Children played board games, Bible trivia, fished for prizes, made crafts, participated in
a cake walk, and yes, still got lots of candy at a local church Saturday night.Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church
sponsored its third annual Halleujah Festival as an alternative to trick-or-treating for
nearly 200 young church members, guests and neighborhood children.
“On the day the world
celebrates other things that do not represent God, we wanted to exemplify all that is Him
and give our children an alternative,” explained MeLisa McCray, event coordinator.
“The word Halleujah gives God the highest praise, and that’s what we wanted to
do this evening.”
McCray explained that since the
beginning of October, Gethsemane’s Sunday school classes prepared their young
congregation for the way they planned to celebrate Halloween. McCray said they denounced
the holiday because of its origin, but didn’t want children to be left without a
“fun” event.
“People think Christians
can’t have fun,” McCray said through a laugh. But Saturday night, Gethsemane
debunked that myth.
Children laughed, played games and
had a good time. Not going door-to-door collecting candy didn’t seem to bother them
at all. Some children even came dressed in costumes. No one was turned away.
The adults even seemed to enjoy
themselves as well, laughing along with the children, just delighted to see the little
ones having fun, despite not being out among the trick-or-treaters. Even the church’s
pastor, the Rev. J.L. Stowe, seemed to enjoy himself as he watched the activity around
him.
Parents and grandparents seemed to
appreciate the opportunity to have a “safe” environment to take their children
on the evening ghosts and ghouls walked the streets.
Karen Ruggs and Elizabeth Moore
were two of those parents.
“We are born-again
Christians,” Ruggs said. “We celebrated this holiday of mostly devils and
witchcraft for a long time. But when I found out the meaning behind Halloween, I stopped.
And now we serve the Lord. This festival is a way for young kids to worship God.”
Ruggs’ sons, Marcus Mitchell,
13, and Devin Brown, 10 — both are old enough to remember Halloween before they
started attending the church’s festival — seemed to have a good time anyway.
“The biggest reason we came
tonight was safety. Things have changed over the years tremendously,” added Moore,
who also brought Tameria, her 2-year-old granddaughter. Tameria played with the chips of a
Connect Four game as her grandmother looked on.
“We’re teaching her
early how to worship God on this day instead of the other and still have fun.”
And though the event seemed to be
nothing but positive for the young and old members of Gethsemane, McCray said there were
some people who were opposed to the idea of taking an evening of “harmless fun”
away from children.
“I remember dressing up
during Halloween as a kid, too,” McCray recalls. “But when I acquired the
knowledge of God’s word, we had to make changes.
“It’s hard breaking and
changing traditions, we all understand that. But we still wanted to provide the children
with something fun to do. We turned that negative celebration into something positive.
We’re celebrating God.” |
Today's News