Preview “The Passion of the Christ.”
Show your congregation the four-minute movie trailer included on the DVD in this issue. Let worshippers know the movie’s outreach potential.

Connect your Easter celebration with the movie.
Connect specific themes from the film to themes in your service. Potential themes include new life from death; joy from suffering; and redemption from sin.

Plan a sermon series.
Schedule “Passion”-related messages in the weeks prior to Easter. See page 30 for ideas and thepassionoutreach.com for links to complete sermon manuscripts.

Use mailings to tell people about the film.
Focus on the parts of your community that God is calling you to reach and mail fliers, postcards and/or invitations to homes in driving range of your church. For resource materials, go to outreach.com.

Train and equip worshippers to invite friends.
The process is simple: Invest in relationships through prayer, personal contact, service and authentic acts of kindness. And equip members with invitations or cards they can use to invite friends to a “Passion”-related event with your church.

Distribute door hangers.
Give worshippers “Passion”-related door hangers to distribute to the homes surrounding your church. Use the door hangers to invite people to see the movie and to visit a “Passion”-related event at your church.

Purchase a block of movie tickets.
Make movie tickets available for church members to give to friends who don’t know Christ. For more information on theater locations or how to purchase a block of tickets, call (800) 332-0965.

Host a movie event.
Talk to a local theater about purchasing tickets for every seat in a given showing for your church. Sell the tickets to your congregation and ask theater management if you can address the audience either before or after the movie. During that time, let people know about any “Passion”-related activities your church has planned in the coming weeks.

Reach out at the theater.
Have a team of youth or adults sensitively provide related follow-up literature and or invitations to your “Passion”-related church events or Easter service.

POST “PASSION”- Be ready to respond to the questions: Host “Passion” Q&A sessions.
You may want to keep these gatherings pretty informal, giving people the freedom to drop in and drop out easily and inconspicuously. Address critical questions that skeptics and seekers ask about the movie.