With more than half of U.S. Protestant pastors identifying Easter as the day their church typically has its highest attendance, according to Lifeway Research, several pastors across the Dayton region offered insights into the spiritual significance of Easter and the ways their congregations are meeting the moment.
Embracing cultural expectation
During any holiday season you’re likely to hear about the brand of churchgoer known as the “CEO” (Christmas and Easter Only). Pastor Jordan Hansen of Christian Life Center, an Assemblies of God church, anticipates seeing “CEOs” intertwined with regular attendees at this weekend’s Easter services but he knows accessibility is key regardless of how many times someone visits.
“People are much more likely to accept an invitation to church in the holiday seasons where there is almost a cultural expectation of church,” Hansen said. “During Christmas and Easter, we put a little positive peer pressure on our congregants to invite their neighbors, friends and family. At Easter, we put our invites in big eggs filled with candy. At Christmas, we offer Pie It Forward, in which we use pies as invitations to our Christmas experience. We try to lean into the cultural momentum and use our holiday service schedule like a fishing net.
“We try to make the gospel as accessible to people who have not grown up in church as possible. For those who have been in the faith for a long time, we want to help people experience the transforming power of God in their lives. And for those who have not grown up in church, our desire is that they take that first step of growing into the image and likeness of Jesus,” Hansen said.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Hansen, who grew up in Washington State, moved to Dayton last year with his family having previously served as lead pastor of Mesa Church in Orange County, Calif. He noted a stronger churchgoing mentality is present in this region but the fundamentals are the same.
“I grew up on the West Coast where church was less a part of the culture,” Hansen said. “When I pastored in Southern California, where (attending) church wasn’t as culturally expected, people would wake up on Sunday morning and head down to the beach. In some ways, I love the fact that people feel obligated to go to church, but my goal as a communicator of the gospel is to remind people of the importance of Monday morning, how our faith is impacting the way we live Monday through Sunday. And I hope the message, the music, the joy and the exciting sense of community at (Christian Life Center) produces a spark in which people will desire not to be more religious but more influenced by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in their everyday life.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Practicing peace
Christ Episcopal Church, an historic landmark in downtown Dayton, has been community-minded for generations and specifically beloved for its Waffle Shop lunch and holiday bazaar, which celebrates its 95th anniversary in November. Rev. Peter Homeyer regards spiritual upbuilding among members inside to be an important factor in producing good deeds outside, especially at Easter.
“You inspire, comfort and support each other in order to go out and do the work we’ve been given to do, which is to care and learn for one another,” Homeyer said. “There are a lot of Easter stories in which the first word Jesus says after he has come back from the dead is ‘Shalom,’ which translates as peace. But that word means a lot more than that. Peace means wholeness, wellness, welcome, family, togetherness, breathe and knowing you are seen and loved, knowing there is room for you in God’s plan. Easter is a day but it’s really a season you should be carrying around inside of you in your heart.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
In particular, Christ Episcopal Church celebrated the Easter season last year by establishing a campaign to eliminate medical debt for the poorest in Montgomery County.
“We were able to eliminate $1.5 million dollars of medical debt for those who were least able to cover those costs,” Homeyer said. “They were in a place of deep despair. As a church, whether you’re Episcopalian or some other denomination, that’s just one example of finding ways to carry out the message of Easter beyond Sunday morning.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
In May the church will offer “A Sanctuary for Peace,” a community prayer vigil in conjunction with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Spring Parliamentary Assembly happening May 22-26. Although the church is in the security zone, access will be available by foot from roughly one to two blocks away.
The church sanctuary will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day of the assembly for prayer. Each day includes twice-a-day structured, short (20-30 minute) prayer at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
“We wanted our building to be open every day those good people are going to be wrestling and struggling about the big questions,” Homeyer said. “How to take care of each other? How to respect one another? How to hopefully bring peace into the world? We’re told all the time how expensive it is to be at war but what we’re not reminded of is that peace is priceless.”
A new beginning
As the spirit of Easter ushers in feelings of renewal and rebirth, it seems fitting that it marks a new chapter in the life of Crossroads Dayton, which has its grand opening today at its new location at the former Sears at Dayton Mall.
The church, which has been meeting weekly at Bellbrook Middle School for about eight years, will reside in a 90,000-square-foot building equipped with a large atrium that will be open to the community regularly for co-working and gathering with free coffee, a 1,589-seat auditorium, meeting rooms, offices and spaces designed for kids and students.
Credit: Jim Gormley Photography
Credit: Jim Gormley Photography
Crossroads Dayton has adopted the strategy of seeing itself as both a church and community center.
