REACHING CHILDREN EVERYWHERE WITH THE JOY AND LOVE OF THE EASTER MESSAGE

Over the last two years, Churches Together in Sudbury & District, has run a really exciting and effective outreach event at Easter entitled “I-Spy Easter”.  It turned heads and drew in the crowds, and as a result, we were able to speak to so many parents and children about Jesus!  Members of the team wandered the streets dressed in biblical costume and the children ‘spied them out’; once identified the characters signed the child’s collection card until all the signatures had been collected. With a fully completed card, the children could then pick up an Easter ‘prize’ as a reward (chocolate egg, Easter comic or small Christian gift).

With the blessing and benefit of a large redundant church in our marketplace, we were able to offer the children many activities including drumming, arts and crafts, dancing, face painting, plane flying, fish prayers and an Easter Garden (you may have some other building that you can use in your location). During the day, all the participating Easter characters came together into the Church to perform a drama which recounted the whole Easter story; the characters also carried their own story cards to give away, so that children who could not wait around for the drama could take the gospel away with them.

In all, it was agreed that “this was one of the best things we have done in Sudbury”!   I-Spy blessed so many, not only the children involved, but the characters in costume because they felt a real freedom to talk about Jesus in a new and exciting way; the activity leaders thoroughly enjoyed themselves and found working together regardless of denomination was a huge blessing.  At the end of the event, the children’s written ‘fish prayers’ were taken into the morning service in a local church on Easter Sunday, blessed and then passed on to various other churches during the weeks following Easter, thereby maintaining the inclusivity of the event.  Given the number of people we reached, the outlay in terms of money was fairly minimal. See some representative photographs here.

FREE DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE

So – we are offering you the opportunity to run your own “I-Spy Easter” event. We have prepared a “package” with guidance information and everything we produced ready for you to download free of charge, here through our website.

If you would like to download the information, please email me on: lynda@sebbage.com and I will then forward you the necessary password – the Download Page is accessible under the Heading, ‘I-Spy Easter’ – after that it’s all down to you! All we ask in return is that you let us know how you used our idea and how successful you found it!

We really look forward to hearing whether you have taken up the challenge – to see I Spy Easter take place everywhere throughout the land and making the real Easter message come alive!

Lynda Sebbage & Eleanor Ridge

Organisers