In just a few weeks, Halloween will be upon us again and if you're like me, you may struggle with it.

For many Christians, participating in Halloween is joining in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness:
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Eph 5:11)

Many other Christians however, consider Halloween activities to be harmless fun. After all, didn't Jesus say:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.
(John 17:15)

The fact is, good Christians disagree on this and similar issues like the Harry Potter series. And the disagreement is not always gracious. Those who choose to celebrate Halloween often accuse those who don't of trying to remove themselves from the world by ignoring it and in the process, alienating the very people we need to reach. Those who don't choose to celebrate Halloween often accuse those who do of being just like the world. The Biblical truth is we're called to neither isolate ourselves from the world (Matt. 5:14) nor be just like it (Rom. 12:2). What's a Christian to do?

We start by remembering wherever the Bible is not explicitly clear on a subject, we're given liberty of conscience to come to our own conviction. We simply cannot elevate matters of personal opinion to Biblical status. So we need to be convicted through prayer and study of God's Word on this matter and act upon our convictions. In the end, each of us is accountable to God. Secondly, we need to recognize we all will not come to the same conviction. In this grace must reign. We can't judge another Christian as we don't know the motivations and intentions of their heart. Grace demands I assume the best, not the worst of a fellow believer.

Whatever our conviction, we pray! Halloween must be bathed in prayer. Whether you participate in Halloween activities or not, pray for your neighborhood, the children, parents, and strangers that will pass down your street, that those who don't know Christ would be open to the gospel.  Remember you were once in darkness too. Pray for God's anointing on churches and families using Halloween as an outreach event or opportunity, that God will make His people a light in this darkened world. Pray for protection from the evil one.

After prayer, what can we do practically? If you choose not to participate, that's ok, just turn the lights off on your porch so that children will not be disappointed when knocking on your unanswered door. 

If we choose to participate, how might we bring our faith to bear in it? Again we begin with prayer and a reminder why God saved us, so that we might be a part of His redemptive plan to reach out into a world of evil and darkness with the light and love of Christ. And Halloween is a ready-made outreach opportunity because it brings our unbelieving neighbors to our door step. We need to be faithful, creative and strategic in seizing this opportunity for developing new relationships and sharing our faith. Here are some guidelines:

• Be welcoming. Welcome every child as if he/she was Jesus Himself.  Smile, be joyful and hand out genuine compliments to the kids along with the goodies. You want your neighbors to know that yours is a household that loves children and families. A kind word concerning a costume or behavior will go a long way with the child and their parents. It may pave the way for a relationship. You may also want to have some Christian children's music playing on your front porch. Make certain that your sidewalk and porch are well lit and free of debris. If you choose to decorate use non-scary decorations like balloons, pumpkins, and other fall type items. Don't overcomplicate things and have fun. 
• Be creative: One outreach idea is to give the kids a Gospel tract along with the candy. Christian book stores carry some good tracts geared just to children on this day.  You can also order good, cheap tracts from CBD. You might want to personalize these with your name and/or our church name. For those of us who take our kids trick or treating, we might have our children thank each home they visit with this same gospel tract. Another idea is to give the parents of the kids who come to our door a copy of our church community ministry folder which highlights all the things SPEP offers our community. The church will be glad to provide these. Still another idea might be to plan a 'Christianity Explored' study in your neighborhood and handout invitations to the parents who come along with the children.  Again we can help in this. Remember this is high grace low risk evangelism so avoid being preachy.
• Be generous and thankful! Don't skimp on the goodies and for every kid that comes to your door, thank them and their parents!

May God bless you and open Gospel opportunities for you in this.

Your Pastors: Glenn, Brian, Bill and Max

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