As the autumn season begins, many church—and personal—schedules begin to fill up. Days grow shorter and the list of to-do’s only increase as we inch towards forthcoming holidays. Costumes to be made, goodies to bake, presents to be purchased and so on. Considering the busy-ness of the next few months as we approach Advent, here are a few tips to help your congregation prepare for the Good News Festival on December 10.
Pray – The Good News Festival provides each of us an opportunity to share Jesus’ good news with those in our pews and in our neighborhoods. Adding the Good News Festival prayer to weekly worship or printing copies for folks to take home as a reminder to pray for the festival will kindle our excitement and inspire us to invite others through the Spirit’s prompting.
Promote – The diocese has prepared a variety of materials for you to use in promoting the Good News Festival. Just visit theGoodNewsFestival.com and download everything you need. You can promote the event on your website, social media, and e-newsletter. You can also put material in your bulletins and make frequent announcements during your service.
Invite – As we shared recently, a critical component to the festival’s success—and an opportunity to start conversations with those that might visit your church in the future—is invitation. Encourage your members to pray for and invite their co-workers, neighbors, family members, and more to join us at the Good News Festival.
Plan – Start planning your travel to and from the Good News Festival now. Part of the excitement of this event is the opportunity for your congregants to enjoy this experience together. That can begin before you get to the festival. Set up carpools. Determine how long it will take you to get from point A to the Town & Country Resort. Establish a time to meet. Where you will gather? Ensure that you have a set time to meet everyone at the end of the service to travel home.
Don’t let the growing list of commitments this fall crowd out this important event for our diocese. Make a plan and prepare as we invite our congregations and those in our communities to celebrate God’s goodness at The Good News Festival this December.
Friday, December 9, 2022
7:00 – 9:00 pm – The Bishop’s Dinner
A dinner event with music, community, and an opportunity to learn more about the ambitious mission and vision of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego. Registration coming soon!
Saturday, December 10, 2022
The Good News Workshops
11:30 – 12:10 pm – Land Acknowledgement & The Church
This workshop will address the historical and present-day relationship between the Kumeyaay and the Episcopal Church. The workshop will include truth-telling regarding the harm that colonization and faith-based boarding schools placed on our indigenous neighbors. The session will emphasize the importance of the creating of a sustainable Land Acknowledgement and related actions. The Episcopal Church’s work toward racial reconciliation, healing and justice is guided by the long-term commitment to Becoming Beloved Community (BBC). Embracing the opportunity to cultivate a meaningful and supportive relationship with indigenous communities is in keeping with our commitment to BBC.
12:20 – 1:00 pm – How to Try
The Rev. Lorenzo Lebrija (Director of TryTank–a lab for church growth and innovation) has developed a straightforward framework for experiments in new ministry. With three straightforward steps, this framework can have a lasting impact on any church that uses it.
1:00 – 2:00 pm – Faith and LGBTQ+ Rights
Fernando Lopez (SD Pride Executive Director) and Colby Martin (author of Unclobbered) discuss faith and sexuality. Within the Church there is a wide range of theological and doctrinal viewpoints. We recognize that good, faithful people hold differing opinions on these issues, but EDSD affirms LGBTQ+ inclusion and marriage equality.
1:00 – 1:40 pm Affordable Housing and Faith Communities
Elizabeth Fitzsimmons (ECS) and Dinora Reyna-Gutierrez (SDOP) engage in creative discussion about how faith communities can begin work on one of the most pressing issues in Southern California–affordable housing.
1:40 – 2:30 pm – Broder, Migration and Jesus
Bishop Silvestre Romero (Diocese of Guatemala), Robert Vivar (Via Int.), and others discuss migration from Central America through Mexico to the US border and how creative new ministries can impact the lives of these travelers.
1:50 – 2:30 pm – Creation Crisis and Care
Bishop David Rice (Diocese of San Joaquin), and others discuss our use of the riches of creation, jeopardizing the future of humanity and the Earth itself.
2:15 – 3:15 pm – Evangelism in the 21st Century
The Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers (Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation Care) will lead us through the ins-and-outs of sharing the Good News of Christ in the 21st Century.
2:40 – 3:20 pm – Starting New Faith Communities in San Diego
Dan & Jeya So, Jen Guerra, and Seth David Clark discuss the successes, hardships, and hurdles involved in starting a new faith community in San Diego.
3:30 – 4:10 pm – Food Security and Faith Communities
Jerusalem Greer (Officer for Evangelism) and Kathy Wilder (Executive Director of Camp Stevens) discuss food insecurity and our faith communities. In 2020, 13.8 million households were food insecure at some time during the year.
6:30 – 8:45 pm – The Good News Festival (Revival Service)
An energetic evening with friends, families, and neighbors. With messages from the Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and The Rev. Dr. William Barber, this is a night you won’t forget.
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I have a friend who would like to be a vendor at the Good News Festival and she hasn’t been able to find out how to contact anyone. She requires very little space. She has a wonderful item to sell, baseball caps in a variety of colors that say LOVE EVERYBODY. She started this ministry after Gorge Floyd was murdered, she wanted to do something to spread the word for people’s hearts to change. I have several of her hats and people always comment on them. A simple message that spreads THE MESSAGE.
Whom could my friend contact, so she may be present at the Good News Fesitval?
Direct your friend to http://www.thegoodnewsfestival.com where they can fill out a vendor form linked at the top. I hope to see them there! I need a new hat.
It will be difficult to pick and chose. It all sounds great.
I am attending and bringing my friend. However, I am not clear on what we will be experiencing together. I don’t relate to how I could invite her to the various sessions. Are these sessions intended for non church attenders? If so, in what way? I see one on church growth, and it doesn’t seem appropriate for me to invite her to that one.
Please educate me on how a non church goer (my friend) will benefit from and relate to the sessions. I am thinking perhaps I should just have her attend with me to hear the Presiding Bishop speak.
Connie
Connie, Thank you for inviting your friend to the Good News Festival. You are both in for a wonderful time. Yes, the majority of the workshops are about how the church interacts with the world, but we feel that these are perfect opportunities for non-church members to find out more about the church’s work in the world.