The following article was written by Paul Briggs, campus pastor.
“I want you to tell me why Christians don’t like Halloween.” The visiting scholar from China had barely gotten seated in my office on October 31st when she blurted out this statement. I casually responded, “What makes you think that Christians don’t like Halloween?” She countered by saying that someone (and the context in which she was telling me this made me presume that the “someone” was a Christian) had told her that Christians don’t like this “holiday.” My response to her was that if you got a number of Christians in the same room and asked them their opinion on Halloween, there would be a range of viewpoints on the matter. I added that if I felt Halloween was wrong, then I shouldn’t carve pumpkins or celebrate Christmas with a Christmas Tree, either (as both of these practices are rooted in pagan practices, as well).
It could be statistically proven that fascination with Halloween is on the rise. This is true all over the globe. I was in Italy in early October of 2007, a country which never seemed to have a “Halloween culture.” It was evident that Halloween is beginning to creep into the retail outlets of that country. Consider these recent statistics related to consumer spending gleaned from a cursory Google search:
The NRF [National Retail Foundation] 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that consumers are expected to spend $5.07 billion this Halloween, up from $4.96 billion last year and only $3.29 billion two years ago.
The article goes on to say that Halloween continues as one of the biggest decorating holidays of the year, second only to Christmas. 66.7 percent of consumers plan to purchase Halloween decor and 47.8 percent plan to decorate their home or yard. Consumers will spend approximately $1.39 billion on decorations, an average of $26.59 for those planning purchases.
It seems to me it would be interesting to consider how a believer in Jesus Christ should be thinking about this seemingly growing issue of trick or treating. I would like to review some of the primary ways I have observed people in the “evangelical world” dealing with this matter and then I would like to conclude by talking about why my family and I behave as we do concerning this matter of Halloween.
There are, in my estimation, three basic responses to Halloween in the evangelical world: a) There is what I will call the “Pretend it isn’t happening” response where the evangelical will not participate in any way in what is taking place…including keeping their porch light shut off and not participating in the neighborhood “trick or treating”; b) There is what I will call the “Let’s sanitize what is happening” approach, characterized by a substitute celebration such as a “Harvest Party” or “Fall Festival”; and c) There is the approach that I would call “Let’s use what is happening” ( as an opportunity to interact with those who are coming to us.)
As I have observed these various responses to Halloween, my concern is that there is an increasing polarization among the people of God as it relates to how we are responding to Halloween. Those who want to pretend it isn’t happening condemn those who want to sanitize what is happening. Those who want to pretend it isn’t happening and those who want to sanitize what is happening, in turn condemn those who find it to be a great opportunity for outreach. What I would like to suggest is that as long as the occult is not being celebrated and the emphasis is on costumes and candy, there should be freedom in the church to respond to Halloween in a way in which the Christian believes will honor the Lord without being looked down upon as being less than spiritual.
After several years of giving in to at least perceived pressure from the evangelical culture and practicing the “Pretend it isn’t happening” method, my family has now adopted the third approach listed above…the “Let’s use what is happening” approach. Let me be clear, we do not “celebrate” the occult, death, violence or anything similar which might be easily associated with Halloween. We don’t even decorate for the occasion. However, we have found that many people (especially international students) are fascinated by the culture of “trick or treating”. We have found this to be an excellent evening on which to invite a student or a group of students over to see the various trick or treaters who come to our door (in 2007 we easily had 75!).
- We use Halloween as an opportunity to show hospitality to others (kids coming to our door);
- We use Halloween as an opportunity to be hospitable (international students and scholars and their family members)
- We use Halloween as an opportunity to accept the hospitality of our neighbors who are participating in the “trick or treating” event.
- We use Halloween as an opportunity to distribute the good news through tracts that have a clear Gospel message.
Halloween is the one night of the year when we have the opportunity to meet children (and their parents) who are going from door to door in the neighborhood. Granted, the time is very brief, but the opportunity to be “neighborly” is an opportunity we don’t want to miss! This brief interaction might lead to a deeper relationship and consequently, an opportunity to speak in depth with someone about the Gospel.
International students are very curious about what goes on in the United States. They observe what is going on around them; they see the costumes and the candy in the stores and wonder what this is all about. To be invited to come over and pass out candy to the children who are “trick or treating” is a great way to deepen a relationship. Last year we invited two visiting scholars to our home, one of whom had a 13 year old son. As we went trick-or-treating through the neighborhood, they took photos at nearly every house and thoroughly enjoyed this idea of going door to door! To be invited to come over and take their child “trick or treating” in the neighborhood is also a great way to show kindness and friendship.
Several years ago we invited an international friend to come over and give out the candy at our door. We were sitting and visiting in our living room in between trick or treaters. Each time more trick or treaters would come to the door he would jump up and ask if he could be the one to distribute the candy. This has remained for him a good memory, as in subsequent years he has invited himself over to do this again! It certainly remains a good memory for us; we chuckle every time we think of the look on the face of our friend when he realized there was another trick or treater at our door!
Strangely enough, Halloween is the one night of the entire year when neighborhoods open up. People who are usually too busy to stop and talk to one another will show kindness and hospitality to their neighbors; people who will rarely speak to their neighbors will, all of sudden, be friendly…and might even invite you into their home! In our neighborhood we have even had the opportunity to make new friends as a result of taking our daughter “trick or treating”!
My favorite story about trick or treating in the neighborhood relates to a Chinese couple who we had seen driving by our home numerous times prior to Halloween, but who we had never had the opportunity to meet. As a result of taking our daughter trick or treating, we ended up meeting this young couple and becoming very good friends with them. This friendship led to various Gospel-proclaiming opportunities with them. We remain in contact with these friends to this day, even after they have sold their home and moved away from our neighborhood.
For the past several years we have downloaded and printed off tracts from a website and have distributed them to the people who have come to our door. We don’t know where these tracts end up, but at least it is an opportunity to possibly impact those coming to our door to ask for candy.
As Christians we are told that we are what we are (a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God) for the purpose of declaring “….the praises of him who called [us] out darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). This verse, I believe, helps us to see ourselves for who we are in Christ and understand why we are what we have been made to be! While opening our home’s door to “trick or treaters I know that I am not celebrating the occult, death, violence or anything associated with that. I know I am turning on my porch light and in some small way shining the light of the Gospel, the light which otherwise might not reach those coming to my door. I don’t have any problems taking my daughter out trick or treating for I know that in so doing, I have the opportunity to meet my neighbors, many of whom (even after many years!) I do not know. In addition, I see Halloween as an interesting time to invite internationals who are curious. If we don’t invite them, we might lose an easy opportunity to spend some time with someone with whom we could be building a relationship.
My goal here isn’t to persuade someone to change their position on Halloween as much as it is to explain mine. I understand well that people grow up in different contexts and with different convictions. I do believe, however, that the church should not be polarized by this matter of Halloween, as increasingly seems to be the case. There needs to be a healthy exchange of ideas, after which the “individual priest” is given his freedom before the Lord to act according to his conscience.