He is risen! Have you?

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Has the pastor risen? How about the worship leader? Or the children’s minister?

The time immediately after major events in the church is a time for rest. Whether you have just celebrated a major holidays like Christmas and Easter or simply held big events in areas like outreach or evangelism, we need time to recover and recharge our batteries.

The corresponding challenge, and likely the temptation that keeps many from actually taking the time to rest, is that there always seems to be a sense of a momentum coming off of these events. You don’t want to miss the opening that has been created in so many lives.

We need to do visitor follow up first thing Monday morning. The office must be open all week so visitors who call or stop in with questions will get answers. We need to put in extra time this week to ensure that next Sunday is as engaging as Easter.

Today, I want to ask a series of questions about how you approach rest after a major time like Holy Week and Easter weekend. Feel free to comment below to share how you and/or your church handles these issues in practice.

• Who takes off extra time after Easter? Is it just the pastor or do other staff take time to? Is it just those who did stereotypical “ministry” during Holy Week or do all staff get extra time?
• How much do they take off? Is it immediately after or do they wait a week? Is it in addition to their typical Sabbath/day off, or are they forced into a schedule based on others?
• How is availability of the office/pastor/staff handled the week after Easter? Is the office fully closed for a day or two, or do you stagger time off and keep a skeleton staff available every day?
• What has been your experience with visitor follow-up after Easter? Do you miss a lot of calls or emails by closing the office? On the flip side, if someone is there everyday, are they there waiting expectantly for calls or visits that never come? Or do you work primarily by email?
• How are the Sundays immediately after Easter handled? Is there extra planning? Is that work done ahead of time, or are you spending extra time in the weeks after Easter working on it? Are all regular worship staff/leaders present for the stretch after Easter? Is the primary preacher scheduled to preach or are there guests/associates/lay speakers?
• How are small groups, Sunday school, children’s ministries, the nursery, etc. handled after Easter? Are the staff and/or volunteers able to rest as well?
• What questions should we be asking and discussing in this time? What ideas, plans, approaches have worked well and what hasn’t worked so well?

Image by Flickr user frank carman. Used under Creative Commons License. Cropped from Original.