The Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham is Officially Launched

By Baiba Strause, Festival of Hope Communications Specialist

    RIGA, Latvia – On February 21st, the Hope Festival took place in Christian Center „Labā vēsts”, where roughly 2000 Christians from many different denominations gathered.

    Noteworthy figures who spoke during the service were Archbishop Janis Vanags, from the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church; Vadim Kovalev, President of the Latvian Evangelical Alliance; Bishop Pēteris Sproģis, Union of Baptist Churches in Latvia; Tom Phillips, Vice-President of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association;

Inese Šlesere, Member of Parliament of the Republic of Latvia; and Festival Director Viktor Hamm, from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

    Archbishop Janis Vanags invited all churches to utilize the chance of organizing the Hope Festival for Mission work of the churches. “We all know Jesus words very well: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations’ (Mathew 28:19). Unfortunately, we often don’t take Jesus too seriously in this matter. The Fesitval of Hope gives concreteness to our mission plans, and a good opportunity to liven up today and right now”.

    Bishop Pēteris Sproģis invited all churches to bear into society news about hope, which needs to rise above changing circumstances.

“Who needs hope which is grounded in good circumstances? Hope is needed exactly when circumstances are bad. Only God can give that hope. We estimate that this will be unseen even in Latvia, but our goal isn’t to reach a Guinness Record. Our goal is gather more people, because behind each person there is life history and his need for hope and eternal life.”

    In the formal opening service, a symbolic clock was set going, which counts down the time until the central events of the Festival begin in November. When the clock was started, it read that there were 256 days, 23 hours, and 17 minutes left until the Festival.

  

This announcement was taken from the official Ceribas Festivals (Festival of Hope) Facebook group page.