(Note: This post really doesn't have anything to do with Saints or Southern Baptist. But it seemed appropriate for the season--even though it might be a tad late!)
Fall is upon us once again. With the changing of the season comes the perennial debate as to whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween. Next will come the discussion of the ongoing secularization of Christmas and what role, if any, Santa Claus should play in our holiday celebration. Then, before you know it, Easter will be here. We will plumb the mysteries of the Easter Bunny wondering what bunnies and eggs have to do with the resurrection of Christ.
My purpose in this pamphlet is to shed light on these “mysteries.” I will examine the origins of these three holidays and how the early Church dealt with them. I will also argue that Christians may participate fully in all three of these holidays; not in spite of the paganism and commercialism behind these holidays and symbols, but because of it. If Jesus Christ can transform sinful, pagan, humans into righteous men and women, then why can’t He do the same thing to pagan holidays? I believe He can--through His Church. Indeed, Church history is full of such examples. In this pamphlet I will discuss three examples--Halloween, Christmas, and Easter.
In order to combat the influence of existing pagan festivals, the early Church leaders moved the celebration of existing Christian holidays, such as All Saints’ Day (a day honoring martyred Christians), the Birth of Christ, and the Resurrection of Christ, to correspond with the celebration of pagan holidays. Now that the Christian influence in Western Culture is waning, the pagan backgrounds of these holidays are coming to the forefront. Christians should not stand idly by and let this happen! I believe Christians should take a proactive role in the celebration of these holidays and lift up the name of Jesus Christ. I think we can also use some of the secular symbols, such as the Jack-O-Lantern, Santa Claus, and the Easter egg, in ways which communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Christian Church has done this for centuries.
Legalism has now paralyzed us. We are afraid to even utter the word “Halloween” or be seen at the Mall next to Santa Claus for fear that we might unknowingly be cavorting with Satan (After all, simply move the “n” in “Santa” to the end of the name and you have “Satan”!!! This must be a diabolical conspiracy!). Such fears are unfounded. The Jesus that transformed John Newton from a slave-holding derelict to the devout Christian, who wrote Amazing Grace, can also transform pagan holidays into opportunities for witness. Let’s start our discussion with the most notorious of these holidays, “Halloween.”
Halloween
The holiday that we now refer to as Halloween, is actually a Celtic holiday known as Samhain (pronounced sah–ween). The Celts were a tribal people who inhabited most of Western and Central Europe in the first millennium BC. According to one writer,
Samhain held a great religious significance for the Celts. They believed that on that night the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world was weakest; spirits, as well as the souls of the dead, were free to roam the Earth. The religious ceremonies of the Druids (the “priest caste” of the Celts) were designed to protect the crops, herds and flocks from demonic influences. They were also used to appease the supernatural powers they associated with the processes of nature. Animal and human sacrifices sometimes played a part in the Druidic ceremonies; the sacrifices provided a means of divination as well as being for appeasement of the gods or spirits.
The celebration of Samhain had its ‘lighter’ aspects, also. Young people roasted nuts in the Samhain bonfire in hopes of finding out who they would marry; someone who could grab an apple out of a tub of water with his mouth was destined to have a lucky year. It was also a time for feasting; the animal sacrifices (often ‘first fruits’ offerings of cattle) were roasted on the bonfire for a banquet. At one point, people tried to disguise themselves as evil spirits to confuse the ‘real’ spirits who may have been sent to plague them. This custom and others like it quickly degenerated into children’s games, but the Celts did believe that as they sat around the Samhain bonfire they could converse with the spirits of dead relatives and friends.
