Most churches capitalize on the holidays by hosting events such as a Christmas singing tree, a Trunk or Treat, or an Easter egg hunt. The reason for such events is to present the gospel to people who might not come to church otherwise. CEO “Christians” probably need to re-hear the gospel as well, that is “Christians” who attend church on Christmas and Easter Only.
This past Halloween, I was close to writing a post entitled, “Tract or Treat.” I have always liked to use this holiday in the Fall season to pass out gospel tracts while passing out candy treats. Whether it’s a “Bash at the Beach” or a “Day at the Park” (July 4th), churches should use events on holidays to attract church member and non-member alike.
Since we are a couple of weeks away from Easter, I would like to give you a simple gospel presentation that I created which you may use to present to children and or youth at your Easter egg hunt event.
Besides all the eggs on the church lawn that are filled with candy, I am going to have a few prize eggs with a theme/verse inside. We call our hunt a “Search for the Truth” hunt. There will be four prize eggs with the themes: (1) Creation, (2) Fall, (3) Rescue, and (4) Restoration. As children open their eggs, I will ask children to find out who has the prize eggs, starting with the “Creation” egg. I will move down the line, presenting the gospel as I go.
Easter eggs are beautiful, aren’t they? Have you ever seen a real Easter egg, spiffied all up with various colors? Where do you think eggs come from? Who created all the colors that we have? Who gave man artistic abilities to the point where he could paint such an egg? GOD (“Creation”). God made us and we are more beautiful to him than any Easter egg we could imagine.
But what would you do, if you take the most beautiful Easter egg you can think of, and accidentally drop it on the ground. Crack! Eggs have to be handled carefully or else. Like a broken egg, our lives have been ruined because of sin. We have messed up and made a mess and left it on the floor for someone else to have to clean up. (“Fall”) – We need a Savior!
Ever heard of the personified egg, Humpty Dumpty? I’m sure you have . . . “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again.” I mean, what man can fix an egg once its broken. Sure, you can try to put the yoke back in a taped-up shell, but the cracks will still show. And you probably only got half the yoke back it. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t do it . . . why think you can? Only Jesus can clean up our mess. Only Jesus can fix our broken lives. Only Jesus can put us back together again. (“Rescue”)
And when he does, we look like that beautiful Easter egg that we started off with. No cracks, no scratches, just a masterpiece. Let God do to you what no man can. (“Restoration”)
This is a simple way to present the gospel to the next generation in a way that they can understand. Use the holidays, use every day to re-present the good news!