Well friends, the season is upon us. Churches all over will be holding hell houses and/or preaching against the evils of Halloween. Most churches opt to do a fall festival in lieu of Halloween or in my area the trunk or treat concept is popular.What do you do, and what are your thoughts on the subject?
We’ve done trunk or treat and big harvest festivals in the past, but per your excellent post on church growth, we experienced little lasting success from them.
I usually pass out candy to the cute little kids dressed up as cats and such. Its fun.
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We’ve "demonized" Halloween…
I remember being a young child and being at revival with my evangelist father. I went Trick or Treating! I loved it.Nope, I didn’t get demon-possessed. I didn’t fall from faith. I didn’t acquire a taste for blood and horror movies. I just got some candy. I ate it. I liked it. I trick or treated until I was 15.Yeah, I’m bad about that.Halloween was nothing more than simple fun for most of us…until someone came along and declared that we were glorifying Satan or some other foolishness.Nope. Not even close. Can a person accidentally worship God? No?Then why act like a person can accidentally worship Satan or what have you?If you don’t want to do it, fine. I enjoyed it. I don’t mind if my own son wants to be a part of it (no, I don’t allow demon masks or what have you; I just go with Star Wars, etc.).
What about blood moons – would that be ok to dress your child like a blood moon?I’m putting four jack o lanterns on the front porch and cutting a big circle in each to represent the four blood moons. I figure since the eclipses are basically orange – the pumpkins colors will be perfect________________
I think I’ll dress like Robert Tilden this year and use an offering plate instead of a candy bag.
But it shore messed up some a ya doctrine, Aaron………..
halloween then and now
it did seem more harmless 40 years ago. halloween is 2nd in $ only to Christmas. nonetheless, its probably no big deal to celebrate / not celebrate it.there are a number of pop-culture church events that churches are expected to do. among them are, 1. big back to school events with backpacks for the whole town, 2. fall festival / trunk or treat – again, to give candy to everyone in the whole town, 3. Christmas gifts for everyone in the whole town, and 4. gigantic easter egg hunts, to give candy to everyone in the whole town.i am not opposed to big events. i’ve done them and continue to do so. however, i think we should attach purpose to them as they relate to the mission of our local church.btw, there are more haunted houses in michigan than any other state, but we don’t have hell houses… good idea maybe
Amen and Amen!!!! Great idea! ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
Absolutely! ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
I must be under a rock, but I have never heard of the Hell house. ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
In vacant old walmart building Had over 5000 attend over 6 nights with more than 1000 conversions. Most thought they were coming to a typical secular haunted house. One woman complained to a big local radio station that her 5 yr old wS frightened. Duh. We said it was pg13. She got a lot of flack and we got the best publicity we ever had. Then we moved it outside on a 15 acre traCT of land we own and did Trip to Hell for about 9 yrs. Finally the fire marshall shut us down. Now we do a pumpkin. Festival at the church. We do it for 3 nights grt about 1500 little kids and their parents. We do super hero’s and princesses with many games, prizes, candy, free pumkins, bounce houses, face painting, prayer booth and a Gospel story utilizing our super heroes and princesses. The Hell House brought us tons of teens and some families. The trip to Hell was mostly teens and youth groups from all over nc. The pumpkin festival is young kids and parents, grandparents from the neighborhood.
I’ve wondered the same thing even bout mass crusades.
How does a Hell House explain who Jesus is and help someone to believe in Him. Hey there little girl…..if you don’t get saved, you’re gonna burn forever just like this little girl did who had an abortion. I missed the abortion part…who said anything about that________________