EmailFew issues are as sticky in Christian Churches as Halloween. This year Halloween 2008 falls on Friday night. Should we just find the best Halloween crafts and Halloween recipes and throw an outreach party? Or is the history of Halloween too involved in witchcraft?
I want to hear your ideas about Halloween. Is it really Devil’s day? Is it something we should use to reach children for Christ? What is your church planning this year?
If you have some solid Halloween ideas, or links to Halloween coloring pages, leave them in the comments below.
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Wow, some really great thoughts! I just found out last night that Reformation Day in the same as Halloween, Where have I been? :-)
Hears a little excerpt from a resent sermon of mine.
“We have a very wise spider at our house. He wove his web right near the porch light so that all the insects who like to fly into the light will get tangled up in his web. That’s how Satan does it. He doesn’t say, “Hey, I’m Satan, I want to kill you.” He makes sin look desirable and harmless.
“Deuteronomy 18:9-13—It is to the devil’s advantage for us not to think seriously about him. Just as he did when he appeared to Eve as a serpent, he makes evil things seem fun and trivial. Satan wants us to believe that his things are innocent and fun. A couple of examples of how he does this are Halloween and Harry Potter. Most people view these as harmless fun. Some claim that Harry Potter is good because it’s teaching kids to read. But anytime we make a game out of the devil’s things we open ourselves up to his deceptions and traps. (See Galatians 5:19-21). That’s why God is so clear that we should have nothing to do with these things.”
I’m not willing to surrender any day that God made to the devil, so I have no problem with doing positive things (like the Reformation day party mentioned above) on October 31st. and if we can provide alternatives for families trying to follow the Bible, great!
A group of parents from Sunday School have organized something like an “all saints day” kind of program. They call their party an opportunity to celebrate Christ-like actions, attitudes, and behaviors. So, children are asked to come dressed like their favorite hero – but hero is defined as someone who helps others, lives for the greater good, has a sacrificial lifestyle as Jesus had, or is unselfish in their life and attitude. By coming together, the children are not tempted to want to go trick or treating, yet they are together in fellowship and celebrating living a Christ-like life, and are motivated to think of living a better life rather than emulating Halloween characters like the devil, ghosts, etc.
Our church is doing a Reformation Day celebration , which for lack of a better term, will function as an alternative for Halloween for the children in the church. This is actually the third year we have done it, and it has always gone well. Adults (if they choose) dress up as individuals from the Reformation era, while kids can dress up as anything they want. There are game stations (such as a ‘throw away the indulgence’ relay) where the kids can get candy while learning about Reformation history. Finally, there is a music and story time where one of the adults dresses up as a Reformation character and tells his story. It has been a fun event, and the kids have always enjoyed it.
Doug – It’s a good angle. I’m glad to hear about it. Reformation Day or Heroes of the Faith could be a good trend for churches.
Cathy, click on my name to visit my blog (which has a link on my Oct. 11 entry) or email me at [glorygazer AT gmail DOT com]. I didn’t see your email here or I would have sent it to you. Sorry, Tony, I know this has strayed from your original post!
Quick Update on Reformation Day at our church:
On Wed., Oct. 31, we’re planning to sing the original tune of Mighty Fortress (kinda bouncy), learn “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Thy Word,” another Luther hymn, eat German food, and watch the 1955 Martin Luther B & W movie (the 2003 is not suitable for kids).
Cathy,
Here are links to the booklet from http://glorygazer.blogspot.com/2007/10/review-of-reformation-resources-some.html (print out the Word .doc using the 2 page per sheet option under zoom in the print dialog box; if this doesn’t work, email me [glorygazer AT gmail DOT com] for a copy of it in the format of a 1 page front/back booklet, and ask for the Reformation booklet). There is a copy of the battle hymn of the Reformation, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” a sheet with Scripture references for the 5 solas, and a coloring page for the Luther rose.
Reformation Celebration Activity Booklet
Word document http://smithministry.50webs.com/ReformationCelebrationBooklet.doc
.Pdf file http://smithministry.50webs.com/ReformationDayCelebrationBooklet.pdf
Hi Tony!
Our family doesn’t do Halloween, though we used to. We became convicted by simply looking at the visual aesthetics of Halloween and they aren’t “true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or worthy of praise” (Phillipians 4:8). Instead, all the imagery of this day focuses on death, evil and wickedness to a large degree. This is not even considering the heritage behind the practice of dressing up in costume, jack-o-lanterns, trick or treating, etc.
And also, we were helped along in our conviction by 1 Thess 5:22: “Abstain from every form of evil”, also translated in some versions as the “appearance of evil”. I think the principle there is pretty clear that we who are Christians probably ought to think it through pretty carefully.
For our church, we are doing a reformation day, but not on Halloween evening. We’re doing it on the prior Sunday just because we are a reformed church and really need to learn, share and be encouraged by what God did through the reformers. We’re going to have a day of activities and skits and will fellowship together with a meal and general comraderie.
Hope this is useful to you, brother!
Scott
Doug Smith–Please do post or send me the “little 1 page (front and back, folded like a booklet) activity sheet with Scriptures on the 5 solas and a Luther Rose to color, as well as the words and music for “A Mighty Fortress” “. It sounds like just what I need for our Sunday school students! Thanks
As a child, I participated in Halloween but, now that I have children of my own, we do not participate. When I asked my kids what they thought was so fabulous about Halloween, they said the candy and that they would get to dress up in costumes with their friends. So, every year about the first weekend in October we invite all our friends over(adults and kids!) for a party. We don’t give it a name but, everyone comes dressed as the bible character of their choice and we have to guess who they are.(last year we had Esther, Elizabeth, Caleb “the spy”, and many others) Then, we play games(which the kids get candy and prizes for) and have a big, fun meal together. Now, my kids and everyone who comes don’t even think about Halloween when it comes. It’s just another day other than all the consumer garbage in the stores and store windows that we can’t avoid. There is an “Adventure’s in Odysey” story out that really helped me explain Halloween to my kids. It simply explains how Halloween originated and why as Christians we may not want to participate.
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