| Using a pumpkin in an
evangelistic manner
Submitted by: HEATHER ASHLEY HARNED heaaharn@mars.utm.edu
(10/30/00)
Pumpkin Evangelism We have used this presentation of the good news many
times and with great results.
Take a pumpkin. "You aren't a pumpkin, but all of us are something like
one." Talk about how a pumpkin is like us: it has an outside and an inside.
The outside is what people see. The inside is like our soul or our heart. A
pumpkin left to itself will soon rot and die. We will die some day too."
Carve out eyes and a small "o" shaped mouth. As you make the holes and pull
out the pieces of rind, ask people what they see inside (yucky stuff). "This
is what we look like to others and what we are like when are hearts are not
changed. The hearts of men are full of evil and there is madness in their
hearts while they live (Ecclesiastes 9:3). How can we get rid of this icky
stuff?"
"God is the only one who can change our heart. But in order for God to
change our heart we must become open to him." Carve an opening in the top of
the pumpkin big enough to put your hand through. You might want to quote
Revelation 3:20: Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with
me.
Put in your hand and pull out the insides. Talk about the cross and Jesus
was willing to become messy for us, so that we might be clean. I will
cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give
you a new hart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your
heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in
you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
(Ezekiel 36:25b-27).
"But if we leave a pumpkin with just the insides taken out, then it's just
hollow. We need to have a light inside that will truly make us alive! Jesus
said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life.' Add a light to the inside of the
pumpkin. "When Jesus lives inside of you, you can glow! You will want to be
kind and honest. You will want to please God, to help others, and to tell
other people about your Friend and Lord."
At this point you might want to carve the mouth into a smile!
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