October 2009
Outreach Corner - The Halloween Alternative
Building a community of men in your ministry
Is there an alternative to men taking their kids to the neighborhood candy machine on Halloween night? If your church doesn’t have an alternative to the traditional ‘trick or treat’ activities that take place in most neighborhoods, this is great opportunity for your men’s ministry to take the lead and provide an alternative for not only the children of your church, but for the neighborhood surrounding the church as well.
New Hope Community Church is an example of a men’s ministry that did just that. They started advertising both within the church and in the neighborhood six weeks before Halloween. Their leadership team decided on the activities that were going to take place within each of the various classrooms, including the main sanctuary. They made a list of all the resources they would need to pull it off and announced it to the congregation, who generously donated the needed items.
Some of the men got creative and manufactured some of the games-creative inventions out of their own heads! They created handouts that were maps, leading the parents and kids through the maze of games and activities and recruited high school age young people as volunteers. Games were geared to different age levels so two year olds wouldn’t get trampled by sixth graders.
The result was a success. Many people in the neighborhood loved the safer alternative to the streets and those who were unfamiliar with the church were given information regarding the church’s ministry to children. It turned out to be a great outreach and the men’s ministry got even more visibility and recognition. Not a bad idea.
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