Social media is lighting up with excitement, Easter is this Sunday. If you are a Pastor, this is a high attendance Sunday for many churches. In fact, it seems we put our best foot forward on Easter Sunday. Rightfully so, as new guests and those who may not know Christ will have an opportunity to hear the greatest news ever. Personally, I love the excitement of welcoming and sharing the Good News of Christ with our neighbors and friends. However, there is another side of this time, as to what Easter for church planters may actually look like; fewer people in worship than normal.
Depending on your cultural context, many may pass your church this Sunday. For example, your C.E.O.’s, Christmas and Easter Only attendees, may visit the same church as last year. Even your church plant members may feel the pressure to worship with grandmother on Easter Sunday. While more established churches are preparing for the crowds, many church planters are preparing to have fewer. Yet, this does not take away from the celebration and remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus!
Regardless if there are 25 or 45, we must remember to preach Christ and him crucified. I can remember our first year as a church plant in New Orleans. The fact was, no one knew we were here. It had only been a few months, but we had done a lot of outreach up to this point. In fact, the Saturday before Easter, we held a community outreach event and saw many of our neighbors join us. However, this did not translate to a ton of new people joining us for worship. Take away the mission team that was there to help us, and we probably had fewer people than the Sunday before. These moments can be discouraging for a church planter if you let it. After five years of church planting, here are some ways we have dealt with the Easter slump:
Put social media down
- Own it, you are a church plant. In fact, you need to remind yourself of this often. You are not an established church with lots of funding and every bell and whistle you can think of. Chances are, you don’t have a building, either. You may not even have over 50 people in attendance. Guess what? That is okay. The Scripture tells us, For who despises the day of small things? — Zechariah 4:10 (CSB) Yet, many of us do. We are so busy comparing our start to another church, we miss out on what God is doing in our own midst. Praise God for the church you follow on Instagram, but they are not you. God has given you a unique call an assignment, it is not theirs. Rejoice where he has you and what he is doing through your church.
Preach for His glory
- The adversary uses discouragement to blind us to the goodness of God. I would always sit on the front row of our church plant. Eyes closed, hands lifted, praying, “Lord Jesus, please let someone show up today,” thinking about the person I shared the Gospel with that week or the people I met with, in a small group, to disciple. Now, it is time to preach. You walk up, turn around and crickets. Most of whom you thought would be there are not. Now, you’re discouraged. Reading this helps you to see how silly this line of thinking is, but if we are honest, many church planters struggle with this. The moment I stopped worrying about who was not there and preached to the people God did send there, discouragement didn’t have a place. Why, because my value and worth weren’t based on the people, either in the seats or not. So, preach. Preach to glorify the Lord. Proclaim Christ and Him crucified. Keep your eyes and heart on him. If no one enjoys church, you can.
Be thankful and prayerful
- Church planting can breed an attitude of unthankfulness. In some ways, we can take the bait of Satan and believe we should have more, be more, and do more. God gives us 30 to shepherd, but it is not enough. Now, I am not saying we shouldn’t continue to press forward and reach more people. However, we should be thankful for what God has blessed us with. One Easter, we Baptized one person after church. If I could go back, I would have been more thankful. Rejoice more in the one person being baptized. This is a reason to shout and praise God. If this Sunday fewer people attend, praise God and be thankful. Thankful for what? Well, those who actually made a conscious decision to worship with you. Instead of complaining, turn to prayer. Let those very prayers, turn into Thanksgiving.
Sunday is coming. You have prayed, prepared, and are ready to preach. No matter if you have fewer people or a few more; this doesn’t change the message we are called to proclaim. He is risen; He is risen indeed. Press on and see what the end is going to be!
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