Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? Maybe There’s a Better Question…
Every year around this time, questions come up about Halloween. Questions about what it means, where it came from, and whether Christians should participate. Good people land in different places, and that’s okay. I simply wanted to share a few thoughts that might help us think carefully and love well as we approach the day.
As far as we can tell, Halloween began as a harvest festival roughly 2,000 years ago. It was a Celtic festival called Samhain, marking the end of the growing season and the start of winter. As the Christian faith took root in the British Isles, the early church communities didn’t cancel or condemn the holiday. Instead, they reshaped it. November 1 became All Saints’ Day (or All Hallows’ Day), and the night before became All Hallows’ Eve, what we now call Halloween.
Reshaping and redeeming culture is something God’s people, Jewish and Christian, have done throughout history. We’ve always taken the language, art, and customs of the culture around us and filled them with new meaning to tell God’s story.
Think about it.
Christmas grew out of Roman and pagan winter festivals that celebrated light in the darkness. When faith in Jesus spread, the holiday was re-centered around the true Light of the world, Jesus.
Easter was tied to the Jewish Passover, which sometimes overlapped with Roman spring festivals of new life. Followers of Jesus connected the two. They reshaped the season to give it a deeper meaning of resurrection and hope.
Baptism came from the familiar Jewish practice of ritual washing. But John the Baptist and Jesus gave it new meaning as a sign of repentance and new birth, dying to the old life and rising into new life in Christ.
Jesus' incarnation was God entering human culture to reshape and redeem it into something more like his kingdom on earth.
There are many more examples. Throughout history, God’s people have found ways to redeem and reshape culture. As followers of Jesus, we do this through the lens of his two great commands to love God and love people.
So maybe instead of asking whether Halloween is good or evil, which depends so much on the intent of the person celebrating, we could ask, “How could Halloween be used to live out Jesus' love?” or “How could Halloween be an opportunity to spend time with my neighbor?”
Many of us grew up with deep convictions about Halloween, and I respect that. If your conscience tells you to stay away from it, honor that. Romans 14 reminds us to live according to faith and conscience. But remember, others may see it differently. For them, Halloween might be an opportunity to connect with neighbors who do not know Christ, show kindness, and bring a little light and joy.
We’ve already seen glimpses of what this can look like. In fact, several of our life groups have chosen to rent a bouncy house and grill hot dogs for trick-or-treaters and their families. Hundreds of neighbors have stopped to talk while their kids played, asking about the group, about the church, and even about Jesus. It’s a reminder that our light shines only when we’re willing to be present.
We do not have to fear the day, and we do not have to worship it either. We can simply redeem it and use it for good. It can be a way to connect our families with our neighbors and to build bridges between our church and our community.
As followers of Jesus, I would rather have a posture that reflects what we stand for, not what we stand against. We stand for loving our neighbors, inviting people to the table, serving those in need, caring for the sick, practicing gratitude, and celebrating the joy of life.
Culture is how we make sense of life. When we engage with the culture around us, we can connect with people and speak to their hearts. But when we separate ourselves and expect others to adopt our "Christian" culture, we miss opportunities to love them and share Jesus.
God’s people have never been called to isolate from the world. We’ve been called to step into it as the tangible presence of Jesus. To love it. And to help redeem it. Whether you agree or disagree, my hope is that this helps us think more deeply, love more freely, and find peace where there’s been fear.
