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How to Share Your Faith Using Easter Week

A couple years ago, during Easter Week, I overheard a conversation that went something like this:

"My parents said that when they were kids, they didn't have school on Good Friday."

"Good Friday? What's that?"

"It has something to do with Easter, but I'm not sure what...I think maybe it's the day Jesus died on the cross...but why would they call that Good Friday? If it was the day Jesus died, you'd think they'd call it Bad Friday. I don't get it..."

What an opening for sharing the Good News! Easter Week (much like Christmas time) is one of those culturally acceptable seasonal windows that make it easy to talk about your faith and easy to invite friends to join you for youth group or church. Though in many ways our culture has turned Easter into a secular holiday celebrating the coming of spring, it's not difficult to take the secular symbolism of spring and new life and use it to talk about the REAL Easter story of new life in Jesus. Take a look at Jesus' incredible words to us in John 10:10,

"I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." (MSG)

Many teens today have no church background that gives them even the basic outlines of what Easter is really all about. They don't know anything more than the rabbits, candy and eggs drill. Your genuinely clueless friends deserve the chance to have the REAL Easter story explained to them in a simple, understandable way. So take advantage of Easter Week and be intentional about looking for the open doors to spiritual conversation that God send your way.

Segues for launching into spiritual conversations abound this time of year. Here are some specific conversation starting questions you can use when you're with friends:

  • What do eggs and rabbits have to do with the story of Jesus death and resurrection? Share how eggs and rabbits symbolize new life and explain what Jesus death and resurrection has to do with new spiritual life. Check out the GOSPEL Journey if you need help explaining this.
  • Do you know why it is called Good Friday? What was good about Jesus' death on the cross? Share how out of his love for us he was willing to pay the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross. Invite your friends to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ with you if they are interested in understanding more.
  • Do you think Jesus really rose for the dead? Share what you believe and why. For help with this read Soul Fuel on the evidence for the resurrection.
  • Who do you think Jesus really was? Could he have been just a good moral teacher? If he claimed to be God, then he was either Lord, a liar or a lunatic.

When you see Spring-time decorations at the mall or Easter sale ads on TV or any other Easter distortion invading your world, turn to your friends and launch into a spiritual discussion about the real cause for celebration.