LIGHT UP THE NIGHT

we want to share with you a decision the elders have made concerning our October 31 outreach.

Over the past while, we have prayed, searched the Scriptures, listened carefully to one another, and sought the Lord together. We recognize that faithful Christians can have different convictions about Halloween and events associated with it.

But after prayer and discussion, the elders are united in our decision to move forward with this year’s event.

And we are going to give it a new name:
"Light up the Night - Trunk or Treat"

We believe this name better communicates our heart and our purpose.

We are not seeking to celebrate darkness. We are not endorsing occultism, evil, or anything contrary to the character of Christ. Rather, we want to take an opportunity that already exists in our community and use it to bring the light of Christ into our neighbourhoods.

October 31 is a night when many families are already out in the community. Instead of simply seeing that as something to avoid, we believe we can see it as an opportunity to love our neighbours, welcome families, build relationships, and intentionally share the good news of Jesus.

So this year, Light up the Night will be more intentionally evangelistic. We want to move beyond simply providing candy and a fun evening. We want people to encounter the love of Christ. We will look for appropriate ways to share the gospel, have meaningful conversations, pray with people, and point families toward Jesus and the hope we have in Him. Our event will reflect that purpose. We will emphasize light, joy, family, generosity, community, Scripture, and Jesus, while establishing clear boundaries around anything that would glorify darkness or evil.

But there is something else we want to make very clear.

We are united as elders in this decision, but we are also united in giving one another freedom of conscience.

Some of you will feel completely comfortable participating in Light up the Night.
Others of you may not feel comfortable participating because of your understanding of Halloween or because of your personal conscience. We respect that. No one will be forced to participate. You do not need to violate your conscience in order to serve your church and or community. At the same time, we ask those who choose not to participate to extend that same grace to those who do. We will not allow a person’s conscience to become a weapon against another believer.

We will not say, “Real Christians wouldn’t participate.”
And we will not say, “If you don’t participate, you don’t care about evangelism.” Neither statement reflects the heart of Christ.

Romans 14 calls us to pursue “what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” So we are asking our church family to do something that may be even more important than Light up the Night itself:

• Let’s learn to disagree well.

• Let’s demonstrate that Christians can have different convictions without questioning one another’s love for Jesus.

• Let’s demonstrate that Christian liberty does not mean expecting or demanding that everyone exercise the same liberty.

• And let’s demonstrate that conscience does not give us permission to judge or condemn our brothers and sisters.

Some will participate.
Some will not.
But we are one church, one family, and one body in Christ.

Our hope is that when our community comes to Trinity: Light up the Night, they won’t simply experience a well-run event. We pray they will encounter a church that genuinely loves them. And perhaps they will see something even more compelling: a people who love Jesus enough to serve their neighbours, and who love one another enough to disagree without dividing.
 

Jesus said:
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So let’s move forward together.
Let’s serve together.
Let’s love our neighbours together.
And let’s keep Jesus at the centre of it all.
We are not trying to win an argument about Halloween. We are trying to shine the light of Christ. And we believe Trinity: Light up the Night gives us an opportunity to do exactly that.