I found this to be an interesting article. I think it would be awesome if more Christians would do something like this. I hate "Fall Festivals" that are really just Halloween parties held at churches. I am all for Fall Festivals held at churches that have nothing to do with Halloween. When I was the youth pastor at Hepsibah Baptist Church, the church would put on a fall festival that was either in the middle of October or in the first Weekend in November. There were hay-rides, games, boiled peanuts, cotton candy and usually some Bluegrass music. I loved it.
Now, I don't know this person that wrote this article but I did not like the way he references "good Christians." I know that he is using it sarcastically, and it rubs me the wrong way. I try to live my life to bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus. Being a 'good Christian" is not my aim. But, that is just a small issue.
The main point of this post, and what I want to spend the most time one, is that I would not call what he and his family are doing as "celebrating" Halloween. It is using Halloween for evangelistic purposes. And I am all for that. I am all for taking advantage of something that the world does in order to impact the culture for the sake of Christ's kingdom. I believe that we need to do whatever it takes in order to shine His light into the darkness.
About this author, I just wonder if his house is decorated with spider webs, coffins in the yard and ghosts hanging in the trees. Are he and his family dressed as witches and goblins in order to be more "missional?"
I don't ever ask myself the pointless question, "What Would Jesus Do?" but I do often ask myself, "what would Paul do?" I wonder if Paul would dress up as a zombie or a wizard and shout, "Happy Halloween" as families approached his house. But, getting back to the point, I wonder if Paul would have wanted the churches that he had planted to join in with what the culture was doing? Would he have wanted the church at Ephesus to join in with the worshippers of Diana duirng their festivals at the Temple of Artemis? I wonder. So, in the end, I am all for using Halloween as a means of reaching the lost world, but I am adamantly opposed to Christians celebrating Halloween.
I am in favor of Reformation Day however.
Halloween is the one day out of the whole year that the WORLD comes to OUR doors. An opportunity to show the love of Christ...and most Christians shut their doors and turn off the lights to look like they aren't home. Anyway, my point is- I agree with you. Lets USE halloween for evangelistic purposes.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to decorate our house to look like Hell, dress the whole family up like demons, and then talk to everyone that comes to the door about the love of Christ. That makes sense, right???
ReplyDeleteI'm think it's a hard issue, which is evident because it comes up as a debate every year. There's a fine line between celebrating and being evangelistic, and that's where most of the issues come from. People's opinions on what constitutes "celebrating."
It's hard for me because I LOVE this time of year. I love the weather, fires, leaves, pumpkins, apples, football, the coming holidays, all of it. I also could very easily enjoy the ghoulish side of Halloween. My family growing up celebrated it every year as if there was no issue with it at all. So it's almost ingrained in me that this time of year means Halloween just as much as anything else. And you know I have a fondness for vampire movies, before they were ruined by Twilight anyway. Dressing up is fun, especially with the kids. Doing "scary" stuff can be fun within reason.
We usually get invited to at least one Halloween cookout or party that involves some part of our family or friends. That makes it difficult, because of course we want to hang out and have fun with those people, let the kids have fun together in a safe environment. But it's clearly "celebrating" when it's all Christians getting together and there's no outreach.
All of that to say...
I do believe it's inappropriate for Christians to celebrate Halloween. I do believe it's great if Christian's can take advantage of the opportunity to share the gospel. But I also believe it's very hard to engage without letting yourself slip into participating. At least it would be for me. Because of that, our family will most likely be hiding in our shell for that one night.
Now Jacob, this has brought something else to my mind. Halloween is blatantly pagan. What about neutral things that our culture has made gods and idols out of, so that they would now be basically pagan "holidays?" The Super Bowl is the big one that comes to mind. Is it easier for the church to redeem those things because they are neutral at their core?
@Drew - good insight and perspective. To answer your question, I do think that churches should redeem and use whatever the culture wants to bring up to bring glory and honor to Jesus. A Super Bowl outreach is a great idea, but what do you with the commercials? Sure they are funny, and everyone always looks forward to seeing them, but what about the beer commercials, Godaddy.com with the scantily clad women or something else that someone does to push the envelope? The best thing to do would be just not show the commercials. Anyways, the answer to your question is, yes.
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