Festivals of Religious Freedom

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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

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Purpose

• To promote Religious Freedom through a mass
  meeting organized by the SDA Church with the
  participation of other religious groups.

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Outcome

• To put Adventists on the map as leaders in the
  field of Religious Freedom and Church-State
  Separation.

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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.

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A Meeting for All
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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

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Trinidad 2005
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The Festival of Religious Freedom in Trinidad,
February 2005, was the largest Festival of
Religious Freedom ever organized in the
Caribbean.
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Guyana 2006
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Accra, Ghana, 2006
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The First Mega Festival Sao Paulo
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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.

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Sao Paulo, June 10, 2006

• 12,000 inside the gymnasium
• 20,000 outside waiting for a seat
• A childrens 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

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Festival and Forum
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Forum on Religious Liberty
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Bucharest Festival, September 2006
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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.
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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

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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

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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

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A Mega and Historical Event

• A Festival with more than 3,000
• A Mega Festival with more than 10,000

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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?

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Other Potential Venues

• Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Honolulu, Hawai
• Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Seoul, Korea
• Manila, Philippines
• Santiago de Chile, Chile
• Kenya
• Martinique
• Rome
• Cameron

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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The Great Challenge

• 1. To have the largest Festival of Religious
  Liberty ever organized in your territory.
• 2. To take to Peru the largest international
  delegation from your territory to the First World
  Festival of Religious Freedom to be held in Lima,
  Peru, on November 21, 2009.
• See you in Peru!