10. It happens every year on October 31st.
9. The most exciting and historically significant one happened in 1517!
8. A monk named Martin Luther (no, he is not related to Martin Luther King) was upset with the Roman Catholic Church for its abuse of power and unbiblical teachings. (Everyone was Catholic whether they liked it or not back then.)
7. He wrote up 95 complaints and nailed them to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany, on Halloween knowing that hundreds of parishioners were going to attend mass that evening in preparation for All Saints Day on Nov. 1. (And he didn’t bother wearing a costume for the event.)
6. Martin Luther’s list consisted of some very radical ideas such as: “No, you don’t have to pay money to be forgiven”; and “No, there is no such place as Purgatory in case you don’t have enough money to be forgiven”; and “No, good works won’t get you into Heaven.”
5. His Halloween adventure turned the European world upside down. The recent invention of the printing press allowed his ideas to be translated into German, the language of the common people, and they quickly spread around Europe.
4. He was considered such a threat that he was tried as a heretic for his beliefs (had a face-off with all the major power players in the Catholic Church.)
3. He sparked a movement called “the Reformation” that saw Christians breaking away from the Catholic Church to begin new churches and Christian communities. The Roman Catholic Church, in response, cleaned house by starting “the Counter Reformation.”
2. Luther spent the rest of his life translating the Bible from Latin into German so that everyone could read the Bible and discover its truths (plus wrote a bunch of great hymns.)
1. Oh right! Halloween is also a great opportunity to dress up in interesting costumes and collect candy! (I think a monk’s costume would be a most suitable!)

1. Safety for your children is most important. Teach your children how to be safe in an unsafe world. Safety has to do with handling darkness, how to speak to strangers, when it is okay to take gifts. Halloween is an excellent time to teach Christian discipline and to understand righteousness.

2. Show the closeness and care of God by being with your children. This is especially important for fathers – show your “father heart” during potentially scary times for your children. Walk with your kids. Carry the candy bags. Hold the flashlights and umbrellas. Your kids will remember!

3. Help your kids “put on the armor of God” (Eph 6:13) – this does not mean dressing up as a Roman soldier! It means helping your kids dress up in righteousness, peace, truthfulness; not in darkness and evil. Stay away from images of witchcraft, death and violence. Be more creative than that.

4. Make this Halloween an opportunity to know your neighbours and enjoy them. They will appreciate your openness to them on their terms – and this might lead them to coming to CapChurch on your terms. Use Halloween as a time for the gospel living in your neighbourhood. You may decide to host a neighbourhood party (we join one in our community) where you let off firecrackers and drink hot chocolate and use the time to talk and laugh with soon-to-be friends.

5. Remember that light overcomes darkness and that the presence of Jesus is more eloquent than the clamor of fire crackers.