This year will see us host our 3rd annual Trunk n’ Treat event in our church parking lot on October 31. (1st year recap VIDEO Here) I wanted to take this opportunity to explain a bit more about the event and why we do it.
 
When I was growing up my family didn’t really celebrate Halloween because we didn’t feel it was the best way to honour God. My parents had some chats with me and my sister and offered alternative incentives like dinner out and shopping at the mall. Mom purchased candy for our lunches, so we didn’t feel like we were missing out too much. 
 
Now that I have kids of my own, Leslie and I know dressing up and playing make believe with various costumes is a blast!  Our kids dress up all year long with one another and friends and have so much fun with each other.  However, if you hear our kids asking us about why we don’t decorate or do things for Halloween, our message is clear, we don’t believe in promoting fear or scary things; that God wants us to fill us with love to cast out fear!  So, we don’t.  And with this event we can choose to engage the community that surrounds us in the way we want to: with love & warmth, while still having fun!
 
While Halloween doesn’t excite me, it’s clearly a significant holiday for many in our community and uniquely brings people out, unlike many other holidays. As we have endeavoured to find ways to connect and show love to our community the idea of Trunk n’ Treat came to the top as a way to have a presence among the people of our town when almost every family is out and about. Meeting people where they’re at.
 
Historically our church has tried several ways to approach Halloween.  Many years ago, we used to put on a Halloween alternative with games and food inside the building and give candy bags to send home with the kids from the church. It served some of our families but didn’t engage the community around us. Then we hosted a Harvest Festival for a couple years, inviting people passing by to come warm up around a fire and join us inside for food and games. It wasn’t postured as an alternative, but as an effort to connect, though we didn’t see many people come through.
 
In Trunk n’ Treat we’ve developed criteria to provide a safe and family friendly (non-scary) way to experience Trick or Treating. We are not celebrating Halloween. We invite people to register, with clear guidelines laid out on the non-scary nature of our event, and then come decorate their trunks and dress up with creativity as we setup in a large circle around our parking lot to hand out candy. We start at 5pm and wrap up at 7:30 because our target audience is the younger children and families who tend to be out earlier. 
 
Last year we estimated around 700 people come through. (See Year 2 VIDEO Recap Here) I had a mother express her gratitude to me for the event because she described taking her little girl to a house that looked normal but was greeted at the door by the scariest costume she’d ever seen which left her daughter having nightmares for 3 weeks! She was so pleased to have a safe, non-scary place to bring her children for some dress-up fun and trick or treating.
 
As Christians, we don’t live in or promote a spirit of fear. That’s not what God is about. In fact, we do the opposite. We desire to let our light shine in the darkness. We believe that we are called to be salt and light to our community and that, in part, this type of alternative, meeting people where they’re at, speaks to what’s possible without fear and in a non-judgy way. What if a young family’s Halloween needs could be completely met by this event at the church? 
 
This event meets the needs of our own children as well. They don’t have to go anywhere else. They get to dress up with us as a family and trick or treat around the circle amongst friends and people who care for them. There’s no need to wander any other neighbourhood.
 
Trunk n’ Treat also provides a means for building connections. Instead of sitting at home giving out candy by yourself, you’re surrounded by a fantastic group of people who are having a great time together serving and visiting. Each one contributes by decorating with intention and buying candy to hand out. We also build connections with the community as each of our Trunkers knows a variety of people who pass through and engage in conversation. Children recognize friends, youth workers recognize teens they’ve worked with, parents connect with parents they’ve met from sports or school. 
 
Trunk n’ Treat is a significant event for our congregation to host. We come from a variety of backgrounds, and I hope this helps to introduce/refresh the idea to you so that you’ll be excited to participate in the event.
I welcome further questions and conversation if it can help you grow in your support of this fun way that we connect with our community.
 
Stay Salty! (Matt 5:13)
 
Pastor Nate