Following are the text only files from the Halloween materials. These text files are for anyone who wants to use them to create Halloween outreach materials
If you are an ECC Member you have access to them in finished files, click here to go to the overview page that shows how they are used in church communications and for the download. If you'd like more information on how to become a Member of Effective Church Communications and save yourself the time and work of creating these communications yourself, CLICK HERE.
For everyone, for all the materials that follow, PLEASE simply copy, download and use in any way you want to help your congregation reach people for Jesus this Halloween season.
Motivational text to get your congregation to invite
The following text was designed to be used in a church bulletin, but it can be put into any regular communication with your congregation: email; newsletter, website, whatever you can think of to motivate your people to use every event of the year as an opportunity to bring their friends to church and introduce them to Jesus.
A reason to be part of our
Halloween Event—It’s a way to share your faith that isn’t scary.
Halloween is all about getting scared—for real or make-believe—with ghosts, spiders, witches, and scary faces all around. But as scary as Halloween is, there is something even scarier for many church people, and that is sharing their faith.
Deep down inside, most believers feel they ought to be doing more to let people know about the joy of salvation in Jesus, but at the same time, many would rather meet a real ghost or walk through a pit of live slimy creatures than share their faith with a neighbor.
Why is this so scary?
Every individual has his or her own reasons, but I find much of the fear comes from mistaken ideas about “witnessing” that are no more true than the masks worn on Halloween.
The false boogeyman version of faith sharing for many involves going up to a total stranger and asking “Are you saved?” or some similar question and then painfully going through a short tract or little memorized presentation.
Please don’t misunderstand me here. There is nothing wrong with that approach if you are comfortable doing it, but many of us are of somewhat more timid temperament and would welcome an alternative method.
A non-scary way to share your faith
One alternative to the above described confrontational method is to simply invite people to come to an event where they can meet Jesus.
That’s what the disciples did. With the exception of Peter, we don’t have a record of any of them preaching—maybe it was scary for them also. What they did was bring people to
Jesus: Andrew brought Peter; Phillip brought Nathaniel; Matthew invited his friends to a party to meet Jesus.Simply bringing people to Jesus at a church event—that’s not scary. Pray that once they meet him and his people that they will continue the journey to know him personally and to trust him as forgiver and leader.
Bringing people to Jesus—that’s what our fall celebration is all about. Details for the upcoming event are on the back of this sheet, for a wonderful, fun, non-scary time for everyone.
Text for a small invitation card or a Halloween themed evangelism tract
This text was used on the front of business card-size invitations.
Halloween, a fun time for tombstones, ghosts, and all things scary. . . .But what about when it isn’t Halloween ?
This Halloween, take some time to check out the one person in all of history who conquered death—Jesus. On the back of this card are resources for you to explore. Halloween can be fun, but it’s also time to consider eternally serious and truly scary questions.
Here is the text on the back side of the card
Life is short; eternity is not. You owe it to yourself to carefully research what happens after you die. The resources below are not mindless quick-skim sites.
They contain well-researched information about Jesus and the truth about life after death. Take time, explore, question, make an informed decision.
also books: Case for Faith; Case for Real Jesus
www.equip.org—in the search box enter in “resurrection” also book: The Third Day
A longer challenge for people to consider the spiritual implications of Halloween
A postcard invitation: this text was used on postcard (1/2 of an 8 ½ by 11 sheet), the sample follows the text, but it could be used in any way useful to you to encourage people to consider Jesus. On the back side of the card, you could invite people to an alternative Halloween event, to a seeker Bible study, to a link on your website that explains what it means to be a Christian or to websites such as the ones listed on the invitation card above.
Halloween…
Fun time for tombstones, ghosts, and all things scary...
But what about when it isn’t Halloween?
We can laugh at death when it’s part of a Halloween spook house, but we don’t laugh when it touches someone we love or when we must face it.
This Halloween, take some time to check out the one person in all of history who conquered death—Jesus.
His resurrection is the key belief of the Christian faith and what makes Jesus unique among religious leaders.
We invite you to be part of activities at our church or you can check facts online and in
private. Take time, ask questions, research the answers.Halloween might be a fun time, but seeking serious answers to life-changing subjects is always important.
On the back of this card are events, websites, and other resources for you to find out more.
You have permission to use this text in any way you'd like without attribution to help your church do outreach for the Halloween season. If you come up with something that you'd like to share, I'd love to see it and put it in a collection of ideas for folks for next year. If you have time to send me a file, (to yvon@effectivechurchcom.com) great, if not, no worries! But many blessings that the Lord take and use whatever you have to grow your church, help people to come to know Him and for your people's eternal joy!
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To go to the file that has a free preview of how all this text was used and a link to the ECC Members downloads of the ready to edit, personalize, and print files and templates, click here.
Please share your thoughts, comments, questions!