The Celts had two separate but related purposes in celebrating Samhain. They sought both to give proper respect to the spirit world and to assert their own rights to life and prosperity in the physical one. As the early Christian Church expanded into Western Europe, they were confronted with this pagan holiday. The Church wanted to provide some type of alternative celebration. According to apologist Hank Hanegraaff, In direct response to this pagan tradition, the early Christian church moved a festive celebration called All Saints’ Day from May to November and renamed it All Hallows’ Eve, from which we get the word Halloween. This was an overt attempt on the part of believers to infiltrate pagan tradition with the truth of the gospel.It was a bold evangelistic move designed to demonstrate that only the power of the resurrected Christ could protect men and women from the destructive ploys of Satan and his minions. This was a time in which they boldly proclaimed the Marvelous fact of the resurrection and the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Why can’t we do the same thing today! Christians should not be cowered by the celebration of Halloween. We should embrace it as an opportunity to tell the world the good news--that Jesus Christ has defeated death and the devil. This is what the early Church did. In the case of Halloween, the Church moved an existing Christian holiday, All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’ Day), to combat the pagan holiday, Samhain. The Christian Church kept the Jewish custom of marking a holiday (contracted form of "holy day") for the twenty-four hours beginning with sundown and ending with sundown the following day (Christmas ‘Eve is another example of this custom). It should also be noted that the word “Halloween” is a neutral term at worst and a Christian one at best. It simply means “Hallowed (Holy) evening.” Christians do not need to be afraid to use the word “Halloween” when referring to their celebration. Christians coined the term. Let’s not let the devil have a monopoly on the usage of the word.
But what do we do about some of the Halloween customs? Isn’t “trick-or-treating” the remnant of an old Druid custom where Druid priests or evil spirits would go door to door demanding sacrifices and terrorizing the inhabitants of the house? No. In all actuality the American tradition of “trick-or-treating” can be traced back to the early 20th century. According to a tract published by the American Tract Society, The “trick-or-treat” custom we know today is thoroughly American in origin. In the nineteenth century, when Irish and Scotch immigrants brought their Halloween traditions to North America, the night became an occasion for pranks and mischief. Vandals would go through the night soaping windows, overturning outhouses, and pulling gates from their hinges. These pranks were playfully said to be the work of witches and ghosts, but by the 1920s the joke wasn’t funny anymore. The damage to neighborhoods was mounting. To counteract Halloween vandalism community clubs like the boy Scouts began to organize alternatives that were safe and fun. Children were encouraged to go door-to-door and receive treats from homeowners and merchants, keeping the troublemakers away. By the 1930’s, the practice was popular nationwide and young voices crying, “Trick or treat!” were echoing through neighborhood streets.
In reality, Halloween provides one of the greatest opportunities for evangelism every year. It is the one night a year when people are expecting to have strangers show up at their doors. Take your kids out trick-or-treating and take some tracts with you. Have the kids hand them to the people that give them candy. Not only that, but have someone stay at home and give out tracts (along with some candy) to the kids that come to your door. You could even have a pumpkin, on your doorstep, carved with Christian Symbols. The company, CTA Inc., has a really neat bookmark called “The Pumpkin Prayer.” On the bookmark is a prayer that can be said as you carve Christian symbols into a pumpkin face. When someone asks you about the unique drawings on your pumpkin, you have an opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Better yet, if you have kids, have them invite their friends over for a pumpkin carving party. After they carve their pumpkins, you can carve yours using the pumpkin prayer and share the Gospel with all of those children.
If you are still nervous about celebrating Halloween, then don’t forget another very important event took place that day. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther tacked his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenburg church. He chose that date because he knew that the next day was All Saints’ Day and the church would be having services. This event marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. If you belong to a Protestant denomination then have a “Reformation Party” and teach your kids a lesson in Church History. The most important thing is that Christians don’t abandon Halloween. The early Christians did not, nor should we. What better way to ruin Halloween for Satan, than to go out and intentionally share the Gospel with the lost.
The truly ironic thing about the current controversy surrounding Halloween, is that the same arguments made against Christians celebrating Halloween, were once used against the celebration of Christmas! The celebration of Christmas is a relatively modern phenomenon in America. It really didn’t begin to take hold until after the Civil War. Even then, Protestant Christians denounced the celebration of Christmas as pagan and “Roman Catholic.” We will examine these arguments in the next section.
Christmas
Though the majority of churches today seem to have embraced the celebration of Christmas, at one time it was very controversial. Consider the following:
In Calvin's Geneva you could have been fined or imprisoned for celebrating Christmas. It was at the request of the Westminster Assembly that the English Parliament in 1644 passed an act forbidding the observance of Christmas, calling it a heathen holiday.
When the Puritans came to America they passed similar laws. The early New Englanders worked steadily through December 25, 1620, in studied neglect of the day. About 40 years later the General Court of Massachusetts decreed punishment for those who kept the season: "...anyone who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas Day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings."
