Coolest Easter Ideas

Coolest Easter Ideas

February 29, 2012 by

Easter is coming. If you haven’t started planning for it now, it’s time to get started. We asked a bunch of people about the coolest thing they’ve seen a church do at Easter and collected their ideas below.

Drama/Performances

  • “The famous Easter ‘bridge’ at Willow Creek.” –Angela Buikema
  • “We did a cool presentation of a dramatized and musical message we called ‘The Choice.’ It was set on a park bench with a lamp post that also served as a directional signpost at which different people’s stories intersected. … Eventually all their stories intersect and the subtle message at the end is that life is meaningless without an authentic relationship with Jesus. … There was a standing ovation at the end of the production as well as an unbelievable response to the altar call.” –Joseph Thompson
  • “Broadway quality passion plays.” -Darren Schalk
  • “At Easter we always have our kids do speeches and skits/plays. We find that even those that don’t regularly come to services like to see their kids or other kids perform. We almost always give out small snack bags to all in attendance.” -Cynthia Chandler
  • “I know cardboard testimonies are played out, but we did a series of six stories of changed lives with a very short phrase written on cardboard and a photo of the person/people holding the sign in the weeks leading up to Easter. We built a wooden cross with 2x8s that was open on the inside, put magnets on the outward facing edge, covered the cross with brown craft paper, and then put magnets on the back of the 6 cardboard signs that had been used in the photos.  As the pastor spoke about each thing that people had been saved from, he removed the sign from the cross.  Eventually, there was an empty cross, signifying that on Easter, the cross was empty.  There were brown papers with commitment boxes to check under each seat.  We tore the paper roughly to look like mini cardboard testimony signs.  People were invited to write what they had been saved from on the back of the paper, and bring it to the foot of the cross.” –Priscilla Hammond
  • “Modern dance interpretation of The Passion, danced by a teenage girl!” –Terra Osterling
  • “Our church last year got theater lights to highlight the altar.  Cheesy sounding, but ended up beautiful.” –Sarah Boyette
  • “I once went to a church (other than the one I work) where they acted out the Easter story. They had rented a large auditorium for Easter and had incredible sets. It really made an impact.” -Leslie Zander

Special Services/Events

  • “We have a joint Passover Seder and Easter Dinner to celebrate the commonalities of faiths, rather than the differences. We participate in an Interfaith Hospitality Network, in which churches, synagogues and even secular humanist groups work together to provide hosuing to families who have had their housing taken away from them.” –Win Morgan
  • “Held services (for Christmas, too) during the week before so that the members can still go to a really amazing Easter/Christmas service and be with their families on the actual holiday.” -Sarah Myers
  • “The congregation I attended as a child did a sunrise service on the lawn of a museum outside of the airport in my home town. The kicker was that the airport and the museum are on top of a plateau about 200 feet above the main town making for beautiful views of God’s creation.” –Carrie Gubsch
  • “On Good Friday a church I was on staff with placed an above-ground pool in the middle of the sanctuary and baptized about 80 people. We surrounded the pool with our regular chairs so families and friends could watch their loved ones surrender their lives wholly to Christ.” –Tanya Glass

Service/Outreach

  • “Give out decorated, edible eggs to homeless/needy individuals with short messages on then such as ‘Jesus Died 4 U.'” –Steven Proctor
  • “Photo portraits of families.” –James Brown
  • “Last year my church did a photo booth in conjunction with Easter.  We figured Easter was the big day to dress up and thought people would want something free to commemorate the day.  So we set up a photo canvas, incorporated some props to add some fun elements, including live baby chicks and had a great time. We actually doubled our attendance for the day.  Here’s a handful of the pictures.” –Jon Rogers
  • “Our arts ministry—IMAGO—hosts an annual Holy Week art show beginning two weeks before Easter Sunday with pieces submitted by professional and amateur artists within the church family. Each year’s theme either points to Easter specifically or is tied to the pastor’s message series from the previous year. With some members being well-known in the local artist community, the art show has served to draw people to the church who may otherwise never have come.” –Steven Murray
  • “Our church serves food (pre-services) to our community, many homeless and needy come.” –Tracielynn Raterman

Other Ideas

  • “Around here, doing things out of the ordinary at Easter doesn’t do much to bring in new people. They often comment on ‘how cool of a show’ it was, but it’s not always enough to make them stick around.  We try to correlate why Jesus’ sacrifice was important to mankind and bring it down to the lowest level, person-to-person.  Anytime we can put the lofty spiritual ideas into concrete, practical examples, it seems to connect with our crowd.” –Zach Lorton
  • “An augmented choir, trumpet players, lots of acolytes and a full house says it to me.” –Geoff Brown
  • “For me the coolest thing about Easter is the celebration. With the triumphant music and the crowd and the palpable joy in the air—it makes church feel like a party. Then there’s the anticipation. In a liturgical church like mine every service ends with the congregation responding to our pastor’s exhortation with “Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia.” Except during Lent when we simply say “Thanks be to God,” (except for that first week when someone inevitably forgets). For six weeks we haven’t said Alleluia to close the service and at Easter we let loose and shout out with joy: “Alleluia, Alleluia!” It sounds ridiculous, but it feels like heaven.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen a church do at Easter?

