Disclaimer: Churches do a great deal of good in most communities. On nights like tonight, if churches weren't putting things together for kids, many kids would end up in unsafe places or go without candy. I get that. However, I feel like these events reveal a few unhappy trends in which the modern church finds itself entrenched. So, with that out of the way, here we go...
If you're unfamiliar with the concept, it's often billed as some sort of safe version of Halloween that's put on by a church near you. The idea seems innocent enough, but is often a bait and switch where attendees are offered candy and entertainment only to be force fed a sermonette (and that's the best case scenario... it could end up being much more torturous than that...).
Many things with the Church rub me the wrong way naturally, but I'm particularly frustrated/confused by the Halloween alternatives offered on October 31st in church parking lots. If the Church is designed to be a group of people who make it their business to go out into the world and find ways to love the people who they come across, why, on the one night of the year that it's perfectly acceptable for you to offer candy to your neighbor's kids who you've never met are so many Christians all huddled together in parking lots at fall festivals? Not only are those people not in their neighborhood with the people who pass by each day, but they've likely either left a bowl of candy (which the first kid with no parent watching over his shoulder will promptly empty) or nothing at all on the welcome mat. Way to make a good impression on the neighborhood.
The Church has honed its skills at this approach to outreach. It's quite common for those in charge to default to an approach that asks what events will bring the most people to the building (or other strategically chosen location) so that we can interact with them there. Events like these are a common response as an alternative for parents and their kids when faced with the ills of the world.
Why is that?
Why has it become ok to gather together on nights set apart to be in our neighborhoods?
The more disturbing reality is that many church-going-folks expect this type of event to come together so that their kids have something fun (but not too much fun), safe (meaning isolated from those evil influences), and cost effective (aka free) to do on All Hallow's Eve. It also doubles as a place where kids can bring their friends (who aren't "saved") to get candy and have a good time. It looks like something for others, but is really an event for the members.
Unfortunately, the issues I see with fall festivals are only a symptom of a greater issue that's crept into the church.
The larger issue revolves around this set of problems:
- We've transformed membership in the church into something that more closely resembles membership in a country club than a group of like minded followers of Christ.
- We've made the church into a place we bring people who have problems.
- We've neglected the conversation about how we go about being the Church together.
Each of these areas of concern needs its own post for further exploration, but those will come quickly.
Tonight, on arguably the most neighborhood friendly night of the year, ask yourself why it is that things like fall festivals seem like such a good idea.
And remember, I know that there are good things that are happening there, but there are questions that are worth asking here, too. Join me in figuring all this out and continuing the conversation.
