EmailKids love Easter egg hunting, but does that mean we should have one at church? This is an issue our pastoral staff has been working through over the past several years. My first year at the church, I carried forward their existing program called Easter EGGstravaganza.
Check our special page featuring Easter Ideas for Children’s Ministry.
It was a Saturday morning Easter egg hunt that doubled as a massive outreach effort. We did the works – door prizes, crafts, resurrection eggs, and more tubs of stuffed plastic eggs than I care to remember. The event took weeks of planning and a full roster of volunteers to make it happen. We mailed postcards to 500 households with children. The publicity budget for the event was close to the VBS level.
Turnout was great and everyone had a wonderful time. There was only one problem – the event did not meet its goals. No prospects from that group visited our church for Easter. None of the children were enrolled in our Wednesday nightclub program. None of the follow up efforts showed any promise. Six months later all I could show was a mailing list for future ministry events.
That was the end for EGGstravaganza. In fact, we haven’t had any Easter egg hunt since then. For me, it wasn’t a theological decision as much as a programming choice. Our resources are better directed toward events that advance the church’s disciple making mission.
What do you think about Easter egg hunts at church?
Do you see it as a helpful outreach tool? Are you concerned about detracting from the real meaning of Easter? Leave a comment below and join the conversation.
Update: We’ve developed several resources to help you with Easter Egg events and keeping them Christ-centered. To begin, you can watch this video on making Resurrection Eggs. Nicole has written about hosting a “Backward Easter Egg Hunt.” Jen Rhine has developed a Gospel booklet for families to use alongside the traditional event. Or you may enjoy the alternative Easter Poem using M&M’s.
Related posts:
- Easter Sunday School Lessons
- Free Easter Crafts Ideas for Sunday School
- Bible Verses About Easter
- Forum: Christians, Halloween & Kids
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Tony, we’re not doing one church wide, but our small group is going to do one for the kids in one of our member family’s backyard.
First let me say that my church does an annual Easter egg hunt every year. In all the years that we have done this, not one person has come to our church more than once. While the message of Jesus is spread through face painting (using the gospel) and a bag of jelly beans explaining the colors as they pertain to Christ (red for shedding of blood), I believe this too compromising with the world. I can’t for the life of me see Jesus standing in the middle of it telling the kids, “ok kids, ready, set, go!” Isn’t it about, “what would Jesus do?”, especially in our Christian churches. I asked my Pastor to at least give a short sermon so the adults can hear the gospel and he has refused. To me that speaks volumes and perhaps I should be looking for another church!
In all things use wisdom and discernment. The history of Easter eggs tells us of its pagan past and connections with fertility rituals. I’m very uncomfortable having anything like this in a church setting.
We have absorbed many pagan traditions into our culture but it is important to teach our children to separate those cultural traditions from the truth of scripture and the life of Christ.
Aloha from Hawaii. This has been very insightful to read through all these comments. We’ve had an Easter Egg Hunt the past few years and it has been a blessing to both those who serve in the church and those who are unsaved in our community. The message of salvation through Jesus’ resurrection is always given and an opportunity to receive Him is also given to the children. We saw something very interesting this year as we shared about the empty tomb. When the children went out to get their eggs, we explained that there was one egg out there (for each age group level) that was empty – no candy. Instead there was a special message in it. Whoever found that egg would also receive something special – which was a gift basket with a bible, toys, etc. Most of the children bypassed the eggs with candy in it and anxiously looked for the empty egg.
Each child was given a plastic bag to collect their eggs and we set up an empty box so parents could leave the emptied eggs behind and just take all their goodies. This worked for both us and the parents. They loved the idea!
It’s a fun day with kite flying, waterslides, and lots of foods and games. We have seen new families coming regularly and they’re bringing their friends. We see this time as an extraordinary celebration! The world puts on Easter Egg Hunts and when it’s done, it’s done! Not so for the church. When it’s done, there’s room for so much to take place through the empowering of the Holy Spirit and God’s precious word that never comes back void or empty without accomplishing what I was sent to do.
