The Bible tells us to be salt and light for this dark world, and certainly Halloween is one of the darker times of the year. Rather than simply pull my family out of the environment and 'curse the darkness,' we've chosen to spread some light instead. As the other kids come to our door for treats, we give them some goodies, but we also include a gospel tract as well. I've got some suggestions below.
Sort of a family tradition is to try and pass out potatoes to the kids. I'll never forget the first time my dad told me about doing this. Instead of candy, dad would pull out a big bucket of potatoes, freshly dug from the garden with dirt still on them. He would enthusiastically say, "All right! Who wants a home-grown potato?" The kids would back away with frightened eyes until dad would laugh and bring out the real candy. I thought that was so funny I decided to do it myself the next year, and was greatly surprised when one little girl meekly accepted the potato as well. She did look rather skinny. The next year I decided to see how many I could pass out, and I got rid of about 8. My salesmanship skills have increased year by year, and last year I gave out over a dozen. I hope to increase the number again this year, although Nancy would rather keep the potatoes for our own family.
Anyway, back to the tracts - it's a great way to have an influence on the world. So many of us are shy about sharing the gospel with others - here's an opportunity where people actually come to our own doors hoping to get something from us. I encourage you to give them something worthwhile - something that may have an impact on their eternal destiny.
These three websites have some great tracts, and present things in a very Biblical way. PLEASE do not pass out tracts that talk about "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." That's not the Gospel. That's a health and happiness gospel that has nothing to do with truth. (And I'm not specifically referring to Campus Crusade's tract that has that same title, for that tract does properly go through the full gospel.) True Gospel talks about law, sin, hell, damnation, sacrifice, atonement, forgiveness, love and reconciliation. In other words, the good-ol' "hellfire and brimstone" type preaching ending with Love. Certainly there is 'Love' in the Gospel, but always in the context of 'Law.' If that thought disturbs you, then I would encourage you to listen to the message on the first website (livingwaters). It's called "Hell's Best Kept Secret." It's all about the Biblical way to tell the Gospel.
http://www.livingwaters.com/
http://www.mwtb.org/
http://www.chick.com/
God Bless you all. Now go spread some light!!!
Josh
Here's another couple good suggestions from a close friend:
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We also try to add a tract, I handed them out growing up, and now we try to hit both ends...we give them to people coming to our door, and we give a "Thanks" tract to those we visit. Also, we really downplay the greedy getting candy stuff, and use the evening as an excuse to visit members of the church to say "Hi" and visit a bit. We only get to maybe 8 homes, but we have a good time, and the kids still usually wind up with enough candy to last for the year. Anyway, here is a link to Concordia Publishing House, where we get our tracts from.
www.cph.org/c-1137-halloween-specials.aspx