It was not until the 19th century that Christmas had any religious significance in Protestant churches. Even as late as 1900, Christmas services were not held in Southern Presbyterian churches. The PCUS General Assembly of 1899 declared: "There is no warrant in Scripture for the observance of Christmas and Easter as holydays (sic), rather the contrary (see Gal. 4:9-11; Col. 2:16-21), and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
The great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in a sermon delivered on December 24, 1871 said:
We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas: first, because we do not believe in the mass at all . . . and secondly, because we find no Scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observance is a superstition, because [it's] not of divine authority. . . . Where is the method in the madness of the superstitious? Probably the fact is that the holy days were arranged to fit in with the heathen festivals.
And the words of Dr. H.A. Ironside:
It is a lamentable fact that Babylon's principles and practices are . . . pervading the churches . . . of the Reformation. We may see evidences of it in the. . . . revival of holy days and church feasts such as Lent, Good Friday, Easter, and Christ's Mass, or, as it is generally written, Christmas . . . some of these festivals . . . when they are turned into church festivals, they certainly come under the condemnation of Galatians 4:9-11, where the Holy Spirit warns against the observance of days and months and times and seasons. All of them . . . are Babylonish in their origin, and were at one time linked with the Ashtoreth and Tammuz mystery-worship. It is through Rome that they have come down to us; and we do well to remember that Babylon is a mother, with daughters who are likely to partake of their mother's characteristics . . . ."
It is true that the celebrations of Christmas and Halloween came out of the same milieu. December 25 was originally celebrated by pagans as the birthday of the “sun god” (December 25 was the date of the Winter Solstice on the Julian calendar). It was known as “The Day of the Invincible Sun.” This holiday was celebrated by pagans all over the Northern Hemisphere. This “sun-god” is known by various names, including Tammuz, Horus, Osiris, Sol, Baal. It wasn’t until the 4th century AD that the birthday of Christ was celebrated on December 25. According to Church historian Justo L. Gonzalez,
The earliest feast day in connection with the birth of Jesus was January 6, Epiphany, the day of his manifestation. This was originally the celebration of the birth itself. Later, particularly in some areas of the Latin West, December 25 began to take its place. The latter date was actually a pagan festival which after the time of Constatntine, was preempted by the celebration of Christmas. (It should be noted that the Eastern Orthodox Church still celebrates Christmas on January 6 and they have a different date for their Easter celebration as well.)
Again the Church created a rival festival to take the emphasis off of the false deities and back onto Christ. According to Hank Hanegraff, “The early church chose this date to point to the triumph that Christ's birth represented over the pagan traditions of the Roman Empire. In other words, the church was not endorsing a pagan ceremony but establishing a rival celebration. Today the world has all but forgotten the pagan gods of Rome. But at least a billion people on planet Earth celebrate the Christ of Christmas.”
But what are we to do about Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, and all of the commercialization surrounding Christmas? Let’s take a moment and discuss each of those subjects.
What about Santa Claus?
It must be remembered that the name "Santa Claus" is an Anglicized form of the Dutch “Sinter Klaas,” which in turn means "Saint Nicholas." Perhaps the best explanation of the origin of Santa Claus is found in this article written by James Parker, who argues that Christians ought to “remythologize” Santa Claus.
