Page 62 - Pastoral Ministries -Student Textbook

Study Section 9: Pastoral Tasks - continued

91 Connect

There are certain events in the year that are truly special. For example, Easter and Christmas are
special times in the year where family and friends gather to celebrate the coming or redemption
found in Christ Jesus. For the Christian, these days are very special.

It is wise to use special events to build a spirit of expectancy in a church. Such a spirit is desirable
because human beings are so constituted that often half of the fun of a given event is the
anticipation leading up to the event. Although the pastor should avoid planning so many special occasions that
members of the congregation are inundated with church activities, a wise pastor is aware that there is a
psychological advantage to planning enough special events to make people feel they are part of a local body
where important and enjoyable things are happening.

9.2 Objectives

1. The student will be able to suggest ways to plan for Easter, Christmas, and New Years and how to
incorporate seasonal ideas into the worship service.

2. The student should be able to explain the purpose for the two major ordinances of the church.

3. The student should be able to share how to perform both baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

9.3 Special Events

Planning Intelligently

The judicious planner keeps many things in mind. First, he plans around the activities of the
surrounding community. Second, the wise planner will capitalize on seasonal opportunities.

Seasonal Activities

Easter

Easter can be a focal point for such part of the season. Even though every Sunday
is a celebration of the resurrection day, the Easter season should be used to bring
the Blessed Hope of the church into focus. In order to highlight Easter day
properly, the church must emphasize the events leading up to it, focusing
especially on the tremendous sacrifice the Lord made on the cross for our salvation. In order for the church
to cover enough information depicting death, burial and resurrection of Christ should at least consider a
month before commemoration of the resurrection Sunday. For centuries the church did that in a period of
the church year called Lent.

During this season, Christians were encouraged to give up something in order to help them remember what
the Lord gave up for them. Since the earliest days of the church, Lent has drawn attention to the events
leading up to the cross.
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