Find an Easter service near you
Nearly every church in the country holds an Easter Sunday service, and many add extras across the weekend. Search your town or use your location.
Why this Sunday outranks them all
Everything in Christianity leans on the resurrection. If the tomb stayed shut, the whole edifice falls; because Christians believe it did not, every Sunday service in the land is a small echo of Easter morning. On the day itself the echo becomes the full sound: churches that spent Lent restrained and Good Friday bare are suddenly full of flowers, light and the year's most confident singing. The old greeting rings out in thousands of buildings: "Christ is risen!" answered by "He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"
The shapes an Easter service takes
The Easter Vigil
In Roman Catholic and many Anglican churches, Easter actually begins in the dark. The Vigil, held after nightfall on Holy Saturday or before first light on Sunday, starts with a fire kindled outside the building. The great Paschal candle is lit from it and carried into the unlit church, the flame passing hand to hand along the pews until the whole building glows. Readings trace the sweep of the Bible's story, baptism vows are renewed, and the first Communion of Easter is celebrated. Done well, it is the most dramatic liturgy of the entire year.
Dawn services
A cherished British tradition, especially among Methodist, free church and ecumenical congregations: meeting outdoors at sunrise, on a hilltop, a beach or the churchyard, to sing the resurrection into the morning. Coats over pyjamas are not unknown, and bacon rolls and hot coffee back at the hall afterwards are half the institution. The symbolism needs no explaining once you have watched the sun come up mid-hymn.
Easter Sunday morning
The main mid-morning service is the fullest of the year in most churches. Expect the great Easter hymns, "Thine be the glory" above all, Communion in most traditions, and a sermon on the empty tomb. Many churches build an Easter garden, a miniature landscape of moss and spring flowers with three crosses and a stone rolled from a tiny tomb, often made with the children. Chocolate eggs for the young ones after the service are all but guaranteed, and egg hunts around the churchyard are common.
When is Easter?
Easter moves. In the Western calendar it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox, which lands it anywhere between late March and late April. The UK helpfully wraps it in a four-day weekend, with Good Friday and Easter Monday both bank holidays (Easter Monday excepted in Scotland). Orthodox churches calculate the date differently and often celebrate a week or more later.
Coming as a visitor
- Arrive early. Easter congregations can be double the usual size; seats near the back go first, as ever.
- Wear what you like. Some dress up for Easter, many do not. Smart casual is never wrong; our guide to church dress has the detail.
- Expect a warm welcome. Churches know Easter brings newcomers and returners, and most plan for it, with welcome teams, creches and simplified service sheets.
- Communion etiquette. If you are not sure whether to receive, you can stay seated or go forward for a blessing with arms folded; nobody will bat an eyelid.
Frequently asked questions
Is Easter a good first visit to church?
An honest answer: it is wonderful and it is busy. The message could not be clearer or the music better, but the building is full and coffee-time conversation is stretched thin. If you want a quieter introduction, try an ordinary Sunday soon after, or begin with the reflective services of Good Friday.
Why the eggs?
Eggs have symbolised new life breaking out of a sealed shell for as long as Christians have kept the feast, and decorated eggs long predate the chocolate sort. Many churches hand out eggs precisely to make the connection: life where death was expected.