In reflecting on this season of the year . . . if any particular person rose to the top in the public's conscious awareness, it would be a jolly secular guy at risk for stroke or cardiac arrest who liked to dress in red and let his beard grow. Rather than just bemoan this fact, I assert that we need to remythologize Santa Claus. Most people simply do not realize the rich ancient heritage behind the Santa Claus story. The secularized and sanitized contemporary version pales in comparison with the deeply Christian ethos and content of the original.The origin of the St. Nicholas tradition goes back to Bishop
Nicholas of Myra in Lycia (Turkey). Little solid historical information is known about Nicholas except that he was Bishop of Myra and died around A.D. 350. Much exaggerated legendary material is connected with his life and ministry, but if nothing else, the legends tell us what values and beliefs the church held as important as they were projected onto Nicholas. To the bare minimum of facts, legend has supplied intriguing details through such writers as St. Methodius (patriarch of Constantinople in the 850s) and the Greek writer Metaphrastes in the 10th century.The story goes that Nicholas was born in A.D. 280 of pious and wealthy parents who raised him in the fear and admonition of the Lord and taught him "sacred books" from the age of 5. He was forced to grow up quickly upon the sudden death of his parents Inheriting his family's wealth, he was left rich and lonely, but he had the desire to use his wealth for good. The first opportunity to do this happened when he heard about a father who, through an unfortunate turn of fortune, was left destitute with three daughters. Without marriage dowry money, the daughters would be condemned to a life of singleness and prostitution, so Nicholas threw some small bags of gold coins into the window of the home (some traditions say down the chimney), thereby saving the children from a life of misery.<p> </p>Later as a teenager, Nicholas made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine. Upon returning home he felt called to ministry and was subsequently ordained. He spent time at the Monastery of Holy Zion near Myra until an old priest had a vision that he was to be the new bishop.The congregation overwhelmingly elected him bishop, and he became known for his holiness, passion for the gospel and zeal. He challenged the old gods and paganism at the principal temple in his district (to the god Artemis), and it was said that the evil spirits "fled howling before him." But the old deities did not go easily. In A.D. 303, Emperor Diocletian directed the persecution of Christians, and "as he [Nicholas] was the chief priest of the Christians of this town and preached the truths of faith with a holy liberty, Nicholas was seized by the magistrates, tortured, then chained and thrown into prison with many other Christians."<p> </p>With the Edict of Milan, Emperor Constantine ordered the cessation of all persecution of the church, and the Christians were released from prisons. Those who survived Diocletian's purges were called "confessors" because they wouldn't renege on their confession of Jesus as Lord. When Bishop Nicholas walked out of the prison, the crowds called to him: "Nicholas! Confessor!" He had been repeatedly beaten until he was raw, and his body was the color of vermilion. Bishop Nicholas was also said to have intervened on behalf of unjustly charged prisoners and actively sought to help his people survive when they had experienced two successive bad harvests. One of the most interesting stories connected with him was his role during the Arian controversy. St. Methodius asserted that "thanks to the teaching of St. Nicholas the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as death-dealing poison."
Arius, of course, asserted, contra John 1:1, that the Word [Jesus] was a created being and had not existed from all eternity. One weak tradition has him actually attending the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325, when Arian doctrine was rejected. The story goes that he got into a heated debate with Arius himself about whether there was a time when the Word did not exist. Nicholas strongly disagreed.
The debate ended suddenly when Nicholas punched out Arius then and there on the floor of the council! This gives new meaning to the ditty: "He's making a list and checking it twice, he's going to find out who's naughty or nice!"
The mental image of Santa Claus punching out Arius on the floor of the Council of Nicea with Emperor Constantine looking on has to fundamentally change the way one would ever see Santa Claus again. While I might not agree with his methods, I certainly admire his passion for Christological orthodoxy and doctrinal purity!
So when you think of Santa Claus, here's something to think about: Think of a godly Christian bishop who was persecuted and imprisoned for faithfully proclaiming the faith under the most dangerous of circumstances. Think of someone who had a sensitive caring pastoral heart and took care of the flock of which God had made him shepherd. Think of someone who provided support and defense for children, the weak and poor, the helpless and victims of injustice. Think of someone with an unparalleled passion for doctrinal purity. And to top it off, think of someone whose whole purpose in life was to point people to Jesus.
Now that's my kind of Santa Claus!
Bet you never thought of Santa Claus like that before? So what about all this stuff about the North Pole, Reindeer, and elves?
Most of the mythology surrounding Santa Claus can be traced back to the writings of Dr. Clement Moore, a Christian theology professor at Union Seminary. In 1821, he wrote a poem for his children entitled, A Visit from Saint Nicholas. This poem is widely acknowledged as most responsible for shaping the American understanding of Santa Claus. The Coca-Cola Company is also given credit for being one of the first to use Santa in a marketing campaign. Beginning in 1931 and for the next 35+ years Santa Claus would be a regular feature in Coca-Cola’s Christmastime advertising. They are also responsible for standardizing the look of the American Santa as a portly fellow with white flowing whiskers and a red suit. So if you have a problem with Santa Claus, blame it on Coca-Cola or Clement Moore, the real St. Nicholas was a godly man.
