In 2010, I received an email from a leader in another local church; he was angry that darkness always seemed to take over on Halloween and while driving to work, he had a vision of our patch – South Woking – being bathed in lights on 31 October . From his vision, a number of key players in local churches got together to pray and the idea of setting up light beacons in the community was set in motion.
Our idea was to go out to where people in the community were on Halloween and to engage with ‘trick or treaters’ with beacons as an alternative way to spend the evening. We identified key areas in our locality where there would be significant footfall, set up gazebos and lit them up.
At the gazebos we gave people a ‘treat’ – hot chocolate and hot dogs and gave out lots of glow bracelets and chatted to people.
Over the years, the idea has matured and we now have multiple gazebos including one with a light-themed children’s craft activity, and an ‘encounter tent’, where we offer a listening ear and prayer. We also have tracts appropriate for children and adults as well as information about ways we are serving the community that they can access. We estimate that we welcome around 200 people to our beacon each year.
We have found that local people look forward to us being out there and those who haven’t come across us before are pleasantly surprised. One example of this is the story of a single mum who told me she felt pressured by her children to go out trick or treating but didn’t want to and was very grateful that we were there. She said it felt safe at the beacon. On another occasion, a mum on the school run, told me how grateful she was for the beacon and said: “You go out on Halloween to look after us.”
As I reflect on some of my best memories of the light beacons, I am reminded of one local lady, who approached us dressed as a witch. She accepted our invitation for prayer and was significantly impacted by the presence of God. This memory brings tears to my eyes as I write. We see people coming out to have fun – in most cases oblivious to the darkness of Halloween – and we long to rescue them from the darkness and help them encounter the risen Jesus, who has conquered all the darkness in ourselves and in the world.
We want to inspire other church leaders to light up their local towns this Halloween and have listed three of our key takeaways:
1. Create a safe space
Be intentional about creating a safe space on what can be a fear-filled evening. A place where people can come, share, talk and get something warm to eat and drink. This can create a great opportunity to light up a dark night – physically and spiritually, and point people to Jesus, the Light of the World.
2. Meet people where they are
This is one night of the year when many people leave their houses, and it is a great opportunity to meet them (physically and spiritually). We can join them and offer them a taste of the best treat ever – a relationship with Jesus.
3. Empower people in evangelism – especially our young people
Another thing that we have learnt and hold dear is that the event provides a non-committal way for church members to dip their toe in evangelism and hopefully get a taste for it. Also, importantly, it empowers our young people, when all their friends are asking them at school what they are doing for Halloween, rather than be on the back foot, they can say, ‘We are running a light beacon, come and join us!’ Indeed, this is what one of our young people said to her school friends and we are hearing great things are happening as a result.
To find out more about how your church could redeem 31 October by running a light beacon, visit: lightbeacons.org.uk/
Eight ways to shine bright this Halloween
How can we as Christians navigate Halloween and point family and friends of all ages to the light of Jesus?