“One of the beautiful things I love about our church is that we are highly entrepreneurial in spirit,” said Crossroads Dayton Community Pastor Matt Castleman. “We are a church made up of young, scrappy, resourceful entrepreneurs who have a start-up mentality. We offer free co-working space throughout the week. We don’t necessarily have to wait until Sunday to open our doors. In addition to hosting groups that offer healing and help for young adults, spouses, men, women and more, we hope people who are networking in our building start to realize they like our people, our community. It’s a good trial opportunity for people to check out church on the weekend. If they’re able to explore the space first before they commit to a church experience, we find that lowers the bar dramatically.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Castleman, a self-professed “CEO” growing up, also believes the role of the church should be a “gathering space and a launching pad.” Upcoming plans for Crossroads include a daycare Monday through Friday and using their auditorium as a world-class touring venue for artists, including comedians.
“People want more than just a Sunday experience,” Castleman said. “If Crossroads or any church for that matter leaves the city in which it’s planted, that city should weep. Churches should make cities better. And Crossroads’ goal is to go where there are people, activity and life because that’s where Jesus went. Easter is a built-in mechanism for churches to be able to throw their doors open wide because a lot of people are already looking. If culture is saying it’s pretty normal to go to church at Easter, I think people use that as an opportunity to try new things or return to old roots. I think people feel they want more of something, and I would argue that it’s God, new life, new creation.”
Connection in the midst of chaos
Another new era is underway at Washington Heights Baptist Church, which installed Scott Ryan as lead pastor in January. A graduate of Dayton Christian High School, Ryan returns to the Dayton region with his family having previously served as lead pastor of Crestview Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Okla.
As he prepared for Holy Week, a unifying, uplifting message struck a chord.
“Easter is hope,” Ryan said. “Death is coming to us all, but Jesus offers us bodily resurrection, to live forever, through his life, death and resurrection. Cancer. Depression. Addictions. Strife. World Wars. Jesus will one day end all of this. The church gathers to build each other up in this hope, to encourage each other through the difficulties of life, to worship God and to serve each other and the world.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
He also feels churches should be more mindful of America’s problem with loneliness and isolation, which was declared an epidemic by former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in 2023. People are yearning for true connection in the midst of what many view as 24/7 chaos and detachment.
“A lot of the loneliness epidemic is being fueled by social media, in which we’re really connected by our phones but not really connected in real life, and the church is really battling that,” Ryan said. “I think people know they need relationship but they’ve become attached to Instagram or other options. But the church needs to be a place of love, encouragement and a place to walk through trials together — that’s what the church needs to be. The church can be a family for people. Maybe someone is struggling with dysfunction in their own family but the church can be a family too but that’s incumbent on the members as well.”
Hansen agreed, perceiving personal accountability as well as the need for relationship and community-building as essential for sustained church growth.
“People don’t want just a friendly church — they truly want friends,” Hansen said. “And I think Christianity has something beautiful to offer because Jesus doesn’t just call us friends, he calls us sons and daughters. He welcomes us into his family. People are looking for a spiritual family and to know God has a purpose for them, a divine destiny. The New Testament speaks of us having spiritual gifts so we are all a part of this family and we all have something to offer.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Senior Pastor Joshua Ward of Omega Baptist Church has noticed incremental church growth within his congregation since the beginning of the year. He doesn’t exactly know what it can be attributed to but has an inkling it involves people seeking reassurance in a time of unease.
“Easter is about resurrection and hope but you can’t get to Easter without Good Friday,” Ward said. “A lot of people feel we are in a Good Friday situation in our country. And it’s not just on the political front with all the division and name-calling. We’re living through a time marked by emotional, spiritual and societal pain. But some of what has happened in this new presidential administration particularly in my ministry context has caused a lot of exhaustion and weariness. The weight of Good Friday — the suffering, sorrow and fear — seems to be on so many people right now but I believe Easter is the message we need for us to hold on, have hope and keep the faith. We must believe God can still do the impossible.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Spreading hope is a common thread even in the face of imperfection.
“People put their hope in a lot of different things and institutions in the world and every institution will fail us but the church is the hope of the world because it represents the body of Christ,” Hansen said. “The tension of Christianity is that when we become believers, we don’t become perfect. The church is full of imperfect people so we have to have the same grace and mercy Christ has shown us in the way we interact with people while using discernment. We need to stop putting our hope and trust in the government, the stock market and other things because they will pass. But the words of Christ and the community of Christ is eternal.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
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