#JesusChangedMyLife - Easter 2020
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Dear Pastors,
On Easter our churches will not be able to gather in-person as they traditionally do. This is heartbreaking because the coronavirus has many people looking for answers to life’s deepest questions and wondering if there is any hope. This is the time more than ever for the church to rise up and proclaim the message of the resurrection. But how can we do this when we are not allowed to meet?
I believe this obstacle is actually an opportunity—an opportunity to share the gospel with even more people than we typically do on Easter and to empower the people in our churches to be the primary heralds.
Imagine this…
We train the people in our churches to share their testimonies, and then on the week leading up to Easter, we have people post their sixty-second videos on social media with the hashtag #JesusChangedMyLife. As people all over our city are quarantined in their homes, scrolling on their phones, they would see a flood of stories about how the resurrected Jesus brings purpose and meaning and hope. One click on the hashtag and they could see hundreds of Angelenos — just like them—talking about how Jesus changed the trajectory of their lives.
Furthermore, along with the common hashtag #JesusChangedMyLife, they would share their church handle to connect the viewers to a local church (for example, people in my church would post #JesusChangedMyLife @RealityLA). As soon as they click on the handle of the local church, they would go to their social media homepage, which would include an invite for an online Easter service. In the various Easter online services, the pastor would clearly preach the gospel, explain how to respond with faith, and get connected with their local church.
Think about the implications of this… Rather than each person in our churches inviting one person to an Easter service, each one could proclaim the gospel to hundreds of their non-Christian friends and co-workers. It could be the most evangelistic day in the history of our churches. And the best part is that it would be the people in our churches who are the ones proclaiming the gospel. Furthermore, this would be a beautiful display of the unity of the church in Los Angeles. It’s not one church’s “thing”. Rather, it puts all the emphasis on Jesus, with clear connecting points to local churches.
The overall strategy is simple:
• Communicate the plan to your church (I’m going to do a social media video this week)
• Provide training (Reality LA has created a training document for this and we are glad to share it. It does not include our church name on it).
• On Monday, April 6th, have people start posting with the hashtag #JesusChangedMyLife and the handle of your church. You could also reshare these on your own social media platforms.
• Have your Easter online service information ready on your social media pages.
• Pray, and give God all the glory!
If your church is interested in participating, let me know.
Jeremy Treat
Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Reality LA