Light party and alternative halloween resources from SU by Bex Jignasu, Youth and Kids Volunteer at Loughton Baptist Church, Milton Keynes

 

Each year at halloween many people get ready to celebrate darkness, spooks and scary things – but as Christians we prefer to focus on the light!  Perhaps you run alternative activities each year for halloween for kids or youth at your church or project or perhaps we might be able to encourage you to run some!

Scripture Union has lots of resources for sharing light this halloween including Light Party packs for children, a Light Trail for community outreach, Jesus is the Light little books for kids, and online training for leaders.

During the October half term, we will be running some Halloween/light events at my church to engage with our local community.  We will be using the Scripture Union ‘In Search of Light’ treasure trail resource as well as their new ‘Jesus is the Light’ book for children.  As the previous trail resources produced by Scripture Union, families search for QR codes, which for this theme, link to videos explaining how Jesus is the light.  We will start and end the trail at the church, we will have maps guiding the families around the local area to find the QR codes. At each stop we will have a member of the church with the QR code who will also give out sweets to the families as they walk around. Once they return to the church we hope to have a conversation about the videos and give out a goodie bag and talk about what’s in it as well.   At the end of the trail, in the goodie bag, we will be giving away the ‘Jesus is the Light’ booklet to everyone who took part. This book is in a similar vein to the Christmas and Easter booklets from SU, it allows the children to hear the story of Jesus being the light as a poem and also features pages that they can colour in themselves.  You can find links to all the resources i’ve mentioned below, as well as the SU light party resources, you can either use them as we plan to or using your own creative ideas in your context.

 

Jesus is the Light? is a poetic exploration of Jesus’ identity as the Light of the World, drawing on passages from the Gospel of John. It is written in simple, accessible language to engage children (5-8 yrs  & 8-11 yrs) who may not be from a church background and is brought to life with beautiful illustrations. Children may find the black and white colouring pages helpful as they reflect on words of the poem. These little books are ideal for sharing the good news of Jesus with children in your community, and would make a great addition to a Light Party held in October.

Jesus is the Light? is sold in packs of 10 for £10. Also available in Welsh.

 

 

In Search of Light is a treasure trail that introduces children aged 5 to 11 and their families to Jesus as the Light of the World. At various points in the trail, participants will encounter videos based on the Scripture Union book, Jesus is the Light? that encourage discussion.

This resource will help you to organise a light trail event that is fun and interactive, and helps children to think about how Jesus can be Light in their lives. It is designed to be flexible and can be adapted to suit the needs of your community.  Available on free download.

 

 

 

You can find all the light resources from Scripture union here