Community Festivals—Reaching Children, Reaching Families

I recall being at an opening night festival of the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when someone commented, “Look, the Christians have left their church buildings and come out into the open!” I knew this was what I wanted to commit myself to—the church being at the heart of the community, showing and helping those who don’t know him to taste and experience what the Kingdom is like.

We are born with two desires: for purpose and meaning and, secondly, to belong and experience community. Larry Crabb captures it this way: “As surely as birds were made to fly and fish to swim, we were made for community.”¹ We all have an innate desire to be known and to belong, to be seen and recognised for who we are.

Connections and trust often take a long time to build, yet around the world and specifically across Japan, Open Crowd Community Festivals provide an opportunity to build connections and trust, a chance for everyone to feel valued and to be seen. As we say at festivals, “No strangers here—just friends you haven’t met.” People can arrive defensive, questioning who we are, yet a few hours later, they leave smiling and asking how they can connect.

Goals, values, and characteristics

Festivals are a celebration, a party, a wedding feast (Matt. 22:2). Celebration comes from the human spirit. With the help of the Spirit, we build community and attract others to join in. The more we are free, the more others are free. This is the secret, the “fairy dust” of festivals. Once it is there, people taste a freedom—“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17 NIV).

Jesus says in John 15:15, “I no longer call you servants . . . instead I call you friends” (GNT). Festivals provide a possibility for all those who turn up to become friends with Jesus. We find that it happens more through what people see and feel than what anyone says to them. They witness and experience the Kingdom being lived out.

The three values we emphasise at festivals are generosity, hospitality, and kindness. God has been generous to us, so we make everything at a festival available for free. This creates a spirit of hospitality—people feeling welcomed. The value of kindness results in people not only having their day impacted; it may lead to a life transformed. We remind our team as we begin, “People matter—build them up and help them grow.”

How do we most effectively do this? We have discovered that rather than making the focus on entertainment or activities, we make children the stars. We run games at the centre of the festival that focus on children. We encourage our team to learn the children’s names and to celebrate them whenever they can. By ensuring that celebration and fun are at the heart, people can quickly connect with team members.

What happens after a festival?

Events never change the world. Commitment does. An Open Crowd Festival by itself won’t bring change to a community. What we do to follow up is the key element in making a lasting impact. We ensure that our next steps are both well-planned and clear to everyone. At our church at Hongodai, Yokohama, we run festivals regularly, inviting children to fun day camps and to our weekly JoyJoy Chapel, a fun Sunday children’s program.

We carefully choose the location of our festivals. If at all possible, we run a festival at a venue where people in our community meet. Jesus met a woman who needed restoring at the community centre of her time—a well (John 4). Discipleship began for her the moment Jesus asked her for a drink of water.

Where is your well? Outside a supermarket? A park or sports ground? A local school or kindergarten? Choose a place where people gather or pass by. We run our festivals outside the local train station. I smile when I see how our local council actually invites us to run festivals as they see the impact it makes in our community.

By knowing your community and its resources, combined with praying and building a committed team, an Open Crowd Festival may open new doors for you. C. S. Lewis said, “The little knots of Friends who turn their backs on the ‘World’ are those who really transform it.”² Pray for and build this small group of friends—committed, passionate, and willing to have a go.

To run a festival, we need a Kingdom vision and a heart for transforming our community. Festivals create strategic moments to meet people, specifically children from the community. Enter your community and begin a process of making disciples.

Japan International Sports Partnership is willing to run training to help your church understand the heart of a festival and to give you keys to make it work. For training sessions and resources, see www.opencrowdfestivaltraining.com. The Japanese website can be found at www.opencrowdfestivaljapan.com. You can also contact us at jisp2024@gmail.com.

Photo: Ai (first testimony)

1. Larry Crabb, Becoming a True Spiritual Community: A Profound Vision of What the Church Can Be (Nashville: Thomas Nelson 1999), 121.
2. C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves (San Diego: Harcourt, 1960), 101.