Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors.

I often feel like I don’t entirely know how to do that. Especially when I don’t really know my neighbors and don’t exactly have an authentic way to meet or get to know them.

We live in a highly segmented and separated society. Many of us live in gated communities or in homes where much of our time is spent in our backyards, not our front. How can we interact with our neighbors and practically demonstrate the love of Jesus with them if they’re in their house or backyard too?

Jesus showed his love for the world by stepping down from His gated community into ours. He came to us. He stepped into our reality, where we all were, which is exactly what we want to do this Halloween.

For decades Cross Connection, like many other churches, had a thriving Halloween alternative that we called the Harvest Celebration. But while we were all down here at there church, or homes sat in darkness, empty, as our neighbors knocked on our doors. But two years ago we decided to try something different. It wasn’t as large as the Harvest Celebration, but it brought us into our front yards where our neighbors, on Halloween, were coming to us.

This year we want you to be apart of this fun and super simple outreach. Why? Because Jesus loves your neighbors and Halloween gives us a great opportunities to begin to get to know them so that one day you can share His love with them.

1. 1. Plan to welcome parents and trick or treaters in your front yard on Halloween night from 5:00 – 8:00pm.
2. Introduce yourself to your neighbor, and find out a few things about them, like who they are, where they live and how long they’ve lived in the neighborhood.
3. Brew some coffee and bake some special treats for the parents of the trick-or-treaters.
4. Setup a simple game or two (scroll down for some ideas!) for trick-or-treaters to play.
5. Give some candy away and thank your neighbors for stopping by.

This may seem simple and that’s exactly what it is. It is an easy way for you to begin connecting with your neighbors so that one day you may be able to connect them with the Lord.