500 years ago, a humble monk named Martin Luther nailed a paper to the local church door that went on to change the world. The movie A Return to Grace looks at Martin Luther’s life, unusually full of political intrigue, kidnappings, and life-or-death showdowns for a monk.

A Return to Grace will be shown at the Bob Jones Zompa Auditorium on October 22. This free showing is hosted by Lamb of God Lutheran Church.

Lamb of God’s pastor, Duane Schmeichel, said, “This is a really great opportunity. We’re in a wonderful anniversary year right now, with the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran reformation […] It’s a great opportunity to kind of see how God’s Word came back to life during that time, and to share the gospel with people in that manner. This movie will kind of compress everything into two hours.”

Lamb of God Lutheran Church rented the Bob Jones auditorium from Dwayne Craft, the auditorium’s manager and Bob Jones drama teacher.

“We were initially looking at movie theaters in town and realized that all of the theaters that were available were smaller theaters, and the high school auditoriums had the opportunity for us to show the movie to the most people at once,” said Pastor Schmeichel, “We’re very thankful that the Bob Jones Auditorium was available to us and we’re very thrilled to show the movie there. We are inviting the entire community of Madison […] so we’re hoping the entire community, Lutherans and non-Lutherans alike, will be able to see [A Return to Grace].”

Mr. Craft said, “Renting the auditorium starts by emailing me to check availability. School organizations are always scheduled first, and then we fit in rentals if we can. Once we determine that a requested date is available, the renting organization has to provide proof of $100,000 liability insurance, complete a ‘facilities use agreement’ and send that contract to the school board for approval. Once approval is given by Central Office, we put it on the school calendar.”

So, why should one see the movie?

“The movie is about the ministry of Martin Luther and how he got a chance to teach and study God’s Word, which brought the truths of God’s Word to light. He literally put his life on the line every day to do that, to make sure people knew who Jesus is,” Pastor Schmeichel said. “The entire world recognizes Martin Luther for his place in history, and this movie is going to touch on those things as well, but put them into the light of what his whole purpose was. He did a lot of amazing things, the depth of his writings, the translation of the Bible… All of those things actually helped to unify the German language. He worked to bring the different areas of Germany together through this as well. His purpose was to always give God the glory.”

The movie will be shown on October 22 at 4 PM.

Can’t make it to this showing? A shortened version of A Return to Grace was shown on PBS and can be found here.