There may more visitors at your church Easter Sunday, but they may not really know why they are there-at least until the sermon, hopefully.

According to a recent study by the Barna Group on Easter beliefs and attitudes, while most Americans consider the holiday to be a religious one, fewer identify the resurrection of Jesus as the underlying meaning.

Two out of three survey respondents mentioned some type of theistic religious element, with common references describing Easter as a Christian holiday, a celebration of God or Jesus, a celebration of Passover, a holy day or a special time for church or worship attendance.

However, only 42% of Americans said that the meaning of Easter was the resurrection of Jesus or that it signifies Christ′s death and return to life. Two percent said that Easter is about the "birth of Christ"; another 2% indicated it was about the "rebirth of Jesus"; and 1% said it is a celebration of "the second coming of Jesus."

Other responses included the belief that Easter was an opportunity to color and hide eggs (2%), an event for children to have fun (2%), the Easter bunny (1%), an occasion that is too commercialized (1%) and an opportunity to enjoy food and candy (1%).

Those who said that Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus were most likely to be evangelicals (73%), large-church attenders (60%), born-again Christians (55%), active churchgoers (54%), upscale adults (54%) and Protestants (51%).

While most active churchgoers said they would be open to inviting non-churchgoers to attend an Easter service with them, a minority-31%-said they would be likely to do so. Those most likely to invite a non-churchgoer were women, parents of young children, evangelicals, Protestants, those who attend small churches (less than 100 adult attenders) and non-white adults.

"We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that so many people are at least open to the idea of offering such invitations to their friends and family, said Barna Group President David Kinnaman. One of the challenges to pastors and other church leaders is to find out what's actually preventing them from following through on that willingness."

Source: The Barna Group.

Click here to read the full report.

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