Whether you include Santa Claus in your Christmas celebration is really not important. But I think he can be used as a tool in witnessing. Virtually every child knows about Santa Claus. Use that knowledge to teach them about the real St. Nicholas and his devotion for Christ. One of my favorite pictures is that of the “Kneeling Santa”--where Santa is kneeling before the Christ-child. That picture is a wonderful way of introducing the truth about Jesus to a child who only knows the myth of Santa Claus.
What about Christmas Trees?
It is true that tree worship has always been a part of pagan religion. During the winter festivals evergreen trees were brought indoors and used for decorations. But these trees do not appear to be the origin of our Christmas trees. Let me again quote from Hank Hanegraaff,
An argument against Christmas which you hear quite a bit these days is that Christmas trees are condemned in the Bible. Is this really true? Sometimes it is said that Christmas trees are condemned in Jeremiah 10, verses 2-4, where God says "the customs of the peoples are delusion, because it is wood cut from the forest, the work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate it with silver and gold, they fasten it with nails and a hammer so that it will not totter."
Although this may sound like a reference to Christmas trees, it really is not. In this passage God is condemning idols which are carved out of wood and used as objects of worship; thus, in the very next verse God ridicules the idols because they cannot talk and cannot walk! Obviously, this criticism is not aimed at Christmas trees at all.
The fact of the matter is that the Christmas tree originated in Christian Germany about two thousand years after Jeremiah's criticisms of wooden idols. It originated from two Christian symbols found in homes at Christmas time. The first was a "Paradise tree," an evergreen which was hung with apples which represented the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The second symbol was a "Christmas pyramid." This, of course, was a triangular shelf holding Christmas figurines and decorated with a star. By about the 16th century these two symbols had been combined into the Christian Christmas tree.
Thus, the Christmas tree is a thoroughly Christian symbol, and Christians ought not to feel guilty for having one of them in their home. On the other hand, the Christmas tree is not essential to Christmas, and Christians may, of course, do without it if they choose to. If you see a Christmas tree in the home of a non-Christian friend or a relative, you might take the opportunity to point to it as the symbol of the fact that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem so that they might have eternal life.
What about gift-giving and all of the Commercialism?
The tradition of giving gifts at Christ’s birth goes back to the story of the Magi in Matthew 2; and perhaps, even more importantly, as a way to commemorate God giving to us the “gift” of His Son. Unfortunately, there is not a whole lot we can do about the commercialism--except not get caught up in it. When we give gifts, we should do it out of Christ-like love and appreciation. We shouldn’t worry about outgiving someone or making sure the gift we give is as expensive as the gift we receive. I also think it is important not to over do it with our kids on Christmas morning. We need to teach them that while the giving of gifts is okay, the real meaning of Christmas is God’s gift to us—Jesus.
Easter
Ever wonder what rabbits and eggs have to do with the resurrection of Christ? Ever stop and ask yourself what does the word “Easter” mean? Once again, we have a situation where the celebration of a Christian holiday was adjusted to coincide with the celebration of a pre-existing pagan holiday. As with the celebration of Christmas, it was at the Council of Nicea that the Church agreed that the celebration of Christ’s resurrection should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.
The question of the proper date for Easter—the most important festival on the Christian calendar—is another of those fascinating and complicated odysseys in the history of Christianity. It begins at the Council of Nicea in 325, where, after settling the Arian controversy, bishops debated the correct formula for determining the date of Easter. The Eastern bishops (those from Eastern Europe and western Asia) preferred scheduling Easter in conjunction with the Jewish Passover celebration, because the Gospels place the death and resurrection of Jesus during that time. . . . The Western bishops, however, disagreed with the Eastern practice . . . . They favored a date in conjunction with the solar beginning of spring, which was the time of many pagan celebrations.
In this case, the pagan holiday is the festival of Eostra (or Astarte). Most of what we know about the myth behind this festival comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede. According to Bede, on the day of the Vernal Equinox a sacred rabbit comes into the land and lays a sacred egg (No, Cadbury didn’t make that up!). Out of the sacred egg, the fertility goddess of spring, Eostra, is hatched. When the goddess hatches from the egg, she ascends to the sky, hovers over the fields until harvest, then dies with the harvest, and is reborn again in the spring by the same process. Her festival is celebrated during the first full moon following the Vernal equinox. Our traditions of the Easter bunny and Easter eggs all come from this myth and festival.
In time, the myths of the Easter bunny and Easter egg were incorporated into Christian legend. For instance, I remember seeing the following legend on the cover of a greeting card.
