Pumpkin Gospel Party 2023

The 25th of October was a fairly typical autumn day. Dry, with a slight chill to the air and leaves a little more rust coloured than they were a few weeks previously. Halloween, still just under a week away and with it being half term, children and parents alike were looking for some seasonal entertainment to help pass an afternoon.

It is on this backdrop that Cornerstone put on our Annual Pumpkin Gospel Party at our church building in North Kingston. Over a hundred kids and adults came through the doors of the Hub at 2pm and gathered round tables to carve up pumpkins. Buckets of pumpkin pulp and seeds were collected as everyone enjoyed scooping out the mess and then cutting into their pumpkins smiley faces, cats, Star Wars Death Stars, Spidermen and more. It was great to see so many having fun from multiple generations showing their creativity. Once this was done children brought their pumpkin shaped creations to the presentation stage before being served hotdogs and playing around the hay bales we’d brought in for the occasion.

After everyone had had their fill, our judges chose the 2 best pumpkins and rewarded the winners with their prizes: a “Sing the Bible” CD and Activity book.

Then Dean (our Families worker) came up and showed us how the humble pumpkin was a fantastic picture of God’s grace to us in Jesus. The Pumpkin looks nice on the outside but when you look past the skin you find that it’s full of messy gunk that no one really likes. We are the same! We look nice on the outside but on the inside we all have sin in our hearts that stops us from being in relationship with God. Thankfully, as Dean showed us, God sent Jesus into the world to die for us so that (like a pumpkin) our mess can be scooped out by God and replaced with his glorious Light.

What a great afternoon it was. Thank God for Pumpkins, friends, family and Jesus.