4 Ways to Plan for Ministry After Easter Sunday
King Jesus is risen, you’ve packed away all the Easter eggs until next year, and hopefully you took a nap—now what? For many, the Lent & Easter season brings new rhythms, spiritual disciples and consistent church attendance. With a desire to be intentional throughout this season, many parents are looking for tools they can use at home to disciple their kids the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. The good news is, that there are incredible resources for parents out there and those intentions should be encouraged and celebrated! Easter Sunday is one of the biggest Sundays for a local church and while hours and hours of work are put in to create an amazing experience, the work you put in post Easter may be equally or more important than the work you put in before Easter. The months following Easter are an important time to welcome new families and continue to equip and encourage parents. So many rhythms were established, but what happens when it's over? What happens when there isn't a daily devotion or weekly activity?
How can you encourage parents and families to turn seasonal rhythms into every day discipleship?
You pulled out every activity, devotion, and resource for Easter, and now it is time to keep the momentum going and utilize the newly established rhythms for your families.
Start with what you already have
This is the perfect time to introduce yourself to new, returning, and long time families. Share your mission and vision, talk about upcoming events or one of the ways they can get involved in your community.
It is also the perfect time to remind them of what resources you already have going on. If your parents created great discipleship rhythms during Lent & Easter, what can you give them to help keep those rhythms going. Maybe it is highlighting a take home sheet, a post service text, a Monday morning email, or a parenting event coming up. Talk about it every chance you can get. Share it during announcements, in conversation with parents, in small groups—you will never over share about the ways you are already equipping parents.
Poll some trusted parents
If you are not a parent yourself, this is key. If you are a parent, make sure you poll a variety of parents. Ask what they actually need, and the truth is, they all may need something different. That’s okay! You can’t support and equip your parents if you don’t know how. Here are some great questions to ask:
-What did you love most about discipling your kids during the Lent & Easter season?
-What barriers are keeping you from continuing these rhythms?
-What is your first step?
-How can I support you?
Don’t recreate the wheel
There are so many resources out there, all you need to do is find them. Check with your curriculum, other kids ministry leaders, or your pastor to see if they know of any resources you can share. We’ve got some really great resource lists over at kidsministrycircle.com. Maybe it’s time to create a space in your building or a page on your website that holds available resources. When parents see it often, it serves as a great reminder to keep going.
Follow up
You can’t just encourage discipleship at Christmas & Easter. Seasons and schedules change constantly so the follow up is so important. A good reminder when partnering with parents is to encourage often and remind seasonally. Some natural seasonal rhythms are:
-Beginning of the year
-Easter
-Beginning of Summer
-New School Year/Fall
-Advent/Christmas
The Easter season is long and can be exhausting. It’s important to make a post Easter plan early so when that time comes around you aren’t scrambling to create something. As Easter draws near, I hope you have so many opportunities to share the Gospel and introduce kids in your church and your community to Jesus. What a gift!