April 2007 – In February this year, a brouhaha broke out over a coffin (discovered in 1980) that some claim once contained the remains of Jesus.

The controversy swirls around a Discovery Channel documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus. The new project comes from Titanic director James Cameron and filmmaker Simcha Jacobocvici.

The Easter season seems to be the prime time for Cameron and Jacobovici to tout such “findings.” But if there were any truth behind them, there would be no Easter and certainly no need to market a television special to an Easter-minded audience.

“No Easter, no Christianity … ,” wrote Frederica Mathewes-Green in an article titled “Easter Changes Everything.” “If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, who cares whether he was born in a manger or a 7-11? If he didn’t rise from the dead, Christmas is meaningless too.”

The apostle Paul explained it best in 1 Corinthians 15:12-22. Verses 12 and 17 sum it up: “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

In other words, if Christ was not resurrected from the dead then Easter and Christmas are meaningless as are the whole of Christianity and life. His Passion would have been without purpose.

Therefore, it is important for Christians to communicate effectively the Gospel message through Christ’s death and resurrection at Easter and year-round. AFA Journal spoke with several ministry leaders about the best ways to share the Easter story with children and adults. Various AFA employees also offer valuable insights that are a refreshing reminder of the real reason one celebrates Easter.

The hearts of the young
How to share the Easter story and celebrate the season with young children raises questions among Christian parents. Bob Lepine, co-host of the radio program FamilyLife Today, encourages parents “to be wise about what kids are able to understand at various ages.”

Lynda Pongracz, leadership training instructor in the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) department of education agreed: “Parents need to know their own child regarding his or her developmental stage and previous spiritual exposure. They must also let the child’s own questions be a guide in how much the child is ready to receive.”

Parents may question a young child’s ability to comprehend spiritual matters. But Pongracz says parents should not be scared to lead their children to Christ, if there is a sense that the child is ready to accept Him.

Quoting CEF vice president Martha J. Wright, Pongracz said, “You may doubt the child’s ability to communicate with God, but never doubt God’s ability to communicate with your child.”

This is all the more reason leaders in children’s ministry believe it is important to introduce youngsters to Christ, specifically his death and resurrection, as early as possible.

“Age is not a factor,” said Sue Jakes, children’s ministry coordinator for the Christian Education Committee of the Presbyterian Church in America. “The Holy Spirit can begin to take our words and plant them deep in the hearts of our children whenever He wills.”

But Jakes said it is important to use simple words with young children while keeping in mind that the same Spirit who teaches children also teaches adults. Pongracz agrees that simplicity coupled with concrete terminology and Scripture is key when teaching about Christ’s death and resurrection.

“[However] the younger the children are (not just in age but in emotional maturity, as well), the more concerned we should be in sharing the graphic nature of the violence,” said George Wiedmaier, parenting outreach director for Focus on the Family. “This is when it is very important for the parent to understand the emotional maturity of the child and slowly engage this type of reality with them as they are ready. …”

In other words, the more mature, the more details.

For example, when teaching preschoolers about the Passion of Christ, Karen Parks, director of strategic relationships for Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) International, said the big idea is to begin laying the foundation for understanding the abstract concepts related to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

“God loves you is the big message at this age,” Parks said.

As preschoolers begin to mature, Lepine suggested helping children understand why Jesus was actually nailed to a cross and that great pain was involved. All of these details, revealed over time, work together to present the Gospel message.

The keys of truth
“I think what’s really essential to the message of the Gospel is that children understand that Jesus died. … That there was a literal, physical death of Christ and that God, through His Spirit, supernaturally raised Jesus from the dead and brought Him back to newness of life,” Lepine explained

“That Christ came alive again and lives in heaven” is a key point to get across, said Linda Weddle, senior designer of U.S. programs for Awana Clubs International (www.awana.org).

Lepine added that emphasizing Christ’s death is a way for children to make a parallel that all people are spiritually dead apart from Christ, but there is a God who wants to raise people to a new spiritual life.

“So what God did with Jesus physically, He wants to do with us spiritually,” Lepine said. “And there you have the essential elements of the Gospel” – which is, after all, God’s purpose in Christ’s Passion.

“God hates sin, and His holiness (perfection) requires that those who sin must die,” Jakes explained. “But His love has given us a way out of death” – a life-changing message to share with children at Easter and throughout the year.

“Instead of thinking about how to magically make it understandable around Easter, perhaps we should think of rolling it out in bite size pieces as our children understand more,” Wiedmaier suggested. “We need to leverage the natural curiosity of the young mind.

“My goal as a parent is a life-long discussion and not a one-time speech,” he added.

The young at heart
While there are significant ways in which children can be taught about Easter, Mathewes-Green believes the Easter story contains some lessons that apply specifically to adults.

“Easter tells us of something children can’t understand, because it addresses things they don’t yet have to know: the weariness of life, the pain, the profound loneliness and hovering fear of meaninglessness,” Mathewes-Green wrote.

“Yet in the midst of this desolation we find Jesus, triumphant over death and still shockingly alive, present to us in ways we cannot understand much less explain,” she continued. “In Him we find vibrancy of life, and a firm compassion that does not deny our suffering but transforms and illuminates it. He is life itself. As life incarnate, He could not be held back by death.”

So what are adults, especially nonbelievers, to make of this more than 2,000 years later? Can the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection impact adults who are accustomed to living in a society where believing requires seeing?

The actual event
The life of former atheist Lee Strobel is proof that it can. Strobel, once an award-winning reporter for the Chicago Tribune, launched a two-year investigation to disprove the claims of Christianity following his wife’s conversion. By conducting interviews with America’s top scholars to whom he posed tough questions about the historical evidence of Christ, Strobel became a Christian after being astounded by the verification of Christ’s death and resurrection.

