5 Ways to Prep for Easter

1. Preach with urgency.
Do you feel a sense of urgency about Easter? Do you feel the responsibility to make the most of every second you have? You may have only one shot to introduce someone to Jesus. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you will have another chance. They may not come back. They are not guaranteed to live to see another Easter. You, yourself, are not guaranteed to live to see another Easter. Jesus could come back any moment.

2. Don’t overcomplicate the message.
Many Easter sermons are a boring list of bullet points or an ancient history lesson. Don’t overcomplicate things. Preach the simple, life-changing story of Jesus’ resurrection and what this means for all of us. Have one simple, clear message that you want to communicate and preach that message with everything you’ve got.

3. Give a call to action.
You preached a great sermon—now what? What do you want the people sitting in front of you to actually do with what you just told them? Many pastors preach a lot of information but forget to ask anyone to do anything with it. Don’t assume that people will know what to do. If the goal of your message is for people to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, what should that look like? Do you want them to come forward, stand, repeat a prayer, fill out a card? If nobody responds to your sermon, maybe it’s because you never asked them to.

4. Don’t assume people will come.
Yes, more people are likely to attend a church service on Easter than most other weekends. But don’t fall into a sense of security in thinking that people will automatically show up without any work on your part. God alone brings the harvest, but he asks us to prepare the fields. What have you done to prepare the field? How are you getting the word out about your church services? How are you encouraging your congregation to invite others? How are you personally reaching out?

5. Have a follow-up plan.
New people showed up! Now what? What is your plan to follow up with them? What is your plan to encourage them to come back? Many churches put all their eggs in the Easter Sunday basket with no plan for the week after. Will you start a new series that interests them? Will you personally call them? Will you send a letter? If the Holy Spirit moves 25 or 100 people to give their lives to Jesus, are you prepared? How will you follow up?

Find more Easter outreach ideas »

Find more spring outreach ideas »

Brandon Hilgemann
Brandon Hilgemannhttp://propreacher.com

Brandon Hilgemann is a pastor, the founder of ProPreacher.com and the author of Preaching Nuts & Bolts: Conquer Sermon Prep, Save Time, and Write Better Messages

Keep Calm and Minister

Can you pass the "Timothy Test?"

4 Ways God’s Spirit Leads His People

We don't always have the full picture, but discerning how God is leading you is not unclear.

Fit for the Kingdom

The Lord prompted Reardon to think about combining Christian fellowship with fitness in order to create a new small group for men.