Referring to the last post here, I've been blogging about serving our community (here and here and here). Thinking back to Halloween two weeks ago, it ocurred to me one way we don't serve our community is acting like weird Christians! Halloween is the perfect example. I was reminded of this reading a recent post from Kevin Hendricks at Church Marketing Sucks. He was referring to a post Gary Lamb made regarding the holiday. You've got to check the original post here!
When we have our "Harvest Parties," we need to be thinking about how to reach and serve our community rather than just serve ourselves. The question I have is "Who are these parties for?" Most kids are happier "trick-or-treating" in the neighborhood because our neighbors are much more generous with the candy than most churches. When churches have games, they often make kids "earn" their candy based on performance (it reminds me of how churches often make people think they need to earn favor with God).
I was very happy to stay at home and give out oodles of candie and non-candy gifts. We had one of the best decorated houses in the neighborhood and quite a few kids recognized me as Pastor Eric. I think it was a great statement to show how Christians can love the community rather than separate themselves from it.
