“Easter(LIVE) is a diverse collection of passion stories being told live on Twitter this easter. Create your own and follow others. This is your opportunity to tell an amazing story…”
Easter(LIVE) 2011 from Share Creative on Vimeo.
Learn more on the Easter(LIVE) 2011 website.
Read a script from Easter(LIVE) 2011.
Planning for Easter 2011 at Church by the Bridge continues (see links at the end of the post for more inspiration). I’m still thinking about the best campaign for our external marketing – i.e. how best to encourage people in our community to join us at church over Easter.
Below are some (very rough) ideas I’ve come up with as I’ve continued brainstorming. I’d love to hear your thoughts too – I’m praying these discussions and ideas will be useful for churches everywhere as they seek to make the gospel known this Easter.
Idea 1
Friday – dead.
Sunday – alive.
This isn’t your average long weekend.
Idea 2
The number ’1′ would be the main graphic on the page, with the narrative on either side of the ’1′.
come for one hour
hear about one man
who died one time
to offer every one forgiveness
to bring every one hope
The ending still needs some work, but you get the idea!
Idea 3
SIDE A
His friends betray him.
The crowds mock him.
The soliders spit on him.
The government kills him.
Why?
SIDE B
You.
Idea 4
Image of a flatlining (e.g. http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-4908006-pulse-monitor.php) monitor, that ends in a flash of light.
The heading would be: “Death isn’t the end”.
Idea 5
Jesus: 1.
Death: 0.
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
Idea 6
Image of broken chains, or the door to a morgue blown open, or a ladder coming out of a grave site.
The heading would be: “Death couldn’t hold him down”.
Idea 7
What happens when we die?
Beneath this heading, have some checkbxes, with the following:
a) nothing, we rot.
b) reincarnation.
c) depends on how good you’ve been.
d) eternal life for people who know Jesus.
The last option would be circled, and text inviting people to come and hear what Christians believe.
How would this advertisement work in your community?
For various reasons, my church won’t be running with the ‘Great Comebacks’ campaign this Easter. So, I’ve been doing some research into how other churches will be promoting their Easter services, and have posted some of my favourites below, to help us to brainstorm an appropriate concept for our community.
Which of these ideas do you think are most effective at connecting with people who don’t usually go to church? What works? What doesn’t? You can click any of the images to see a larger version.
UPDATE
Revolutionary
The Weekend That Changed the World
Who can forget Geoff Huegill’s comeback? By his website’s own admission it was:
“[a] phenomenal comeback, a body changing, life-altering feat to shed a third of his body weight and rediscover the athlete within and win Commonwealth Games gold”.
Now, Ian Thorpe has decided he wants a piece of the action too, as he returns to compete at the London 2012 Olympics.
As much as Australians love Geoff Huegill and the Thorpedo, and as impressive as their comebacks are, neither of them returned from the dead. In fact, the only man to make a comeback from death is Jesus – this was the comeback to trump all comebacks.
“God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” – Acts 2:24
This year at Church by the Bridge we’re running with a ‘Great comebacks’ theme for our Easter outreach, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we could explore this theme in our communications, and more generally, what your church is doing this Easter.
What’s your church got planned for Easter this year? Have you even started planning?!
Church Marketing Sucks has started the conversation with four churches about how their plans are progressing.
The plans by Danielle from Grace Church sound particularly ambitious!
