Goodness gracious. When it comes to holidays people can really snarl their noses and point fingers on saying whether something is right or wrong, no matter what side of the fence they’re on.
And of course that can happen in most areas of raising children, can’t it?? Natural birth vs. medicated, spankings vs. no spanking, homeschool vs. public school, when’s the appropriate age to let your teen date, the list goes on in the great debates in motherhood.
So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Halloween is any different. Some people participate and some choose not to but whatever side you find yourself on we should not be judgmental of the opposing side.
Although we choose to participate in Halloween, I don’t think Christians should accept everything about Halloween. My pastor says, “There’s a big difference between kids that dress as hello kitty or batman, and another that dresses like a witch.” This culture, I know, puts big emphasis on the “evil” side with all of the witches, ghosts and bloody dead zombies.
I actually hate dislike going to the store and there’s all these spooky things hanging all over, I think it puts pressure on kids to want to dress up in a “bad” costume and also engages them in seeing ugly things at such a young age. But I do believe that for those who choose to participate here are some ways to Redeem it.
*My pastor answered the question below with these 5 answers which I agree on and I am simple sharing them.
The question about redeeming anything in culture is how can we as believers leverage Halloween and engage culture with the gospel?
1. Most non-Christians are going to go to a pumpkin patch. So instead of going alone, invite a un-churched family member or friend to go with you to build a relationship with them. Hopefully giving you a chance to impact them and share the gospel.
2. Invite a un-churched family member or friend to go trick-or-treating with you. Let your kids dress up and get candy together. Again, building relationships with them.
3. Invite a un-churched family member or friend to attend your church’s fall festival. Same thing, relational.
My kids here as knight and a rosebud princess last year
4. Even the costumes we choose can help redeem this holiday…others will choose to dress up scary, our kids can be positive with non-scary/ugly costumes.
5. We also have a debriefing time with our kids after we go out for candy…not that night, but the next day or to, talk about the night. The scary costumes, why people dress like that. We talk about the pagan ancestry of the holiday so they have can understand the creepy nature of it. And at the same time I can tell them why we are doing it…to engage our neighborhood with the gospel. So I look at it like I do a mission trip…pray up and get ready for some good conversations with pagans!
6. This is something we do so I added it to the list. Carve pumpkins and talk about how Jesus takes the yucky stuff inside our hearts (the slime representing the icky sin) and Jesus is the only one who can cleanse us and forgive us. (clean out pumpkin) Then we carve our pumpkins with a smiley face (Jesus is the only one who can truly make us happy) and then put a light inside. (we are the light representing Jesus to the lost world)
To redeem Halloween doesn’t mean you take a pagan holiday and make it Christian…Christians tried to do that many years ago and that’s why All Hallows Day even exits…rather it means we are leveraging things in culture to engage culture with the transforming power of the gospel.
We can hide inside while the rest of the world is walking around asking for candy, or we can walk around with them and become the salt and light that Jesus asked to us to be.
Matthew 5:13-16 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Message Bible)
If you choose to participate how are your redeeming Halloween?
About Rachel
For Easter, we found candies called Jesus seeds that would be great for this if you choose to give out candy. We prefer to give small toys and paper gifts like word searches and puzzles. There are many things that one could hand to a child that talk about Jesus’ love for him/her.
I’ll have to check out those Jesus seeds! And you’re right, there are so many other things you can hand out instead of candy to tell others about Jesus!
Love this!
Thanks Anne!
We hosted hamBOOgers and Halloweenies. We choose to serve FREE food and give out goody bags which includes a kids tract, pencil, notebook, and small toy and we give out lots of candy. We serve those who come on the one night they will come.. We advertise and it is sponsored by our church and local small group Bible study. It is a seed planting opportunity and we work to build a connection point for those in our neighborhood. Last night we served more than 400 people who had a chance to sit down and have a bit to eat and some water to drink in the midst of their trick-or-treating outing.
What a wonderful idea Suanna, thanks for sharing! I saw some kids tracts at the Christian book store for Halloween (after Halloween) and thought that would be a great idea!
I know I am a little late in replying to this article, but I wanted to say that I enjoyed reading it very much. I read so many other Christan blogs that gave reasons why you should not participate in Halloween. My church is split on this topic. My hubby and I are in the minority that do celebrate Halloween and most other church members do not. I grew up with Halloween in much of the same ways that you mentioned above…no scary costumes or evil costumes (i.e. witches, zombies, blood and/or gore), we were taught that Halloween is a time for celebrating God changing the world into fall/winter, and to praise God-not focus on the evilness that comes with Halloween. We do not have children yet, but my hubby and I have already talked a lot about what we will and will not allow when the time comes for Halloween. I shared this article with him and he loved it. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Andrea, I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed this post! And you are so wise preparing your hearts and minds on how you want to raise your future children now! Blessings to y’all!
We have not participated in Halloween yet. I’m not sure we will in the future, but for now we have chosen not to. I’m not opposed to other families who choose to participate, but honestly, my kids don’t really know what they are missing, and I’m not sad that they aren’t going out to gather a lot of candy! For now, they dress up in costumes everyday and have occasional treats. I’m sure the fact that we don’t live in a neighborhood adds to the fact that trick-or-treating isn’t something that would be easy for us.
I really like the tips about being relational though. There is still so much else that we can participate in during the fall season and there are plenty of opportunities to teach our kids about loving our neighbors. I’m definitely looking forward to pumpkin patches, fairs, and more. I will be thinking about who we can invite this year!