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Although traditional pumpkin carving is associated with Halloween, this object lesson is all about the Light – how Jesus changes us from the inside out. Use this Pumpkin Gospel to grow your family’s faith each harvest season, and plant the gospel in their hearts with this meaningful activity!
Our favorite book to read while carving pumpkins is “The Pumpkin Patch Parable” by Liz Curtis Higgs.
About the Book
Bestselling author Liz Curtis Higgs shares God’s love and redemption with this beautiful fall story about a farmer who turns a simple pumpkin into a bright light that brings joy. Help your children understand how God makes us into new creations with this simple story that won the Gold Medallion Award for Best Christian Book of the Year.
The Pumpkin Patch Parable
teaches kids how God’s love changes our hearts with a sweet story they can understand
turns family or Sunday School storytime into a faith-growing discussion
includes scriptures on each page that tie the story to the Good News of the Bible
shows the stages of a pumpkin plant growing from a small seed into a huge fruit
makes a cheerful addition to any alternative Halloween or Thanksgiving celebration
Liz Curtis Higgs created this parable storybook as a way to share the gospel with her own precious children each harvest season . . . and now with children everywhere.
See that big red barn? And those rolling green fields? That’s where the farmer lives, w-a-a-a-y out in the country. it’s so far out the streets don’t even have stop signs.
The farmer grows lots of different things in those fields. He grows tall green corn and big red tomatoes… long yellow squash and little green peas. People eat that stuff for dinner.
Early one morning, a tiny green shoot quietly poked its way out of the soil. Soon, a long, green vine stretched across the ground. From that vine, little buds sprouted into wide green leaves.
The leaves spread out flat to catch the August sun.
Someday, those little green buds would turn into big orange pumpkins!
But not yet. The patient farmer waited. And waited.
The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost. He wants everyone to change his heart and life.
October came at last. The sky was bright blue and the air was cooler. Every night it got dark earlier than it did the night before. It was time for the farmer to harvest his pumpkin crop.
The farmer’s many workers brought lots of ripe pumpkins in from the fields. Which one would he choose first?
Open your eyes. Look at the fields that are ready for harvesting now.
The farmer picked up one large pumpkin, being v-e-r-y careful not to let it slip through his hands. Pumpkins are tough on the outside, but break into smithereens if you drop them! He washed off all the dirt, holding on tight.
Now, why wait any longer? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away. Do this, trusting in him to save you.
Pumpkins are full of dozens of seeds and lots of slimy pulp. The farmer had a special plan for his chosen pumpkin, so the seeds and the slime had to go.
He slowly slid a large knife right into the center of the pumpkin.
The pumpkin didn’t make a sound, because vegetables don’t talk. If they did talk, the pumpkin might have said, “ouch!”
God’s word is alive and working. It is sharper than a sword sharpened on both sides. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined. It cuts to the center of our joints and our bones. And God’s word judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts.
Then, something REALLY exciting happened: The pumpkin got a new face!
We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings more and more glory. And it comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
The farmer put a small, white candle down inside the pumpkin and touched the wick with a flame.
How that pumpkin glowed!
Let the light shine out of the darkness!” And this is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts. He gave us light by letting us know the glory of God that is in the face of Christ.
Religion vs. Relationship Pumpkin Gospel Alternate
In an alternate version of the Pumpkin Gospel, you can also demonstrate the difference between being saved by grace and trying to “earn” salvation through works. All you will need is a second pumpkin with a face that is painted on (rather than cut out). THIS pumpkin is wanting to be “chosen,” but it’s not allowing the Gardener to clean out the inside.
So, the pumpkin wears a painted face (tries to make itself acceptable on the outside), but inside – it’s still full of yucky goo. Without removing the goo, there’s no room for the Gardener’s light, so the pumpkin cannot shine.
Many people try to make themselves acceptable to God in their own way (just like Adam and Eve in the Garden). They might go to church and act like Christians, and they might even believe in God … but unless they trust that Jesus paid the price for their sins, then the sin remains on the inside. They cannot become new creatures without allowing Christ to remove their sin. So, the light of Christ cannot be in them.
I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believe. You did not save yourselves. It was a gift from God. You cannot brag that you are saved by the work you have done. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would do good works. God had planned in advance those good works for us. He had planned for us to live our lives doing them.
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