The real meaning of Easter. . . hmmm, well, Easter was made up by a pagan, so actually there is no real meaning of Easter. God/Jesus did not call Jesus’s resurrection Easter! He never said we should celebrate his resurrection as a holiday called Easter!
Our family distributes filled plastic Easter eggs. Filled by sheltered workshop people. We found that this past year more and more churches ordered eggs than ever before. For those who don’t like to call it Easter egg hunt there is nothing wrong with calling it a spring egg hunt. We’ve heard back from many of the churches that they’ve had good results reaching the community, for instance a church in Nashville area was able to distribute eggs to schools. The sunday following the egg hunt they had an increase in over 300 kids in Sunday school. A church in California used many, many thousands and allied their efforts with organizations in that town to let individuals know that church people can have a good time too. They also saw an increase in church attendance where they could tell the true meaning of Easter. The bottom line is many non-churched people pass by church buildings every day but will take their children to an egg hunt.
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Phil, Ruth and Bill Ayers
Ayers Distributing
“What do you think about Easter egg hunts at church?
Do you see it as a helpful outreach tool? Are you concerned about detracting from the real meaning of Easter?”
Oddly enough, I stopped participating in Easter activities after I became a Christian. As a non-Christian family we celebrated with eggs, rabbits, candy, and baskets.
Becoming a Christian I was like, “Hey, Jesus rose from the dead. So that’s what this is all about.”
Then I wondered, “Why all this other distracting stuff?”
Research revealed paganism fertility goddess worship behind the imagery. I don’t even call it “Easter,” but “Resurrection Sunday.”
The short answer for me is that I’m opposed on theological grounds, but even if I wasn’t I’d have a problem similar to what I have with Christmas.
I’m not anti-Santa, but I hate that Christ is eclipsed at Christmas because of Santa and Rudolph, etc.
Plus, I also don’t think those outreach efforts yield much fruit and resources could be better spent.
So, seemingly in the minority I’m opposed to the Eggstravaganza on those 3 levels.
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I think it’s important not to go along with the secular culture’s attempt to make holidays secular. I know that Easter was not originally a Christian holiday but it has been accepted as a day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and I don’t see why we should surrender it to commercialism and secular things like Easter egg hunts.
I found that when you explain what easter is about and why we should focus on Jesus instead of bunnies and eggs they get it. In fact, this year the kids in one of my kids ministries (many of them not very churched) asked me to make my explanation into a skit for them to perform for the community. I’ve posted the skit at http://frogspot.com/blog/2008/03/13/easter-dog-show-skit/
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If your church is having an egg hunt be sure to include tiny ads about upcoming events and services inside each plastic egg with that candy! (Also include scriptures!) This way every child that attends will take information home with their treasures that “unchurched” parents will have access to. Follow up is key for success! Make sure this information is about something happening two or three weeks after Easter. Demonstrate to your community that you want to see them again and again.
Also, to cut costs of egg hunts, ask church volunteers to contribute one or two bags of wrapped candy to those “egg events.” Shop grocery stores the day after Valentine’s Day for discounted wrapped candy that is not obviously “Valentine” candy. This will help cut costs “big time.”
Shop for plastic eggs after Easter is over, for next year’s hunt. Think and plan ahead for outreach ministry in order to cut costs.
People leave churches because of loneliness and because of the lack of good friendships. Because we know this, we can assume the opposite behavior will draw people back into church community where they can grow in Christ. Give them many events to attend and lots of reasons to make new friends!
chin up.
I like that idea about leaving tiny ads! thats cool!
Jane,
I appreciate your point. I agree with your point that there is a lot more to seeking the lost than numbers.
Let me restate my point. If outreach is about actually reaching people, and our program didn’t really do that, then it’s time to try something else.
I’ve heard great reports from others who have made some great connections with families through the egg hunts. But our experience was much different.
Thanks for your comment and stating your view with charity. I do appreciate the input.
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