The Institute (協会)

Because there has been much discussion amongst Christians about Halloween and its supposed affiliation with druidism and/or devil worship, evil, etc, I can understand why the common Christian would seek refuge and replace the celebration with something "less scary" or "counter-cultural" in the name of "redeeming the day" and being "in the world and not of it." On the other hand, I think the common understanding of the history of halloween as a pagan holiday is false and based on mythological druidism concocted in the 18th/19th centuries by neopagans (see article at ransomfellowship.org).

All that to say, I am not certain it is a litmus test for "missional-ness." I know BB is looking for a full-orbed missional church, but perhaps a church can be missional in other areas and be missing it here because of Halloween baggage? Also, do unchurched folks go to these events? Nontheless, I think BB is certainly on the right track regarding Halloween. I dont mean to boast about my church or myself as we are far off from being what one might call "missional" but I am certainly excited about the way we are handling Halloween this year. Many of the families are gathering at the church for dinner early, then going to an assisted living center (dressed up or not) to hang with the elderly and serve them, then the families are encouraged to be with their un-churched neighbors. We (my family) invited an unchurched family whom we have become great friends with to come over. I get to hang out with the dad, share "spirits" (sorry for the play on words), and hand out candy. Halloween has given us the opportunity to hang out alone for the first time, and knowing I am a pastor, he said he is coming loaded with questions about "religion and stuff." Whats more exciting, is that they felt comfortable enough to invite another unchurched family last night who they normally hang with on Halloween. Thus, two unchurched families in our home on October 31st for a potential conversation about "religion and stuff". Sorry this is so long.

Nathan said, "Sorry this is so long."

You can't write too much in the comment section here. No worries.

Great stuff to think about. I'm having "B" read this stuff as well.

Great stuff. One book that deals directly with Christians "circling the wagons" is Dick Keyes Chameleon Christianity. One of the best books I have ever read.

Our church, www.crossbridge.cc, is encouraged to be in the community. Some of the small groups throw neighborhood parties, handing out hot dogs, candy, taking free polaroids of the kids to take home. I've dreamed of having our worship band come put on a free concert in our driveway..they execute some really cool "non-christian-themed" songs. In the past, I've carved crosses in my pumpkins! Hey, that's what triumphed over evil and continues to do so!

2 things:
1) Thanksgiving doesn't celebrate gluttony, though such is certainly possible. Appropriately celebrated, it is feasting, which is commanded by God several times in the OT. That's how I think the Puritans understood it, and that's how my family practices it.

2) Without detracting from anything in the article, I think we should analyze WJWCH (Whether Jesus Would Celebrate Halloween) with lunch at Zaccheus's house, the clearing of the temple, and casting out demons in mind. On the last point, it would be odd indeed to dress up as one of Jesus' mortal foes in Jesus' name, however good the motives are.

One thing that I notice is that all of the "non-religious" observances whose goal is sin are based on Christian observances. Shoot, I've read articles about Christmas that suggest that the point of a Christmas party is to get drunk and sleep with one of your coworkers.

Do we therefore abandon Thanksgiving (and Turducken!) and Christmas as observances for Christians? Or do we remember Psalm 24:1 and God's sovereignty over all?

Now I admit that I don't have much use for "Devil's Night," but I think the reason is that it really doesn't have strong roots in Christian tradition to begin with--you can make a case for Nov. 1, but not Oct. 31.

I have thought a lot about this in the past couple of years since my kids are in prime trick or treating age. I am about to turn 40. I trick or treated as a kid and loved it. It seems like the generation just ahead of ours (influenced perhaps by the rise of the whole Religious Right thing) went in for this "Fall Festival" routine. When my kids were tiny, we did it too, mostly because two year olds like throwing bean bags in clown's mouths and having cake walks.

But in the past couple of years, it is as though most of my peers with kids woke up one morning and realized that we all liked trick or treating when we were kids and we started to question why we didn't do it with our kids.

So tonight, we went out with less than "let's win San Antonio for Christ" motives and more "Let's go have fun." We did have fun. My kids got about 5 pounds of candy. But as we were walking around the neighborhood, I started thinking how great it was to actually see people outside. Suburbia is like a fortress. People are hardly ever outside except on the way to their cars or when they are mowing their lawns. It was great to actually meet some people and to figure out that some folks we had already met lived about 4 doors down and we didn't know it.

