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Easter Egg Outreach

by Beth Hirst, 25 Mar 2008. Archived.

I don’t know whether you have seen the Coca Cola advert where there is a guy who looks slightly suspect, and everyone seems scared of him, but then it turns out he is a good guy. As they put it, he ‘gave a little love’… through Coca Cola. This situation seemed distinctly similar to how we felt giving out these little bags of chocolate eggs. Many people were attempting to avoid us, as they thought we were ‘bad guys’, trying to wean money out of them or have some long winded conversation about conserving the environment. However, when we simply said: ‘Would you like a free bag of chocolate eggs, just to say Happy Easter?’, they were taken aback. Mixed reactions then followed: ‘What’s the catch?’, ‘No thanks’, ‘They’re free?’, ‘Why?’, ‘Thank you that’s really something lovely, Happy Easter to you too’, tears were even in the eyes of some who were amazed that they would get an Easter egg this year and that for that moment somebody actually cared. 

Each little bag had a little label on saying ‘a gift to you to share the hope of Easter’. Alongside the opportunities for conversations, this message would just remind all who took them that Easter is a time of hope and joy, and maybe make them consider God for a minute or two, or maybe in some cases change them for a lifetime. Being part of it was a privilege and quite fun too! It made us think that we could have a positive impact on people’s lives; allowing people’s perception of youth in the church to change, as well as putting a smile on everyone’s face who took one.  Most importantly, we were able to ‘give a little of God’s Love’.

So that’s 180 people blessed on Maundy Thursday, 180 people smiling who might not have been and 180 people thinking about Easter’s hope, who otherwise probably wouldn’t have been.