15th November, 2005

DAVID ADAMS

With thousands of athletes and their supporters expected to descend on Melbourne early next year to take part in the Commonwealth Games, youth, family and community organisation Fusion is urging Christians to seize the moment and get involved in “open crowd festivals”.

The festivals have been running for more than 15 years in Australia with hundreds successfully staged around traditional celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and ANZAC Day.

They were also held at the Sydney and then the Athens Olympic Games and based upon their success, further open crowd festivals are planned for the Soccer World Cup in Germany and the upcoming Beijing and London Olympics.

AN OPEN CROWD: Open crowd festivals were held at the Sydney and then the Athens Olympic Games (above picture) and based upon their success, further open crowd festivals are planned for the Soccer World Cup in Germany and the upcoming Beijing and London Olympics.

Brenton Reimann, executive officer at the Fusion Commonwealth Games Secretariat, explains that they’re about helping the community to celebrate and providing a point of engagement between the church and their communities.

“This is a chance - and this is what we want churches to catch hold of - for them to serve the community and them to celebrate the moment that’s happening,” he says.

Unlike the traditional church fete, Reimann says that “open festivals” typically include things like a free barbeque and, as was the case with the Sydney Olympics, big TV screens where people could gather to watch the opening and closing ceremonies.

Fusion, who are partnering with the Aussie Awakening and Quest “More than Gold” in co-ordinating mission activity in and around the Games next year, estimate that as many as one in five Australians have been touched by open crowd festivals.

Reimann says that not only are the festivals a way in which the church can serve the community, they also provide them with an opportunity to introduce people to the values of the Kingdom of God “in a way that is non-threatening and respects them” and can provide a lasting impact.

In an illustration of the lasting impact, numerous festivals have been held in Athens this year after the Fusion teams were invited back to the city by church leaders while in several parts of Sydney festivals are still being held annually.

The open crowd festivals will be occuring at a range of sites across Victoria in the lead-up to and during the games. To help people prepare, Fusion are holding a series of training days for people to find out about the festivals and how they work.

Based on their experience of “open festivals” held under the Awakening banner around Australia every year, Fusion say the festivals will typically attract a crowd of between 300 to 500 (some have much larger crowds).

In line with the festivals, Fusion are also co-ordinating a training initiative known as 90 Days of Mission - essentially three months of intensive mission training immediately prior to next year’s Commonwealth Games which are due to kick off in March.

“It’s bringing people from around the world and around Australia to come and train in really practical, hands-on, community development and youthwork,” says Reimann.

As many as 100 people are expected to take part in the course and expressions of interest have already come from places as far afield as Jamaica, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, India, Greece, Indonesia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Fusion, a registered training organisation, are currently in contact with national training organisations to have the course accredited as a Certificate III in Youth and Community Work (Christian).

The course kicks off on 19th January next year and includes a four week intensive residential component which will be held at the Fusion training base at the former hydro-electric community of Poatina in Tasmania.

From February those in the program will be placed in teams which will head throughout Victoria and spend the remaining two months attending teaching sessions and taking part in fieldwork at sites such as schools, with accomodation services, at community services and at the community festivals expected to occur in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games.

Open crowd festival training days are being held in Melbourne and Bendigo this Saturday, 19th November:

• Melbourne: Training from 9:30-11am, Festival from 12-3pm @ Oakleigh Youth and Community Centre, 229 Huntingdale Rd, Oakleigh. Contact Fiona Gunnion on 9543 5388.

• Bendigo: Training from 9:30-11am, Festival from 12-3pm @ Fusion Community Centre, 60 Raglan St, Whitehills. Contact Jayne Dixon on 5448 7193.

~ For more on open crowd festivals, visit www.awakening.org.au/festivals/

~ For more on the 90 Days of Mission, visit www.90days.fusion.org.au.