Here’s an idea for your small group to consider. Nate Westerfield and his small group have done this for the past couple of years, and they have found that it is a great time of service to the community and that it opens doors for conversations about the church. It is called “Light the Night”.
On Halloween (or whatever night your community does trick-or-treating) gather your group members together at one person’s home and set up some simple games in the yard (not in the house) for kids in the neighborhood to play. Keep the games fairly simple – bozo buckets, bean bag toss, ring toss, hula hoops, etc. Be creative but simple. You may want to consider having some hot chocolate or coffee available for parents while the kids are playing.
When the kids are done playing, give them a pre-packaged bag of candy with a brochure from the church or other information about the church. Be sure to set up some extra lighting for the yard so people can see better and so that the house stands out in the neighborhood. If your group members have young kids, they will still want to go trick-or-treating, so share the responsibility of supervising the games among group members while taking your own kids door-to-door.
Nate said that the kids come back two or three times during the evening to play the games and hang out. It is during those visits that parents will often ask who you are and why you are doing this. That is your opportunity to let them know you are a small group from Great Oaks and that you just wanted to give the kids something extra to do while trick-or-treating. There’s no need to get into deep theological conversations or try to convert someone to Christ on the front lawn. This is simply a method to connect with the people in your neighborhood.
Keep looking for ways to redeem the culture around us for the sake of Christ. A big thanks goes out to Nate & Kalee for this great idea!
