By Gail Marsh
Even though Easter comes “late” this year (April 21), don’t delay your planning! Start organizing children’s events, volunteers, and materials now. Need a few fresh ideas before you kick off your planning? Keep reading!
- Use plastic Easter eggs to share the love of Jesus. Inside each egg, place the name and address of one shut-in from your congregation. Place prepared eggs in a basket or hang eggs on a tree branch. Let children choose an egg several weeks before Easter, and suggest that cards, treats, or personal visits be made to cheer those who are homebound or too ill to join in worship services this year.
- Consider a twist to your usual Easter egg hunt this year. In addition to hiding eggs for children to find, include a special activity - a treasure hunt! Here’s how: First, decide on a way to distinguish the treasure hunt eggs from other eggs in the hunt (perhaps all green eggs are deemed treasure eggs, or all eggs marked with a cross). Stuff the special eggs with numbered clues that lead from one egg to the next, with the final egg’s clue leading to a resurrection cross inside the sanctuary. When participants have discovered the final egg, use the opportunity to share the Gospel message - the treasure of God’s love in Christ.
- Invite families to join in decorating the church for Easter this year. With adult supervision, even young children can help set lilies in place, string white mini-lights on the stage, or assist in hanging white crepe paper and other decorations. After decorating the church, invite everyone to an Easter egg party, where participants will decorate hard-boiled eggs with Easter egg dyes, Christian stickers, and so forth.
- Enlist the help of your church’s youth group to share the Good News of Easter with neighbors and friends this year. Prepare “friendship baskets” that include a few of CTA’s Gospel Easter Eggs®, Christ Is Risen Scripture cards, some Christian stickers, and a few homemade treats. Deliver the baskets by hand to neighbors, along with the personal invitation for them to join you in worship on Easter morning.
- Get every child involved in making a gigantic Easter card this year! Use sidewalk chalk to transform your church driveway into an Easter message that tells about the risen Jesus. Adults or older children can outline an open tomb, empty cross, and flowers. Children can fill in the outlines with bright chalk colors. As you work together, remind children of the eternal importance of sharing the Gospel message of Christ’s resurrection with the world. Jesus lives! Rejoice!
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