Halloween – it's a time for dressing up in scary costumes and going trick or treating, right?

In fact, the original name for Halloween was Hallow'Even, or All Hallows Eve, and it means, Holy Evening.

Many Christians would not dare to equate the Halloween celebrations with a word such as holy, but there is one family that is seeking to make a difference in the spiritual lives of their neighbours, and in the community at large, and they are using the Halloween celebration to do it.

For the last two years, Joseph and Susan Simmons have opened up their front lawn on Chaingate Hill, Devonshire, into a mini-praise and worship centre on Halloween, and they are looking forward to this year's celebration. Susan, who is the driving force behind the annual event, was born and raised in rural New Brunswick, Canada.

"I was brought up that Halloween was a part of our lives. It's about visiting your neighbours," she said. She reminisced about dressing up in her parents' old clothes and grandmother's old hats. "It wasn't about scary stuff."

"The other big fun part for us, as farmers, we loved carving pumpkins," she added. That love extends to today, when she now makes a big deal decorating her home, inside and out, with real and ceramic pumpkins.

It wasn't until she was in her early 20s that she began to see that other Christians tended to shun the holiday for its evil associations. "The whole realm of Satanism was beginning to grow then," Mrs. Simmons explained. People were only beginning to open proclaim themselves as Satanists or Wiccans.

The turmoil over the decision whether to still celebrate Halloween grew after she moved to Bermuda, married and had children. "One of the things I was thinking about was, what do you do with Halloween? When I had children, you are under pressure from some Christians that say your children shouldn't even know what Halloween is!"

She soon realised that Halloween could not only be a fun time for the kids, but was also an opportunity to share her faith, as well as shine the light of the Gospel on the most important night in the Satanic calendar.

"My answer to those questions was, if that is what the Satanists are doing, then that is the one night when Christians should be out shining the light of the Gospel of Christ!"

Then, 11 years ago, after her second child was born, the couple moved from their small apartment to their home on Chaingate Hill. Knowing how busy the area would be on Halloween, simply because of its location, she prayed: "Jesus, what am I going to do about Halloween?"

So, Mrs. Simmons and her husband began passing out Gospel tracts along with candy when trick-or-treaters stopped by her door. And they kept coming, from every direction. On an average Halloween night, the Simmons' will see around 200 children visit.

"I have a 30-second window once a year to do something to put the gospel into the hands of 200 of my neighbours children," she said.

That tradition carried on until 2005. During the summer, she was invited to hear David Thompson of Harvest Evangelism speak. Unfortunately, she was running late and missed most of the message.

"Because I missed the message, I stood in line to get the disc," she said. "I listened to it 100s of times and believed everything he teaches."

"I believe that Christians need to get out. Church is like a ghetto – they've barricaded themselves in and don't go out for anything more than a quick trip to the grocery store."

The goal of Christians is to meet people where they are and start up conversations with them. More often then not, within a few minutes, they will tell you about something that they are struggling with.

"When they tell you, the message of this ministry is to teach Christ, to say can I pray for you. You are connecting God to that person at that moment."

The message of that CD became imprinted on Mrs. Simmons' heart and she knew that she had to find away to share more of Christ with all these people that came to her door every year, and to find a way to pray for these people, so she took her keyboard outside and gathered friends who could play instruments to set up a worship jam session on her verandah. While the music plays, her husband and children go around the yard to give out candies and Gospel tracts, while she runs around asking people if she can pray for them.

"Every person says yes," she said. "In the prayer, I invite the Lord into their circumstances. The vast majority of people there are agreeing with you. They want to be prayed for."

The work is exhausting, but rewarding.

"Two years ago, a woman and her child came to the door later, asking, 'Is this the house where they pray for people? And could you pray for us?'," Mrs. Simmons shared. The woman's friend had been to the house previously and gave her directions.

Then, last year Mrs. Simmons heard the testimony of a grandmother, who's daughter and her boyfriend had refused to allow their child to go to Sunday School. After visiting the Simmons home on Halloween, he announced that he thought they should maybe find a church, or at least let their daughter attend Sunday School.

Then, a few weeks ago, Mrs. Simmons heard from that grandmother that the child was attending Sunday School, and at the same church Mrs. Simmons fellowships at - First Baptist!

"The amazing part, if you step out in faith, if the Lord has asked you do this and if we act on it, you can overcome that fear [of stepping out in faith]… If you make that step, after you step-out, the Lord will fill you with boldness."

This year, individuals and groups from at least seven different churches will be represented, whether playing with the worship band, dancing, or praying with those who visit. Most trick-or-treaters start coming around 5.30pm. "This is a scary thing. I'm doing it by faith," Mrs. Simmons said. "I'd like to encourage other Christians to do this around the Island."

And if not something so bold, at least to hand out Gospel tracts to those who visit your homes, she added. She also invites those considering doing a similar ministry out of their own homes to stop by and see how it is done. This Simmons family live at 27 Chaingate Hill, Devonshire.

"I know when I'm doing this, I'm doing it for God," Mrs. Simmons shared.