“People need to understand that the Resurrection isn’t the product of wishful thinking but is an actual historical event for which there is compelling and convincing evidence,” Strobel said.

It was the historical evidence that brought Strobel to a turning point in his life, and it is this same evidence that is powerful enough to change lives today.

“They [people] need to understand that apart from the truth of the Resurrection, there’s no hope for humankind because it was Jesus’ atoning work on the cross and His triumphant return from the dead that enables us to receive the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life that we could never merit or earn on our own,” Strobel explained.

“As the apostle Paul said, if the Resurrection is false then we have no hope. But since it is true, the door to heaven is unlocked for all those who put their trust in Christ.”

The supporting evidence
Yet, it is this trust with which many people struggle. People are hesitant to believe in a Savior who seems too good to be true all because they don’t have proof of His resurrection, or, rather, they are unaware of the evidence that does exist.

Strobel admitted that he was surprised to find how much evidence of Christ’s death and resurrection actually exists. (See below.)

“Easter is a terrific opportunity to engage spiritual seekers and skeptics in meaningful conversations about the evidence for Jesus rising from the dead,” Strobel said. “The fact that the entire country turns its attention to Easter every year is a wonderful chance to talk about the truth of the Resurrection and help people understand their need for a Savior.”

Strobel said Easter is one example of when Christians should be ready to explain to others why they believe what they believe. After all, Jesus commands His followers in 1 Peter 3:15 to always be prepared to share the reason for their hope.

“I knew that if Jesus really did return from the dead, then this was powerful and persuasive evidence that He was telling the truth when He said He was God’s unique Son,” Strobel reasoned. “Once I became convinced that Jesus returned from the dead and thus authenticated His claim to being God’s Son, then the most rational and logical step I could take was to repent of my sins and put my trust in Him. With His identity as God’s Son firmly established, He clearly deserves my worship and allegiance.”  

EVIDENCE by Lee Strobel
▶ Execution – Virtually every scholar in the world admits Jesus was put to death on the cross under Pontius Pilate.
▶ Early accounts – The reports of Jesus’s resurrection aren’t legends that grew up in the many decades of His life, but are included in the Gospels and are summarized in the creed reported by the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 15:3ff.
▶ Eyewitnesses – More than 515 individuals of all sorts encountered the resurrected Jesus.
▶ Empty tomb – No explanation other than the resurrection makes historical sense.
▶ Emergence of the church – How can we explain the sudden emergence of the church in the very city where the Resurrection took place just a few weeks earlier if the apostles were lying about what happened?

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Make the most of Easter
Several members of the AFA/AFR family share the following ways they make Jesus the focus of Easter for their children, as well as for themselves.
Angie May, legal assistant for the AFA Center for Law and Policy – Instead of candy and chocolate bunnies, my daughter’s Easter gifts have been books and symbols of what our Jesus went through.
Hilary Rawson, data processor – When our son sacrifices his time or shares his things with his younger sister, we explain to him about the sacrifice of love that was made by Jesus through the reality of the Crucifixion.
Jody Brown, editor of OneNewsNow.com – When the children were younger, we included “Resurrection Eggs” in the typical egg hunt. Then we told the Easter story as we came across the eggs in their baskets.
Ed Thomas, AFR reporter/anchor – We try to teach about the death and Resurrection of Christ throughout the year, in Bible lessons, prior to Easter.
Patrick Vaughn, general counsel for AFA – Find a traditional hymnbook and read or sing through some of the hymns dealing with Christ’s suffering in our place, as well as His resurrection such as “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” “Arise, My Soul, Arise,” “Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted” and “What Wondrous Love Is This.”
Jenni Parker, associate editor of OneNewsNow.com – Watch a film, attend a Passion play and/or read a dramatic narrative or reflection on the Crucifixion, such as in Walter Wangerin’s “Reliving the Passion.” Find ways to make this familiar story fresh in the retelling and in your reflection, lest anyone ever take for granted the enormity and significance of God’s gift to us that is His son, Jesus Christ.
Michael DePrimo, senior litigation counsel for the AFA Center for Law and Policy – Spend significant time alone on Good Friday meditating on Christ’s death and the reason thereof. I watch the seven-hour series Jesus of Nazareth.
Rick Robertson, AFR program director – Stop as a family each night and focus on this great sacrifice that was made for us. Start the week focusing on the greatness of God and then look at who we are, sinners deserving of separation from God, and from there, look to the cross. For us to get a glimpse of who God is and who we are puts so much more value in what Christ did for us.

Resources for Children
▶ Resurrection Eggs from FamilyLife – colorful plastic eggs that contain meaningful objects symbolic of Passion Week; available through the online store at www.familylife.com
▶ Benjamin’s Box: A Resurrection Story by Melody Carlson (Zonderkidz 1997) 
▶ Passion Hymns for a Kid’s Heart by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada (Crossway Books 2005) 
▶ The Story of Jesus for Children from The Jesus Film Project – a 62-minute film that introduces children to the life of Jesus, available at www.jesusfilm.org
▶ www.mops.org – The official Web site of Moms of Preschoolers (MOPS) that contains additional ideas and activities
▶ www.cefonline.com – The official Web site of Child Evangelism Fellowship that contains easy-to-use helps for leading children to Christ

Resources for Adults
▶ The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection by Lee Strobel (Zondervan Publishing Company 2004
▶ JESUS from The Jesus Film Project – a two-hour docudrama about the life of Christ, available at www.jesusfilm.org
▶ www.leestrobel.com – A Web site containing free video clips of experts discussing what Christians believe and why