Redeem Halloween With This Pumpkin Gospel Presentation

Use the pumpkin gospel presentation as a children’s message in big church or your children’s ministry class.

Materials needed:

• 1 pumpkin with the top already cut open
• sharp carving knife
• large spoon for scooping out the pumpkin “guts”
• bowls filled with pumpkin guts
• hand wipes (one per participant)
• candles for the pumpkins
• matches or wand lighter
• Bible (You might want to ask an assistant to read the verses because your hands will be a mess!)
• a worship song to sing as a group
• for a large group presentation, add 4 pre-carved pumpkins with different Christian symbols

The Pumpkin Gospel Presentation

Say: A pumpkin is round and shiny on the outside. Its skin is tough and hard to puncture. It looks perfect and wonderful. Sometimes, we pretend that we are all perfect and wonderful, too.

But we know that’s not true. We have all made mistakes. We have all done bad things, but we keep them hidden inside, thinking no one can see past our perfect and wonderful outsides.

But God knows each one of us from the inside out.

Read Psalms 139:1.

First, take the top off the pumpkin and begin scooping out the pumpkin guts. Collect in the bowl, and pass the bowl around, giving each child a turn to touch the pumpkin guts in the bowl.

Say: God loves each one of us, but our sins—the bad things we’ve done—make God sad.

Read Romans 3:23.

Say: The slimy, yucky stuff inside of the pumpkin is kind of like the sins that we keep hidden inside. 

Show the pumpkin guts on your own hands and demonstrate how difficult it is to get off your hands.

Say: No matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to get rid of the slimy effects of sin by ourselves. Alone, our sin makes our lives slimy and yucky. 

Read Romans 6:23.

Say: But there is good news! God wants to help us! What God does for us is kind of like what I’m doing to this pumpkin. I’m scraping all the slimy, yucky stuff out of the pumpkin and make it clean on the inside.

In the same way, God can take away that slimy, yucky sin from our lives. He can make us clean inside. How is that possible? God sent his very own Son, Jesus, down to earth. And Jesus shows us how much God loves us. Jesus tells us that all we have to do is ask God to forgive us for our sins, and he’ll wipe us clean of our sin. That is really good news!

Take a moment to wipe off your own hands, and pass a hand wipe to each child.

Carve the Pumpkin

Cut into the pumpkin with the knife and carve a simple smiling face.

Say: How does Jesus wipe us clean from our sins? Well, he paid a price that we should have paid ourselves. When Jesus was on earth, he took the punishment for all our sins. He did that by dying on a cross. After Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb.

That sounds like bad news, doesn’t it? But I have more good news!

Three days later, Jesus came out of the tomb—alive! Because Jesus is alive, he can wipes away the slimy, yucky sin from our lives. And that means we get to enjoy living with Jesus, who loves us so much.

Do you believe that Jesus is God’s Son? Do you believe he died on that cross to pay the price for your sins? that he came back to life three days later? Tell him you are sorry for the wrong things you have done, and he will forgive you. He will take away your sin.

Light the Pumpkin

Next, light the pumpkin and dim the lights, too.

Say: When he takes away all that sin, you are not only clean inside—you’re a new creation! Through God’s word (the Bible), Jesus will teach you how to live a new life God’s way.

When we have Jesus in our lives, we shine! It’s like having a candle inside us. We want to share the good news with all those around us.

Then turn the pumpkin around to show the carved smiling face.

For a large group, turn the pre-carved pumpkins one by one as you say John 3:16.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Sing a worship song together.

Finally, close with a prayer!

Check out all these Halloween ideas!