Hosting a Jedi service in a physical building

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5 years 2 months ago #332132 by JamesSand

This whole thing has gotten my curious now. How far does one take this before it becomes proselytizing? Now we are talking about advertising as a form of recruiting people to the event and by definition a sermon is preaching a scriptural, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior. Will the Jedi creed be recited at the end? Will there be a call to convert to ways of the force? What is the stance of a Knight preaching a sermon but that Knight is not a member of the clergy? I guess it could be done without the association of TotJO but that has never been clearly stated, so I was wondering, will this be done in the temples name or under its blessing?



I believe this has more to do with the content and the delivery than the fact of holding an event (or advertising one)

we use local parks (as suggested by several people) for martial arts displays for where I train - we rock up with some packs of biscuits and juice and just have a fun time - occasionally the local paper (if they need to fill a spot that doesn't have commercial advertising in it) likes to give a shout out to local "things", so sometimes we get a mention.

We doodle around in the park, people either come on purpose, or wander by, if they're interested they walk up, we talk some nonsense (sometimes about the training, sometimes about Harry Potter and Star Wars, sometimes about coffee, sometimes about international politics, sometimes about local roadworks, y'know, whatever) , maybe do a quick exhibition, offer a biscuit. If they're really interested, they can come to training nights.

It's not really about forcing training on people, or even drumming up sales, it's just... "Hey guys, this is a thing we do, we're in the area, we're always looking for new friends"

I don't really see why any Jediism event would be a fire-and-brimstone lecture on the evils of...gluten or whatever, nor would it be selling tickets to the rapture, it's just a "Hey guys, this is a thing we do, we're in the area, we're always looking for new friends"

Some people will think we're assholes, some will walk away thinking "huh, not for me, but I guess now I know they are around" and some will walk away looking forward to the next time they can hang out with new friends, and ready to crack open the piggy bank to buy a copy of the Jedi Compass....

I don't think anyone (okay, there are a few outliers, but I'll save the names) is really looking to win conversions - but for those who want Jediism to be "taken seriously" then community engagement is a part of that. You can be present and active and contribute to a community without trying to change it or be in charge of it.
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