Every Halloween I have to stop and ask myself whether we should, as a church, be promoting, encouraging, and participating in this holiday. Let’s face it, when you think about Halloween the mind quickly goes to scary, witches, ghosts, and goblins. I know it’s fun and there are many other costumes that have nothing to do with scary themes.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
But, Romans 12:1-2a says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
The same author with seemingly contradictory messages. Or are they? When we participate and organize our Trunk or Treat, we are providing a thing that the world has created to recognize the spiritual world (nice way of putting it). We, as a church, don’t have to conform to the scariness and the witch craftiness of the holiday. Instead, we have chosen to invite the community to our campus in order to let them know we are friendly people. And most importantly maybe they will see someone they know and will realize we are sinners saved by grace and we want them to join us in our journey to be like Jesus.
I am not convinced we get many visitors on Sunday morning because of Trunk or Treat, but maybe we planted a seed in someone’s heart to seek the true ruler of the spiritual world. And when that seed grows, maybe we will see that person or that family join us on a Sunday or at youth group or at WASP or Octane or the Christmas Tea or Titus 2 or Basecamp.
Let’s keep our hearts in the right place when it comes to this and other events. We want to help people journey with Jesus.