This is Halloween week! Unfortunately, some think that Halloween is the devil’s holiday. That’s too bad. You’re missing out on a great opportunity to be missional. If you think Halloween is for the devil, you probably just need to get over yourself. Even if it was the devil’s holiday, wouldn’t it be awesome if we took it over for a purpose much higher?
As you think about what you’re going to be doing this Halloween, I wanted to offer some suggestions for you. I think we all have a great opportunity to be on mission for Jesus this time of year, and we ought to take full advantage of it.
1. Give out the best candy you can afford.
And please, for the sake of all that is holy, don’t give out tracts instead of candy. If you’re going to give out a tract or a bible or something like that, at least tape a big 3 musketeers bar to it or something. You don’t want to be that house.
2. Do something Special
Instead of just giving out candy, do something special at your house. It could be a bunch of different things. Maybe make some Hot chocolate for the kids, or cider for the parents. If your porch is well lit, set up a little area to take pictures of kids in the costumes. You could do the traditional bail of hay and a couple of pumpkins. Or you could paint horizontal stripes on a sheet, a foot apart, and make it look like the kids are getting their mug shots taken. Or just get a cool old chair, some pumpkins, and write BOO on a blackboard behind the chair. Take the pictures and get the parents email addresses to send them to the kids. Or just let them take the picture with their phone if there’s enough light.
3. Pass out candy while you walk around with your kids.
Instead of just getting candy from the homes, give candy to the people passing out candy. Or give candy to people on the streets.
4. Smile, be happy and polite, get to know the people in your neighborhood.
Many of us don’t get to talk to the people on our street any other time of the year. Halloween is a good chance for you to get to know your neighbors. Don’t just let your kids ask for candy, say hi to the adults passing out the candy. Say hi to adults as they pass you by on the street. Look out for other kids’ safety. If you’re doing something like cider or pictures after you’re done passing out candy, make up a little invitation to pass out to people as you’re walking around. Make sure you put a time on there that is after you’ll be out walking around.
5. Have a party and invite your 8 – 15.
Maybe you’re too old to go trick or treating, don’t have any kids and have a lot of friends who are in the same boat as you. Then, why not have a halloween party and invite everyone from your 8 to 15 to come and hang out. It could be an open house, you could have everyone over to watch a scary movie – like Cats – make them some kind of dessert and play games.
The biggest thing we can do is to engage with those we have the opportunity to talk to. This is a chance to begin preparing the soil so the seed of the gospel can be planted.