The date of this writing is October 29. We are just two days away from Halloween and one day away from our church’s Fall Family Fun Fest. I am so excited, as it’s going to be a great way to engage with our community. As I’ve been praying for our festivities and been looking over social media, I’ve noticed that much has been made over Halloween, particularly as it relates to a Christian’s involvement in it. There are some that have absolutely no problem with it, allowing their children to participate in trick-or treating and themselves watching horror movies or even attending haunted houses. Conversely, there are those that think that Halloween is evil in every conceivable way and that churches should not participate in any event on that day, even fall festivals. With this wide range of views, the question is “what is an appropriate Christian response?” I’ve seen so much written on both sides of the argument, and I’ve always been hesitant to throw my hat into the ring, primarily because little good ever comes from most of these dialogues. However, today I feel compelled to add my two cents, for no other reason than to give my beloved church family a little perspective on why our church does a fall festival.
I certainly understand and respect the viewpoint of those not wanting to participate in any Halloween-related activities. The majority of folks that I have spoken to that hold to this view feel that Halloween is celebrating paganism and evil, and that a Christian’s participation in it is giving credibility to the enemy. I have also read and studied the plethora of verses that speak to being separated from evil, and I would certainly affirm those. However, while I understand this perspective, I look at this a bit differently. I feel that by totally separating ourselves from the world, we are giving Satan much more credit than he deserves. Let’s not overreact here.
In the same way that Scripture speaks to not conforming to evil, Jesus also speaks very clearly about how to penetrate the darkness of the world. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus said:
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven (NIV).
Simply put, Jesus us telling us to go out and engage our communities. If we have the light of Christ living through us, then what good does it do to simply isolate ourselves from people that so desperately need to see it? What is the point of that? I’m not saying to compromise our belief systems or principles in order to engage out communities. However, let’s be honest. Is having a hayride, a bounce house, free food, and live Christian music really compromising on our Christian values? I certainly don’t think so. My son attends our church’s Mother’s Day Out program. Today was trick-or-treating and dress up day, so Lacie and I allowed him to dress up as Batman, at his request. Does this mean we have compromised our Christian values and are “false Christians”? I think not. Jesus didn’t spend all His time with all of the “saved” people. He went out and sought out those that were in desperate need of the light of the Savior. He ate with them. He fellowshipped with them. He prayed with them. He loved them. They saw the light, and because they saw the light, many of them were forever changed by it.
That is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to engage our community. We are going to feed them. We are going to fellowship with them. We are going to pray with them.
We are going to love them. We are going to show them the light of Christ in the hopes that they will be forever changed. And we are going to do all of this by going straight to them instead of waiting for them to come to us. This does not make us “false Christians”. On the contrary, I think that this makes us genuine Christians. As long as I am pastor of University Baptist Church, we will continue to seek out our community in a variety of ways, including events like Halloween and Mardi Gras, in the desire to let our light shine brightly. We are not going to hide it, and we are not compromising anything in the process. Let’s not give Satan too much credit by isolating ourselves. Rather, let’s make him really mad by engaging people with a message of hope and love that can penetrate the darkness of Halloween.
Pray for our Fall Fest tomorrow. Final preparations are under way right now. Pray that God would be glorified through our efforts and that people would see the light of Christ shining brightly through us. I can’t wait to see what the Lord does tomorrow.
I Love You,
JP
