Fall is finally here, which means Halloween is around the corner! Our family likes to stick close to home instead of attending an alternative event, festival, or party for one BIG reason: to meet, greet, and live life with the people in our community!
If you think about it, Halloween is (for the most part) the ONE night of the year that families venture out and go door-to-door to see their fellow neighbors. For Christians, this is a time to be intentional about getting to know people, building relationships, and being a light to those God has put in our lives.
My husband and I host a hot dog and hayride block party each year and invite everyone in the hood to bring a side dish. We block off the street, bring out a couple of grills, and serve lots of food. At twilight, the hayride heads out for trick-or-treating. People anticipate the party all year, and staying home on Halloween allows God to bring our community together in a special way.
Church, continue to host your fall events in order to provide a place for families to gather and fellowship. But leave Halloween open so your body of believers can scatter and be a light to those in their communities.
That’s one way to be missional on Halloween. What are your ideas?
Our church approaches Halloween three ways:
1. Our city hosts a Main street Trick-r-Treat the closest weeknight to Halloween, where kids walk down main street and stop at various booths sponsored by our city’s Business and Merchant’s Association. Since we are member of Business and Merchants we have a booth where we hand out candy and information about the church.
2. The night of Halloween we have 2-3 mini block parties in neighborhoods. These mini block parties are at the homes of church members. Each house has a carnival game with candy and small prizes and one extra thing like balloons or hot chocolate. I ask older couples without kids to volunteer at these block parties to run the games and hand information about the church.
3. We have a traditional Fall Festival the last Sunday night of October regardless of when Halloween falls. This is one of the biggest yearly events at our church, where we have lots of free activities for families to enjoy like trunk-r-treat, inflatables, free food, and much more.