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Easter Service Attendance Insights

1. The document discusses how Easter is celebrated in diverse ways across America, from dyeing eggs and Easter egg hunts to family meals and events held by cities and the White House. 2. It then focuses on the author's experience attending their regular church's Easter service, noting a much larger than usual attendance of around 1,500 people compared to the typical 800-900. 3. The author observes that the entire Easter service seemed geared towards the 600-700 occasional attendees. The pastor addressed their concerns directly and with a more casual, low-pressure approach than usual.

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8 views3 pages

Easter Service Attendance Insights

1. The document discusses how Easter is celebrated in diverse ways across America, from dyeing eggs and Easter egg hunts to family meals and events held by cities and the White House. 2. It then focuses on the author's experience attending their regular church's Easter service, noting a much larger than usual attendance of around 1,500 people compared to the typical 800-900. 3. The author observes that the entire Easter service seemed geared towards the 600-700 occasional attendees. The pastor addressed their concerns directly and with a more casual, low-pressure approach than usual.

Uploaded by

dondo77
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Drew Dondelinger

WRIT 1133 (TR 10-12)

Assignment #1

Celebrating
Easter is something
the majority of Americans
are accustomed to doing per
annum, but how that’s done is
very diverse. Families with kids
dye eggs or go on Easter egg hunts
some families get together for a meal
cities host events even the White House
hosts an event and egg hunt for kids. A
correlation I find interesting is the amount
of people that participate in Christian holi-
days, that don’t regularly associate them-
selves as Christians. The majority of the
American population still identifies as
Christian, 76% as of 2008 according
to [Link]. For
Christians part of the Easter
holiday often includes
going to church.
The Easter church
service is very un-
ique in comparison
to a normal church
services. On Easter
Sunday, April the 4th
2010, I attended
church service at
Flatirons Community
Church in Lafayette,
a church I regularly attend during the year. An Easter church service is very different from most
any other service during the year, before the service even commences you can tell the
difference. At an average service there are between 800 and 900 people, on Easter Sunday
there are over 1,500 people at one service and the church hosts eight services over the
weekend. Being a regular attendant it was very obvious that the whole service was geared
toward those 600 to
700 people that come
to church on Easter and
Christmas. From word
one Pastor Jim addressed
those people who are
not “regulars” at the ch-
urch, beginning by answ-
ering the concerns and
questions newcomers
had, “NO, church will
not be boring. NO, we
will not guilt you. NO, we
do not have the answers.”
This was strange,
even as a customary
observer of the unusual
strategies and approach
Flatirons takes. Were I a leader
of the church my specific goal for
an Easter service, other than
preaching the word of God,
praising Jesus and sharing
the story of Easter,
would be to increase attendance from these once or
twice a year attendants. At first the theme of the day
seemed weird and maybe misplaced to me, with the re-
petition of phrases like IF there is a God, Whether or Not
you believe, I can’t help you, and I don’t know. The intent
and purpose that I would have been aiming at was the same,
but their strategy was different, but effective. This more h-
uman to human, low-key, no pressure relationship seemed
to energize and grab the attention of the churches rhetor-
ical audience. By standing on stage and admitting flaws
and using relevant life to relate to God and Jesus’ resu-
rrection it seemed to intrigue newcomers. From my
initial read on the situation I wouldn’t be surprised
if attendance increases, even if only for the few
weeks following Easter.

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