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Festivals of Religious Freedom. By Dr. John Graz Director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists PPP prepared and adapted by Pastors John Graz and Alfredo Garc í a-Marenko. LOGOS. ENGLISH LOGO IN TIF. Purpose.
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Festivals of Religious Freedom By Dr. John Graz Director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists PPP prepared and adapted by Pastors John Graz and Alfredo García-Marenko
Purpose • To promote Religious Freedom through a mass meeting organized by the SDA Church with the participation of other religious groups.
Outcome • To put Adventists on the map as leaders in the field of Religious Freedom and Church-State Separation.
History of the Festival of Religious Freedom • 1995 Just a dream • 1997 The first Festival in Rio de Janeiro following the IRLA World Congress. 800 attended. 2000 Lima, Peru 2001 Santiago de Chile • 2002 The second Festival in Manila following the IRLA World Congress. 3500 attended.
Regional Festivals • 2005 The third Festival following the IRLA Caribbean Congress. 3000 attended • 2006 Georgetown, Guyana. 2000 attended • 2006 Kiev, Ukraine. 1700 attended • 2006 Accra, Ghana. Hundreds attended • 2006 Sao Paulo. 12,000 + 10,000 attended • 2007 Cape Town. 4000 attended
The Festival of Religious Freedom in Trinidad, February 2005, was the largest Festival of Religious Freedom ever organized in the Caribbean.
Sao Paulo 2006 • The Festival of Religious Freedom in Sao Paulo, June 2006, attracted 30,000 people. It was the largest religious freedom event ever organized in Brazil and in all the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Sao Paulo, June 10, 2006 • 12,000 inside the gymnasium • 20,000 outside waiting for a seat • A children’s choir of 1,500 • 27 singers (15 professional singers) • 3 hour and 30 minute program • The Festival was followed by a Forum on Religious Freedom in the auditorium of the Latin American Parliament
The Bucharest Festival of Religious Freedom, September 2006, with 4,000 attendees, was the largest Festival of Religious ever organized in Romania and in Europe.
Lessons • A mass event on religious freedom is possible • An attractive program can be done • Youth and children can play an important role • Work can be done with the media to make the festival a public event • The festival can provide a large membership for the association of Religious Liberty
The New Festival • A mass event • A public event • A media event • An open event • An Adventist event • An event which focuses on a message
The Festival Message • Praise the Lord for religious freedom • Thank the country for religious freedom • Recognize those who suffered and died for religious freedom • Unite in the cause of religious freedom • Religious freedom is for all people everywhere
A Mega and Historical Event • A Festival with more than 3,000 • A Mega Festival with more than 10,000
Candidates • Sao Paulo, 2006: 12,000 + 20,000 - Done! • Bucharest, 2006: 4,000 - Done! • Brazil, 5 festivals by 2010? • Angola, 2008: 60,000? • Zambia, 2009: 30,000? • Mexico, 2008 - 2010? • Peru, Philippines, 2008? • Kenya or Tanzania, 2009? • First World Festival, Peru: 2009: 50,000-70,000?
Other Potential Venues • Saint Petersburg, Russia • Honolulu, Hawai • Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic • Seoul, Korea • Manila, Philippines • Santiago de Chile, Chile • Kenya • Martinique • Rome • Cameron…
Imagine the front page of the newspapers • 50,000 Adventists gathered for religious freedom for all people everywhere • The largest event ever organized to promote religious freedom • Adventists: The world leaders for religious freedom
Sao Paulo Festival: A Good Model! • Ask children to participate with one or more songs. When you involve children, their parents, relatives and teachers will come. • Ask the main singers of your country to participate. They will attract people. • Make a web page with the picture of the singers. See our page: www.festivaldeliberdadereligiosa.com • Make a link between your page and the page of the singers. • Make a link of the singers’ sites to your page. • Link your page to the main sites of the church in your country.
Sao Paulo Festival • 2,000 billboards and 100,000 flyers were made to individually invite all church members. • A one-page ad and an interview with Dr John Graz about Religious Liberty were published in the Brazilian Adventist Review. • A TV spot was produced with names and pictures of all participant singers. • An attractive program full of variety was presented. The program lasted 3.5 hours.
A Great Festival Inspired by the Sao Paulo Festival • The music is the most important feature, and it must be dynamic enough to maintain the interest of the people. • Include testimonies of 5-10 minutes on religious freedom. • The program must move quickly, like a TV program, with no wasted time. One thing follows another in quick succession. • Prepare a script and rehearse the program with participants.
Other Strategies • Choose a theme for the festival, such as “Tell the World:Christ Brings True Freedom.” • Prepare a form and ask 100 volunteers to get names and signatures of the participants for admission to the regional Religious Liberty association. • Invite people from outside the church who have promoted Religious Liberty in the country. • Organize meetings with the Union and Conference Presidents, asking for their support and for appropriate promotion at the church level.
The keys of success • Pray that God will bless the event. • Glorify God for His gift of Religious Freedom. • Carefully plan the event one year in advance. • Make the program as professional as a TV show. • Conclude the festival with a call for membership and commitment.
The Largest Event • Our goal is to have the largest event ever organized by any Christian church or religious organization: A festival of Religious Freedom with more than 50,000 participants. • Luanda, Angola, 2008: Goal: 50,000 • Lima, Peru, 2009: Goal: 70,000
The Great Challenge • 1. Tohavethelargest Festival of ReligiousLibertyeverorganized in yourterritory. • 2. TotaketoPeruthelargestinternationaldelegationfromyourterritorytotheFirst World Festival of ReligiousFreedomtobeheld in Lima, Peru, onJune 13, 2009. See you in Peru!
