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This is a guest post by Reggie Joiner as part of Orange Week. Orange is a strategy of bringing the church (yellow) and families (red) together to reach the next generation. If you’re new to Orange, you should click here to learn more.
What About Halloween?
Here are a few stats about Halloween:
- An estimated 47 percent of household consumers decorate for Halloween.
- Halloween is second only to Christmas in the volume of decorations sold.
- Over 790 million pounds of jack-o’-lanterns and pumpkin pies will be bought.
- Candy sales will exceed $2 billion.
- More than 93 percent of children go trick-or-treating every year. (I wonder how many of those families go to your church?)
Most families love Halloween. Right or wrong, there is something about October 31 that stirs the imagination of children and engages the hearts of parents.
Watch your neighborhood closely today.
Listen to the laughter.
Take a look at the generosity.
Taste the sugar.
Feel the energy.
See the glow in the children’s eyes.
Notice the parents walking with their kids.
And observe how families connect with other families.
It seems kind of … magical.
Why can’t church be more like that? Why can’t the church create the kind of atmosphere for the family that captures their imagination and incites a relational revival in the home? It can, if you think Orange.
Halloween Orange!
You can leave a comment below to respond. For more information about thinking orange click here.
Related posts:
- Forum: Christians, Halloween & Kids
- “Do Not Fear” Coloring Pages for Halloween
- Trunk or Treat: A Church Halloween Alternative Idea
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
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I don’t think it is a good idea… if you think about it.. what you just explain does sound magical… but do you think the devil would make something look really horrible to make you fall into his trap? NO he makes it look fun and interesting. Then you think everything is okay. How do you know people don’t get poison by the candies. Last year they found about 388 cases of CHILDREN getting poisoned by Halloween candies just in one city. Imagine how many cases in the US. What if that was your child. What would you do. Wouldn’t you regret it? Also, if you know that witchcraft exist… they found 189 body sacrificed by witches that they just go around stealing kids and adult and sacrificing them to the devil.. just think if that was you… you have to look deep to find answers… its not just how it looks from the outside..
i agree with those who are against the celebration of halloween. The bible says that in the last days, the apostasy will be IN the churches. Being part of this type of celebration makes us like the WORLD when Jesus said to be the light of the world, that shines in the darkness, being like the rest does not show a difference amongst us. Instead of us converting them to Christ and showing them that we are different thanks to our Saviour, we are showing them than we want to be like them. OF COURSE halloween is appealing and fun, the devils always tries to pull our strings with things that catch our attention. Noo maybe Satan does not care what costume kids are wearing and how many candies they get, but is GLAD that these kids are being taught wrong and that they are celebrating a day he created. Do not let the worlds “fun” things ruin our connection with God and opaque our light. Let our difference show with pride and happiness of the change God made in our lifes on that special. Satan is slick and smart and wants to confuse us and take us with the most simplest and “innocent” things. Lets be strong and know where we stand as Jesus followers.
I don’t believe Satan gains any pleasure in seeing young children dress us as princesses and power rangers and families getting out and seeing their neighbors one day a year. I do think he gains a lot of pleasure from the sometimes bitter division between believers over whether or not Halloween is acceptable. I think anything the church or individuals can do to fight that division is awesome! Beyond that I think we each need to pray over the issue and be convinced in our own mind. People in our world, in our neighborhood, are hungry – both physically and spiritually! Let’s feed them and love them and love each other!
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