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What is the Great Banquet?
The parable above provides the picture for the Great
Banquet. Like its counterparts, Cursillo, Emmaus, and Tres
Dias, this movement examines Christianity as a life-style.
The Great Banquet is an orderly, structured weekend designed
to strengthen and renew the faith of Christians. Through a
combined effort of the laity and clergy, the Great Banquet
focuses on the renewal of the church.
Heartland offers a Men's and Women's weekend each year in
February and September.
What happens at the Great Banquet?
The Great Banquet is a 72-hour experience, beginning on Thursday
evening and ending Sunday evening. For three days, guests
live and study together in a worshipful time of singing,
prayer and discussion. During each of the fifteen talks
given by laity and clergy, the theme of God's grace is
presented. Guest participate in the daily celebration of
Holy Communion and examine more fully the presence of Christ
in His body of believers. His grace through the prayers and
acts of a loving, Christian support community.
What happens after
the Great Banquet?
One of the most important parts of the Great Banquet is the
follow-up. Although the weekend lasts only three days, guests
are invited to use its lessons for the rest of their lives
After attending the Great Banquet, they are challenged to:
- Strengthen their own spiritual life through study and
active congregational participation;
- Strive to become active disciples of Jesus Christ in the
world through their church.
To assist them in their discipleship, the Great Banquet
offers specific opportunities. First, reunion groups of
three to five people meet weekly to examine their goals of
spiritual growth and to encourage one another to a life of
discipleship. Second, there will be opportunities to assist
in future Great Banquet weekends through prayer, support and
team involvement. Third, guests are made aware of community
needs through a newsletter of other Great Banquet weekends,
both locally and regionally.
When is the next Great Banquet?
Men's - February 21 - 24, 2008
Women's - February 28 - March 2,
2008
If you would like to attend a Banquet, please e-mail
Karen Ambler
at Kambler@andersonfirst.org.
What is The Awakening?
The Awakening is a weekend designed for teens based on the
Great Banquet Model. If follows much of the same format,
but contains information directed to the teen age group.
There are 2 Awakenings scheduled in the near future:
Boys - July 27 - 29, 2007
Girls - August 3 - 5, 2007
History of the Great Banquet
To become familiar with the Great Banquet,
let's look first at the history of its
counterparts, the Cursillo and the Walk to
Emmaus.
The Cursillo (3-day course in Christianity) began in Spain
in the 1940s in the Catholic Church. It spread to the United
States and evolved for Protestants into the Walk to Emmaus
under the auspices of the Upper Room and the United
Methodist Church.
An Emmaus Movement was started by the First Presbyterian
Church in Madisonville, Kentucky in 1982. After a 10-year
history of the Walk to Emmaus in Madisonville, Rev. John E.
Pitzer and lay people from First Presbyterian Church formed
the Great Banquet. Governed by an ecumenical board of
directors and using the "Cursillo model", but with a
different image, the Great Banquet continues to emphasize
personal Christian discipleship.
Lampstand Ministries was
formed in1992 as a cover corporation to establish Great
Banquet Communities nationwide. Rev. John E. Pitzer serves
as the National Director of the Great Banquet Movement and
president of Lampstand Ministries.
Who should attend the Great Banquet?
This weekend experience is for anyone who:
1. Wishes to strengthen his or her spiritual Life;
2. Wants to have a better understanding of prayer, the
sacraments, study, and Christian action;
3. Strives to live a Christian life that bears fruit for
God;
4. Seeks to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and to make Him
known.
Have you already attended a banquet?
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