With the commercialization of Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter, you’d think non-Christian holidays would be easy to skip. But dates like Valentine’s Day and Halloween unfortunately demand some treatment by the church. Either we ignore them, embrace them or sidestep them, but that decision will have a consequence no matter which path we choose as church leaders.
Halloween looks like it would be a slam dunk. Ghosts, zombies and the occult, pagan origins and an evening of pranks. Obviously the church should not only distance herself from Halloween, we should send flyers condemning it. Except, we have in many cases dozens of families with children who are going to participate, going to dress up and are going door to door to get their annual fill of candy. And moms and dads who don’t want to be the only house in the neighborhood with their lights off in protest, are going to make the requisite trip to Wal-Mart for a few bags of goodies and stand at the foyer to hand them out to trick-or-treaters. So, what’s a pastor to do?
Condemning Halloween from the pulpit is a futile exercise, much like Don Quixote and his windmills. Instead, use the Halloween as an opportunity for education. Give the church some background on the origins and talk about how the holiday is viewed from a Christian perspective. Families in this instance, often seeing “no harm” in the activities, will decide for themselves what is appropriate. Arming them with knowledge is the most practical way to assist in the process.
Many churches embrace Halloween in a fashion with a “Fall Festival” or “Trunk or Treat” or other similar event held at the church to draw in area families. The outreach aspects of these events can be tremendous. I live in the Atlanta metro area and several larger churches do these events and welcome literally thousands of guests to their campuses. This is a great opportunity to show the church’s ministries for preschoolers and children, as well as sports and recreational ministries. All of these can draw in new families to experience what your church has to offer.
Okay, so “Fall Festival” is a thinly-disguised veil for “Halloween night at the church”. But the point is that the church does not circle the wagons around a losing issue with families, nor does it ignore the night entirely. Instead, a “Fall Festival” tries to make lemonade from lemons. From the pulpit, an educational approach and a focus toward community outreach compliments this view.
Dr. Merritt’s church also provides a resource page on their website for families to get more information about Halloween, and to make their own determination for what to teach their children and how to approach the holiday in their own home. Click here for Cross Pointe Church’s Halloween resource page, and feel free to copy or link to it for your own church’s website or emails.
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Eugene Mason serves as Communications Director for Cross Pointe Church under the leadership of Dr. James Merritt. He is the director of communicorps.org, a free online communications ministry resource for churches.
Comments
I completely agree with the article. To take such a hardline stance in these situations completely shuts off the conversation/opportunity that you will have with the “non-churched” that show up to let their kids enjoy a night out without the worry of what is being put into their pumpkins. It is sorta like McDonalds….where the kids want to go, the parents will go also. There can/is/will be lots and lots of adults that will be led to church by the programs offered to the little ones. MTV targets kids as young as 6 or 7. The church cannot wait until they are in their teens and try to reach them with a youth program.
I like what you’ve said about using the opportunity for educational purposes, as this is a major part of our roles as ministers. However, as to the idea of throwing a harvest party in which children and adults participate in nearly identical activities as their secular counterparts, I must respectfully disagree. Either the observance of Halloween is biblically acceptable or it isn’t. Sometimes we must stand firmly against something on the sheer principle of right versus wrong. To do exactly what the world is doing, but sanctify it by simply renaming it is a marketing ploy. We must have some standards that are unmovable. Do we not teach against unmarrie nsex, just because some are going to do it anyway? Do we not stand firmly against child abuse, simply because some are going to do it anyway? Of course not. If Halloween was birthed from evil origins, we should say so and explain why we as a church will not participate in it. Let our yes be yes and our no be no. It is wavering stands like the Have St Party or Fall Festival that exemplify the reason the world shrugs its should at the church. We’re afraid to take a stand.