5 Crucial Steps to Take Coming Out of Easter

Wow! Easter has come and gone. I pray you had great Easter services. I know you put in extra hours leading up to it. I had the joy of teaching the elementary Easter lesson in my home church. It was a blast, but yes, it can be draining (in a good way).

Yes. You should take a day to rest and recuperate from all the time and effort you gave.

But don't rest for too long. There are 5 crucial steps you need to take coming out of Easter. These steps are just as, if not more, important than the steps you took leading into Easter.

For maximum impact, these steps need to be taken asap after Easter. Like within the first week after Easter. The quicker you take these steps the more impact you will have.

Let's jump in and see what steps you should be taking coming out of Easter.

Send a personal, handwritten note to every guest who attended. In the note, let them know how honored you were to have them as a guest. Invite them to come back and offer them a free gift on their next visit.

Did you know the average return rate for guests is only 7%? That is what we were averaging until we started sending a personal note to our guests with a coupon for a free kids' t-shirt on their next visit. It costs us $3-4 dollars per shirt. But it was well worth it...our return rate jumped up to 31% of guest families that returned for another visit.

And the kids wore the t-shirt they received to school, in their neighborhood, to activities and practices, etc. creating great advertising for the ministry.

Write a personal thank you note to everyone who served at Easter. Think about it. Easter children's ministry would not have happened without your faithful volunteers who served. They went the second mile to help kids and families learn about Jesus and what His resurrection means for them. And if your budget allows, you might even attach a small thank you gift (example - $5-10 gift card to Starbucks).

In the note, share the spiritual impact that happened because they served. Examples - we had ____ new kids and parents attend yesterday / ____ people indicated they would like to invite Jesus into their life. This is why your volunteers are serving and when you share the stories of life-change with them, it is how you "pay" them for serving.

Invite the volunteers who served for the first time at Easter to join your team on a permanent basis. If you asked new people to volunteer for Easter services, go back and invite them to join your team on a permanent basis. I have seen as many as 85% of Easter first-time volunteers come back and join our team on a permanent basis. The invite needs to be a personal invitation...preferably an in-person meeting or a phone call as a minimum.

Don't wait long. If you want to see maximum volunteer growth, then ask this week. The earlier the better.

Have a salvation / faith commitment class for kids and their parents. I am sure you shared the Gospel. Did you have kids indicate they wanted to invite Jesus into their life? Offer a salvation class within the next 2 weeks. The class should be for kids and their parents to attend together. In the class, you can share the Gospel with the kids and their parents. Do this and you will see kids (and many times parents as well) get a solid understanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

I would encourage you to use my Starting Point curriculum. It is a one-session class and it is being used by hundreds of churches to effectively share the Gospel with kids and their parents. In one year, I personally saw over 430 kids and dozens of parents step across the line of faith when they went through this class.

You can get more info. and see lesson samples, video samples, etc. at this link.

Debrief. Sit down with your team and talk about Easter weekend. Ask and discuss questions like...

What went well?

What needs to be changed or dropped?

What did we miss or forget about?

How can we make next Easter even better?

How did the children respond? How did parents respond?

Share a story of God moving in a family's life during the Easter services.

I know what we tend to do, because I have often done this. After Easter is over, we push it to the side and rush right into the next thing on the calendar. And because of this, we miss the opportunity to get better. It is crucial to take some time this week and look back at Easter. The questions you ask and the examinations you talk about will help you improve for next year.

Your turn. What are some other crucial steps that people need to take coming out of Easter? Share your thoughts and insight in the comment section below.