What Do We Do With Halloween?
Many well intentioned Christians ask this simple question and struggle. After all, we are encouraging kids and adults to dress up as ghosts, goblins, witches, devils, and characters from their favorite Disney or comic book movie. That can glorify things we associate with evil and promote the idol worship that is already so prevalent towards movie stars. We get it.
On the other hand, Halloween isn't going anywhere. Local churches have done an amazing job redeeming the holiday by having Trunk-or-Treat events. After an admittedly brief internet search, it seems like the pandemic is still keeping a lot of churches from restarting those events, but you can find them at FBC Centerton, FBC Bentonville, FBC Fayetteville, and perhaps a few others.
You can do a few things to redeem the holiday too! First, let us recommend coming by for some Halloween candy with a message. We have Fruit of the Spirit Snacks (like fruit snacks that walk the trick-or-treater through the Fruit of the Spirit) and Prayer Jelly Beans (which guide the sweet tooth through a time of sweet prayer). These are great ways to share Jesus and candy on Halloween.
Second, pick up some of our evangelism tracts. We have several to choose from, but our most popular one is Steps to Peace with God. Originally used by Billy Graham, it has become one of the most respected evangelism tracts. You can couple this with business cards to your church or some other way of inviting trick-or-treaters to your church.
Third, you could dress like a Bible character for Halloween. You will probably look different than others who are trick-or-treating, so when people ask you what you are dressed like, you immediately have the opportunity to share a Bible story with them and if there is time even share the gospel. While we'd recommend against dressing up as Rahab, you could dress like Paul and tell children about how you went from persecuting Jesus to following Him and telling others to follow Him too.
Fourth, you don't have to throw away the ghost, witch, and other Halloween decorations you might have. In addition to that collection, you could build a cross out of wood or find a way to construct an empty tomb. Halloween deals a lot with death. Jesus defeated it and this is a good time to remember that!