the parking lot. What do you see? Are there weeds growing through cracks in the sidewalk? Do you have a few potholes in the parking lot? Does the landscaping need new mulch?
As you walk inside, do you see scuff marks on the walls? Does the children’s area look clean and safe? Put yourself in the shoes of a first-time guest and evaluate what you may need to clean or straighten up before Easter Sunday.
5. Guest follow-up
Let’s say you have several first-time guests on Easter Sunday. Some fill out the visitor card while others decide to follow Christ. Decide now what you’ll do to follow up with each group after Easter.
Will you call them, send an email, or invite them to a new believers’ class? Set up that process now and make sure the appropriate staff or volunteers know what to do after Easter.
6. Signage
Depending on the size of your church, it might be challenging for someone new to find their way around.
Review the signs you have around the campus and determine if it’s easy for guests to figure out where to go next. Most people will want to know where to park, where to check-in their children, and where to go for Sunday school classes and the main service.
7. Serving food
If you decide to host an Easter brunch and prepare food at the church, find out if you need those involved in food preparation to have food handler permits. If so, you’ll want to start looking for volunteers now who already have those permits or schedule people to get them ASAP.
Easter Sunday is a day we celebrate our risen Lord and focus even more intently on reaching out with the message and love of Christ. These details simply support our mission of reaching the lost and making disciples.
