Halloween—has become such a contentious time in the church. Even mentioning the term "Halloween" upsets some because of its pagan origins.

In response to that many churches have switched from "Halloween" events to "Fall Festivals." I get it; I totally understand but bear with me a minute and consider that changing the name in this way takes away the part of the potential for using this holiday as an evangelism outreach time. This is not another Christian justification as to why you should let your kids go trick or treating, but an attempt to help you see how Halloween can be used as a significant time for evangelism. It really doesn't matter ultimately if you change the name or not but I want you to consider why I even bring up this point.

You can skip my musings on this and just jump down to the free handouts in the article if you want but you might find some of what follows interesting. [Read more...]