There is probably no more controversial day for Christians than Halloween. I realize there are various opinions on how we ought to best handle the last day in October, from embracing it, to avoiding it. In fact, I think in the past 20 years I’ve personally held convictions all along the spectrum!

This post is not meant to cause division or encourage anyone to go against their conscience. This post is just meant to offer a few tips for using this day as a springboard to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ!

1. The One Day of the Year the Unsaved Come to Our Door: Have you ever engaged in door-knocking evangelism? This can be very intimidating for most. One way to view Halloween is to see it as the one day in the year that the unsaved come to our door to hear the gospel! What an opportunity!

So when your neighbors come to your door, greet them with hospitality, remembering with compassion that they are lost and are in great need of Jesus’ forgiveness. Give them a generous candy treat, and a good gospel tract. Custom Tract Source has very good Halloween-themed tracts.

If you’re really daring, perform a “trick” that shares the gospel, like Open Air Campaigners‘ “Three Ropes” or “Chemical Cross.” (I hope to post YouTube videos illustrating these in the future!)

2. Reverse Trick-or-Treat: A few years ago my family and I did this and received very positive results. In short, we go door-to-door and instead of TAKING, we say “Reverse Trick-or-Treat!” and we GIVE! We give the person at the door a generous candy treat and a gospel tract. I wrote a gospel tract specifically with Reverse Trick-or-Treating in mind and you’re welcome to download it and copy and paste all the text and make it your own.

You can download the tract at http://Luke-15.org/Reverse_Trick_or_Treat_2009.pdf.

If you need technical help creating your tract, just contact me and I’ll be glad to do what I can. Then you have them printed at Staples or Kinkos and cut, folded, and you have your very own custom tracts to give out when you reverse trick-or-treat! 🙂

3. Reformation Day: Have you noticed that the hardest part of sharing your faith is getting started? Once you get started, it’s not so hard at all. It’s the awkward part of transitioning to spiritual things that can be the difficult hurdle.

So here’s a tip to try around Halloween.

Mark: “October 31 is my favorite holiday.”
Friend: “Halloween? Halloween is your favorite holiday?”
Mark: (Coyly) “Is Halloween on October 31? Nah, I’m talking about Reformation Day. Did you know that on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis?”
Friend: “Really? October 31?”
Mark: “On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther challenged indulgences, that you could buy your way to Heaven. He wanted to get back to how the Bible says God forgives people. What do you think about that? How do you think people get to Heaven?”

Author and Speaker Jim Ellif wrote a fantastic (and short) article about Reformation Day. It is fascinating. It is evangelistic. It is inspiring. You can download a version for free to print as a tract, or as a church bulletin insert at: http://www.bulletininserts.org/bulletininsert.aspx?bulletininsert_id=39

Regardless of your personal conviction regarding Halloween, I pray that you will be a light in a dark world every single day of the year, and I hope these tips were a blessing. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think would be blessed by it.

To Christ be the glory, now and forever!

Mark