I know the day has problems. I am still not going to let my kids dress like Beelzebub but I am re-converted to Halloween. For a whole bunch of reasons.

Hey folks, you really do need to read James Jordan's article posted at Ransom Fellowship's site that Nathan mentioned. Here's a link. You might let your kids dress up like Beelzebub next year.

On another note, I realize that much of American Christianity is un-missional and narcissistic, but I think this business about knowing whether a church is missional based on one slice of its culture--whether that is its Halloween practice, its preaching, how many men are there, how much the pastor can bench, or whatever--is both ridiculous and tiresome.

I'd like to see my church be more missional in a lot of areas. But I'm not going to run people out of the church just so we can become missional faster. I think there are a lot of pastors and elders and church leaders in the same situation. Sometimes we want to grab people by the neck, shake 'em, and say, "Get with the program." But we don't. We are called to feed Christ's sheep. We have vowed to strive for the purity and peace of the church.

Is it missional to trample upon fellow Christians in order to reach the lost? No--by our love for each other will they know we are Christ's disciples. The gospel is not just for the lost, it is for Christians too--even legalists and fundamentalists and separationists. If you've got a church full of people reared in legalistic fundamentalism, it may take many years to make progress toward becoming missional. So, if you're comparing that church to an Acts 29 church plant, you're comparing apples and oranges.

I've been thinking about this recently. Good post, by the way, Anthony. If churches' alternative festivals are 'everything Halloween' except the evil stuff (and I think you're right), isn't it exactly the same as the average trick-or-treater's experience?

Honestly, what is the difference between a young child dressing up and going door-to-door for candy then going home and the same young child dressing up and going to church for candy and then going home?

Great post and great comments. Our church hosted one of these alternative events and based on the diversity and ratio of "unchurched" families, it was a great success. However, I think it is important that we, as individual believers, not be bound by our church's programs. We have an obligation to discern our own best mission field.

We recently moved into a neighborhood with the intention of building relationships and ministering the Gospel. We had NO intention of missing a chance to meet people right at our front door. How could we turn our porch light off and leave an empty house when the world is right there knocking? BUT...as we began talking to parents and children in the area, we found out that due to some past experiences with menacing older teens, most families don't bother with trick-or-treating. That being the case we went to Plan B --reserve a church van and load up any and all who wanted to come with us to the carnival. We took 13 children (4 of our own) and had three other neighborhood families (about 15 more people) come separately.

It was a win-win of sorts, but not because we just jumped on the harvest party bandwagon -because we wanted to serve our community in the best way possible. This is in no way meant as a boast, but a reminder for all of us that we can't reduce ministry in real life to a one size fits all program.

anthony,

Last night was fantastic. There was a brief excursus to Texans football, which was nice too, but the rest of the evening was dominated with questions like, "what is a presbyterian? how is God good if someone dies in Tibet and never hears about Jesus? What do you think of Joel Osteen? Why did the church people on my street come and tell me i was going to hell since i didnt go back to their church after they swarmed us without even calling first? I could go on and on, but our new friends had a blast and the couple we met for the first time last night exchanged numbers with us and said they want to come hear me preach. Tell BB that I love Halloween! The most frightening thing about Halloween for me this year was that I had to see my 4 yr old daughter dressed as a bride--seriously--all i can say is yikes! I tried to convince her she was representing the purified bride of Christ and she just kinda gave me one of those confused 4 yr old looks.

Dead on Anthony. One of the few nights a year my neighbors not only welcome me to their doorsteps, but they also want to enjoy my children. Laughing with them and giving them candy ...

Ok, quick post then I will crawl back under my rock. Yikes, gentlemen. A friend (another female, I should point out) hooked me up with your site and I jumped right into reading the current posts. It wasn't until after commenting that I noticed the uh, "fellas" part. Please forgive me!? This is a great site and I will now return to my lady lurker status. Thank you for being gracious.

I think, as Christians, our not participating in a holiday which is set on glorifying the works and workers of darkness, is a witness to THE LIGHT in itself.

Check out the article at Ransom Fellowship by James Jordan titled Halloween: A Distinctly Christian Holiday. I've asked my core group to read it so that we can discuss it merits. For what's it's worth, I thought is was a great article.