One day a poor peddler went to the marketplace to sell a basket of eggs. He came upon a crowd mocking a man who staggered with a heavy cross on which he was about to be crucified. The peddler ran to his aid, leaving the basket by the roadside. When he returned he found the eggs transformed into exquisite designs of bright colors. The man was Christ; the peddler Simon. And the eggs were to become the symbol of the rebirth for all mankind.—Ukranian Folk Tale.
I also remember hearing, as a child, that a rabbit was the first animal to see Jesus after he arose from the tomb, and from that came the legend of the Easter Bunny. Obviously, that probably wasn’t the case. But it was a nice try (in the words of James Parker) to remythologize the Easter Bunny into Christian symbolism.
The connection between the festival of Eostra, known as “Easter,” and the resurrection of Christ would be made permanent when the translators of the King James Version of the Bible, in Acts 12:4, translated the Greek word Pascha, meaning Passover, with the English word “Easter,” the name of the Festival of Eostra. So just think, every time you say the word “Easter” you are actually speaking the name of a pagan goddess!
Does that mean we shouldn’t use the word “Easter?” That we shouldn’t decorate eggs or talk about the Easter Bunny? Not necessarily, for instance the name of the pagan goddess, “Eostre” eventually became synonymous with the word, “Spring.” The word has lost its pagan meaning in today’s culture. I mean, we don’t refuse to say the word “Saturday” even though that word refers to the “day of Saturn” or “Sunday” which refers to the “day of the sun.” Through everyday usage, the pagan meanings of the words have been lost. There’s nothing inherently evil about saying the word “Easter.”
There have been many attempts to remythologize Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny with Christian meaning. Indeed the egg became a significant symbol in medieval Christianity of both the resurrection of Christ and the Trinity. In recent days we’ve seen “Resurrection Eggs”—a carton of 12 plastic eggs which contain symbols from the life of Christ. As the eggs are opened, the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection can be told. I see nothing wrong with these things. In fact, I applaud these attempts to introduce the message of Christ to children who may know nothing about the true meaning of these holidays. I think we, as Christians, should look for many opportunities to use secular symbols as a way to communicate gospel truths. Isn’t that what Jesus did in his parables?
Conclusion
I see nothing wrong with Christians celebrating Halloween, Christmas, or Easter, despite their pagan backgrounds, as long as they celebrate those holidays in a way that glorifies Christ and points others to Him. Again, I believe that if Jesus can transform sinful people into beings which bring glory to Him, He can also do that with pagan holidays. I agree with James Parker when he calls for a remythologization of Santa Claus. But let’s not stop with Santa Claus. Let’s include the traditions surrounding Halloween and Easter.
There is a lost and dying world of children out there. The only thing they know about Halloween is that it is a time for “trick-or-treats” and candy. This Halloween, when that child comes walking down the street in your neighborhood. Don’t sit at home with your porch light turned-off because you don’t want to be accused of participating in a pagan ritual. No! Turn your porch light on, and when that lost child comes to your door, give them some candy and a gospel tract. This Halloween, instead of sitting at home, get some people from your church and go to the other houses on your street with the porch lights on and give them a treat along with a gospel tract. I know of a church that has done this for a couple of years, they’ve only had one person refuse the gift. But they’ve had many people touched by the thoughtfulness of their “treat.”
This Christmas, when the malls are packed with children waiting to sit on Santa’s lap, why don’t you use the symbol of Santa Claus to tell these kids about Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. I’ve even dressed up like Santa and told the Christmas story to kids. If you don’t want to teach your children to believe in Santa Claus, that is certainly fine. But when they question you about who Santa is, don’t bad mouth Santa. Instead, take the time to explain to your children about Nicholas, a man who loved Jesus and loved children.
When Easter rolls around, reach out to the children who won’t come to “sunrise service” but will come to an Easter Egg hunt. Give them a good time and some candy. Then use something like the “Resurrection Eggs” to teach kids the true meaning of Easter. Many of these kids will never hear the gospel if we don’t reach out to them in innovative ways. Remember the words of Paul, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1Cor. 9:22), and remember the transforming power of Jesus Christ. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5:17). Couldn't "all things" include Jack-O-Lanterns, Santa Claus, and Easter Eggs?
