Together 2022: The Festival
A multi-generational family festival to re-gather the Church of The Black Country, celebrate all that is happening and imagine the future together.
On Saturday 9th July 2022, you are invited:
- To GATHER outdoors with thousands of Christians from across the Black Country.
- To CELEBRATE what God is doing through our togetherness across our region.
- To IMAGINE what else God could do if we will stand and work together as one.
“Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts.” (Psalm 145:4)
Together 2022 is a multi-generational festival organised by the Love Black Country network. Taking place in the beautiful grounds of Himley Hall, there will be something for the whole family to enjoy, including:
- A Children and Family Zone.
- A Youth Zone and gaming bus for young people.
- A Creative Zone celebrating local creativity.
- An Explore Zone, showcasing the work of Black Country based Christian charities and businesses.
- A mainstage hosting Christian family entertainment, special guests and Christian music from across the Black Country.
- Local street food vendors.
- Children’s funfair.
- Plenty of space for families to bring a picnic, play safely and enjoy the festival ambience.
- Plus much more as the date draws near.
We are working towards an attendance of up to 5000 people, and we are encouraging churches to come and be together, for families to bring their children, teenagers to come with their friends, and adults and those older in years to join as one so that we can hopefully display a true representation of the dynamics, depth and diversity of the Body of Christ in the Black Country. What a great spectacle this could be for the Church in our region!
When: Saturday 9th July 2022, 1-6pm
Where: Himley Hall and Park, DY3 4DF.
Partner Churches
In order to gather a large representation of the Body of Christ from across the 4 boroughs of the Black Country, we are encouraging individual congregations to become Partner Churches for Together 2022 again, as we did for Together 2020.
We were able (with God’s grace) to have close to 70 Church Partners two years ago and our hope and prayer now is that we can increase that this time. We believe this can be done most effectively at an outdoor festival, where people can gather in large numbers safely. Covid protocols will be followed very closely depending on government guidelines at the time.
Church partnership will involve 2 main factors:
- Promoting the festival within your congregation.
We will be providing all Partner Churches with access to a range of promotional resources, including short films/videos for the festival that can be used in their church gatherings and on their social media platforms and e-publicity that can be shared online. We would ask that Partner Churches agree to regularly promote the festival to those in their churches as much as possible to encourage a good representation of the congregation to come on the day. If you want us to send someone to promote the festival personally, this can be organised with good, prior notice.
- Helping support the costs of the festival
Access to the festival will be completely free of charge for those attending, so we are asking Partner Churches to offer financial support as they feel led, as we did with Together 2020. This will again be optional, but in the true spirit of partnership, we are suggesting a ‘notional expense’ of £3pp for the number of people you expect to be in your church representation on the day. However, we are happy for you to support as much or as little as you can. We would not want this factor to be obstructive to you being involved.
What’s in it for Partner Churches?
Partnering with Love Black Country for Together 2022 will provide Partner Churches with several benefits:
- Those in your congregation will have full knowledge and access to an excellent family festival on their doorstep, without any entry charge.
- They will be able to invite family, neighbours, work colleagues and friends to something that will profile the work and witness on the wider Body of Christ in the area and plant seeds in them for the future.
- Your church will be featured on our website and social media platforms as an official Together 2022 Partner Church, which we know was a real encouragement to many congregation members in Together 2020 as they saw ‘their church’ being part of something ‘TOGETHER’ and wider.
- For those churches looking to build stronger connections with other churches and organisations in their locality, this will be a great way to start or further that journey as we will be delighted to assist in this as a relational network.
- Leaders and leadership teams can be better informed in your own context as you will get to see yourselves stand side by side with churches and organisations near you, opening up lots of opportunities and conversations for you to develop your local mission.
If you’d like to become a Partner Churches for Together 2022, please fill in the form here.
