Why an Easter Egg Hunt? (An Angry Email)

Netcast will be hosting an Easter Egg Hunt for the community on March 31st at Lynch Park. Because of an angry email that I received from a complaining Christian, it is necessary that I address why we would support an Easter Egg Hunt when Easter is obviously about the resurrection of Christ and has nothing to do with Eggs, Bunnies and Candy. Please take a moment to read the email I received as well as Netcast's stance below that.

Pastor Chewning,

I saw a note on the North Shore Facebook page that you are sponsoring an "Easter Egg Hunt" to be held at Lynch Park.

I am curious why a Christian church would be sponsoring an Easter egg hunt. Easter is NOT about easter eggs, bunnies, baby chicks or other things like that. It is not about Easter baskets. Easter is about the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who broke down the dividing wall between God and man.....To me this is such a wrong thing for a Christian church to do. I understand that perhaps part of your reasoning to do this is neighborhood evangelism....a way of reaching out to the community. But to do so using Easter egg hunts to me is so very wrong.

I know that no one asked me how I felt about this, but I just wanted to let you know how at least one person feels about this. Yours Truly, "Disclosed Name"

In many cultures around the globe eggs and rabbits have been cultural symbols that resemble fertility and new birth. In most of the world, and particularly here in the States, the "Easter Bunny" has become a commercialized marketing tactic and the origin of that is so old that there are no real trustworthy documents that can shed any light on its true origination.

One thing that Netcast is passionate about is being Culturally Liberal and Doctrinally Conservative. In other words, Netcast will always fight for the things that scripture fights for; yet for the cultural things that scripture is unclear about, we will leave up to the matter of personal conscience. The other thing that Netcast is passionate about is our philosophy of mission. In many churches, missions is defined by going across the country or to another nation to bring the gospel. Yet, often when we do that, we neglect to remember that we live in a mission field. No longer do we have to leave the country to spread the gospel, but now we just have to walk across the street. Netcast is passionate about walking across the street.

What does an Easter Egg Hunt have to do with that?

Netcast has a desire to bring the Kingdom of God to the Communities on the North Shore. In order to do that, we have to stop thinking of how to get more people into church and rather how we can send the people from our church into the community. During Easter; bunnies, eggs and candy are a wonderful cultural bridge that allows Netcast to love on, interact with and potentially minister to the community. The Apostle Paul used this specific tactic in Acts 17 when he partially affirms the religious beliefs of the Greeks in order to use those beliefs to teach them the gospel of Christ. Easter Egg Hunts are no different, it is a way to partially affirm our culture in order to create a bridge to bring the gospel to our culture. Rather than standing on the outskirts of our culture yelling at it, lets enter the culture and minister to it.

As a believer in Christ; If you don't have a clear conscience about utilizing tools such as “Easter Egg Hunts” to be a blessing to the community, please don't. Follow the Holy Spirit as He guides your conscience. For those of us who's conscience is clear, I look forward to locking arms with you and blessing our city with eggs, face-painting, candy, bunnies, games, and some awesome family fun. We will do this in order to bring good to the community and use that to tell the good news of Jesus Christ.