Pictured above: The Bedrock Church worship team leads in worship for two services on Easter Sunday. (Photo provided)

Bedrock Church in Sarasota tried a different approach in inviting people to its weekend of Easter services this year, and it proved quite successful, with record attendance.

It wasn’t yard signs in members’ yards or an Easter egg hunt at a local park, although it has done both of these in the past.

And it wasn’t Facebook and Instagram posts, although the church did encourage members to share its Easter posts.

The approach Bedrock Church used this year is not new, and it’s one any church and its members can use. The church encouraged its members to do this: personally invite friends, family members, neighbors, coworkers, and others to its Easter services. That’s it. Just personal, one-on-one invitations and a small flyer.

“This year we focused our attention on starting to talk about Easter earlier and really equipping our church to be inviters,” said Pastor Blake Harcup, who planted the church seven years ago. “The best thing you can do is go to your neighbor and say, ‘I’d love to invite you to Easter service this year.’”

He credits this personal approach for the large attendance and the eight confessions of faith on Easter Sunday. Typical Sunday attendance is 370 to 400 for both services, which drastically increased to 711 for Easter. This included 292 for its early service, 419 for the later service, and 39 for its sunrise service. If you include the 217 who attended its Good Friday service, the Easter weekend total rises to 966.

“You’re just inviting people to a place that’s made a positive impact on your life and to be part of a service that celebrates Jesus, whom you love and who has made an incredible impact in your life,” he said.

Harcup says he’s not advising churches to stop using yard signs, egg hunts, and community outreach events because those things still invite the public to Easter services. But often, churches can oversupply something to the point that it removes any personal aspect.

“I think people want to come to a place where it’s like, ‘Come sit with me here,’ not necessarily, ‘I saw a yard sign and decided to show up,’” he said. “I do think God can use those things, so I guess my encouragement would be, the question I would ask is, how do we strike a balance? Like, how can we invite as many people as possible, but also not over-equipping to the point where there isn’t that need for a personal invitation?”

Harcup gives credit to God more than any strategy the church used for the spike in attendance at Easter and the confessions of faith. When his father passed away suddenly, he was away for a month prior to Easter, focusing on his family. But he was excited to return and preach the Sunday before Easter and reconnect with members. He also credits church staff for stepping in while he was out.

Encouraging church members to be inviters is important, he says, but churches also need to help their members feel connected to the body of believers and help them experience God in a way that makes them want to invite others.

“I’m just excited for what God’s doing in Sarasota and beyond,” he said. “You know, it’s just so exciting to see that God’s moving in an incredible way, and so I think we’re in a really unique time as the church of Christ, and we’ve got to step into what He’s doing.”