Include Internationals in an Easter Egg Hunt

The day before Easter, some IFI volunteers and their small groups host an Easter Egg Hunt and brunch for neighbors and their international friends. One volunteer, Nancy, says,

“The Easter Egg Hunt and brunch is a great way to bring our home church together to serve and host others, including international students.  It is a way for us to use our God-given gifts. We all really enjoy it!”

Perhaps you’d like to do this, too!

Here’s how Nancy’s group does it:

Before the event:

1. Recruit family and/or friends to help with preparations.
2. Ask helpers to bring brunch foods and beverages.
3. Recruit someone to do a brief presentation of the good news of Jesus, perhaps using Resurrection Eggs.
4. Invite guests: family, neighbors, and friends, including international friends.
5. Prepare bags for gathering eggs or ask guests to bring their own bags or baskets.
6. Fill reusable plastic eggs with candies.
7. Check the weather forecast.

The day of the event

1. Early on Egg Hunt Day, hide the filled eggs in easy places for young participants to find and in crazy, difficult places for older participants.  (Don’t hide the eggs the night before unless the Hunt is indoors. If it’s outdoors, wait until daylight to hide the eggs so that neighborhood raccoons don’t find them first!)
2. When everyone has arrived, welcome the guests and do a brief (no more than 5 minutes) presentation related to Easter around the good news of Jesus.
3. Hand out bags for gathering eggs.
4. Start the hunt, but ask that the obvious eggs be left for the younger hunters.
5. After the eggs have been found (one of the people who hid the eggs can check), invite everyone to the brunch. Allow the young participant who collected the most eggs and his/her family to go through the brunch line first.
6. If you wish, leave a large container out where participants can leave their emptied eggs for future Egg Hunts. (Optional)

Looking back over years of Egg Hunts, Nancy says,

“We’ve seen lots of interaction between all who attend.  Some internationals wanted to know more about us and our beliefs. Some of the Americans wanted to know more about the students and their lives here and back home.  

“A few of our international guests may have come to our home church as a result of attending the Egg Hunt, but we try to encourage them to go to an IFI Bible discussion instead, [where they‘ll meet other internationals], usually a Friday night group.”

“As far as impacting our neighborhood for God, people are interested that we host this and think it’s a good thing. They are interested in why we do this, which is an opportunity for us to share our trust in Jesus. They are always amazed when I tell them how few international students visit a home in the U.S. while studying here.

“As for the internationals, I think many of the students are excited to be in an American home and to participate in the Egg Hunt, [knowing it’s an American tradition].  The Hunt is a welcome break from the serious business of their studies.

“It gives them a chance to be silly (and competitive) as they try to find all the crazy places we’ve hidden the eggs. They love to pet and take pictures with our dog. (Sully may be an internet star in China!) Many of them wonder why we do this, which gives us a chance to share Christ and how good He’s been to us.”