Super Sunday: Planning Easter for Your ChurchNeed More? 3 Easter Resources:

  1. Get more Easter ideas with our growing collection of articles, examples, and more.
  2. Check out our book, Super Sunday: Planning Easter for Your Church, for tips on how to plan, promote, and survive Easter.
  3. Go deeper for even more Easter resources and join our Courageous Storytellers Membership Site. You'll get access to downloadable resources including planners, guides, worksheets, graphics, and more.
Photo by The Lamb Family
Post By:

Kevin D. Hendricks


When Kevin isn't busy as the editor of Church Marketing Sucks, he runs his own writing and editing company, Monkey Outta Nowhere. Kevin has been blogging since 1998, runs the hyperlocal site West St. Paul Reader, and has published several books, including 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading, The Stephanies and all of our church communication books.
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9 Responses to “Coolest Easter Ideas”

  • kathi Allen
    February 29, 2012

    When you entered the church it was draped in black, including the cross. It was shocking and you could hear the murmurring as if someone had forgotten to take down Good Friday decor. Then a woman jumped up from her seat and said loudly “Why the black?” She asked it twice and you couldn’t help but look around wondering who was going to “do something.” Then she walked to the front and tore the black down and said with a triumphant voice “I’m Mary Magdalene, I’ve been to the tomb and He is Risen!! Bring banners, sing anthems sing songs of praise…and with that people (previously hidden from view) poured down the aisles singing the Hallelujah chorus and carrying triumphant banners, flowers and instruments. It was powerful. It drove home the point. He is risen, let’s celebrate.


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  • Chris Green
    March 4, 2012

    Any Easter ideas for social media?


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  • diane
    March 6, 2012

    One year we made a video of one of our best singers dressed in ancient garb running. She was shown in various locations slowly getting closer to the church. Eventually just after she was shown on the video coming in the front door of the church she came bursting through the back door of the church shouting Jesus is alive!!!!! she then burst into a song about the resurrection (I can not remember what song it was)


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  • Mike Dyce
    March 6, 2012

    We taped off the area rpound the cross with “Police Line – DO NOT CROSS” TAPE, and told the congregation that a crime had been committed in the church and we’d had to argue with the police to be allowed to meet, winning the argument only because it was Easter Sunday. We’d had to promise not to go into the area and tamper with anything as scientific evidence was still being collected.
    Then we had a guy come in claiming to be a police detective. He explained that there was a guy who had been in our town for some time, simply being kind and good to others, but he had been killed in the church over the weekend, but although they had sealed off the building, his body had disappeared. they were looking for help resolving the mystery……well, something like that anyway.
    It may sound a bit far fetched and “obvious”, but (surprisingly) some people believed what was being said – certainly to begin with.
    If done well, it really does work.


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  • Jon Marq
    March 9, 2012

    First, on Good Friday we gather at the church to hear the story of the cross. Then, on Easter Sunday we gather at sunrise in a cemetery for “death-defying” devotional. Finally, we come together at the church to worship, preach the gospel of God’s grace in Christ, administer the sacraments, and love one another. We encourage people to find God’s extraordinary grace in ordinary means.


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  • Rachel
    January 12, 2015

    Hi :) I am interested in checking out/possibly purchasing resources for the service referenced in this part of the article: “We did a cool presentation of a dramatized and musical message we called ‘The Choice.’ It was set on a park bench with a lamp post that also served as a directional signpost at which different people’s stories intersected. … Eventually all their stories intersect and the subtle message at the end is that life is meaningless without an authentic relationship with Jesus. … There was a standing ovation at the end of the production as well as an unbelievable response to the altar call.” -Joseph Thompson” Can you give me direction to make that contact? Please and thanks!


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    • Wendy Huizinga
      January 17, 2017

      I’M WONDERING HOW i CAN FIND A SCRIPT FOR THE SERVICE “THE CHOICE” THAT WAS MENTIONED FOR AN EASTER SERVICE IDEA.
      THANK YOU!


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  • Pat
    January 24, 2016

    We did a similar event with the church that covered everything in black. Ours went a litter farther, we used black plastic and taped it over the windows, the black fabric over the flowers and the sanctuary was dark, very little light. The choir began to sing and when we got to the second verse, the children ran in yelling “He’s Alive. At the same time some of our youth began taking down the black plastic, 1 window on each side at a time. The choir is singing praises, the children are laughing and the congregation marveled at how such a dark time could be so bright in just a few minutes


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  • Candace
    January 11, 2017

    What was Williow Creek’s “The Bridge” idea? The link is broken.


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