Halloween - avoid, embrace, or Engage?

As October ends and nights draw in Halloween is hard to miss – from shop displays to party invites, to the echo of “trick or treat!” at the door, complete with costumes and bucket loads of sweets.

How can followers of Jesus respond?

Halloween - avoid, embrace, or engage?

Avoid?

For some, it’s simple – steer clear. Keep your heads down in the shops, decline the invites, turn off the lights, and close the curtains. For those alone or feeling vulnerable, there can be wisdom in this. But for others, is avoidance really the best response?

Many see Halloween not as evil, but as light-hearted fun – a breather from everyday worries, a “frightfully fun” distraction in dark times. Few are consciously celebrating evil; some are even expressing a quiet curiosity about the spiritual and supernatural.

Embrace?

If it’s mostly harmless fun, why don’t Christians just join in? Yet to embrace Halloweenuncritically ignores the Bible’s reminder that we’re in a real spiritual battle, “not against flesh and blood, but… against the spiritual forces of evil.”

Jesus’ resurrection is God’s victory over every dark power, but until He returns, that victory is still being worked out. We’re called to stand firm, wearing the “full armour of God.” 

While Halloween may seem harmless, we shouldn’t forget the reality of evil, the danger of sin, and the shadow of death that lingers over our world.

Engage.

If avoiding or embracing don’t quite fit, there’s a third way – engage.

As those rescued into “the kingdom of light”, we can shine brightly. It’s why over the last few years at St Luke’s Church in Thurnby we’ve hosted Light Parties, joyful alternatives filled with light, colour, and the good news of Jesus. It’s why this year we’re lighting up the church with a Bright Light Night Outdoor Escape Room. It’s an interactive adventure showing how Jesus’ light overcomes darkness, come down and join in.

And engagement can start right at home. As Naomi Dawson notes, Halloween is “the one night a year when our communities come knocking.” That’s why I’m going light up our house, share sweets and glow bands, and in those brief doorstep moments, share that we know Jesus – the light who shines in the darkness.