Awaken Church to host 4th Friendsgiving for

Awaken Church will host its fourth annual Friendsgiving day for young adult members. (Photo taken from Awaken Church’s Facebook page)

Awaken Church San Diego will hold its fourth annual Friendsgiving for young adult members on Saturday, Nov. 12, at Pumpkin Polar Palooza.

The church’s Facebook page said it will be a Thanksgiving dinner with many fall festivities. They added that the event is for aged 18 to 29 members.

Besides, they announced that there would be games and line dancing prepared for participants.

Friendsgiving Day

The Real Simple website revealed that people celebrate Friendsgiving on any day and time of year, but most celebrations happen in November. They added that individuals specifically hold their gatherings on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

As added on the website, the name Friendsgiving combines the words “friends” and “Thanksgiving.” They explained that the concept is to have a night with traditional holiday dishes with friends.

In addition, they noted that many individuals have a potluck at their Friendsgiving party. They stated that this way could lessen the stress of the host. Also, as mentioned on the website, it could help participants relax and enjoy the holiday.

Origin of Friendsgiving

According to the same website, there is no official history for Friendsgiving. Others noted that it came from a hit TV show like the situational comedy series “Friends.”

They emphasized that Friends is an iconic show wherein they aired their first season’s Thankgiving episode in November 1994. In the series, everybody had different reasons for not celebrating Thanksgiving in their homes.

In the episode, the group of friends had some bad experiences, but in the end, they still enjoyed the company of each other.

Moreover, the website mentions that Friendsgiving could be originated on Twitter. They explained that people might have said the word earlier, but it was first written in 2007 based on Merriam-Webster. ‘

As further stated, users of Usenet and Twitter mentioned the term “Friendsgiving.”

In addition, Merriam-Webster revealed that Friendsgiving showed in a few lifestyles, specifically when Bailey’s Irish Cream advertised the ad campaign “Friendsgiving with Baileys.”

Connect Group

Samuel and Katie Deuth, the Connect Pastors on the church’s website, say they do life together at Awaken Church. They believed members could do better things at the church if they connected with each other.

As further mentioned, they do not just gather every Sunday or Wednesday but also meet on specific days of the week to have their Connect Groups.

The pastors explained that on Sundays and Wednesdays, members gather on all their campuses to offer them opportunities to learn more about their faith. It could help them pursue their calling in their lives.

Moreover, they said these huge gatherings could help them unite as a church family. But they emphasized that the church also wants its congregation to have a close group of friends to enjoy their spiritual walk.

Awaken Church designed the Connect Groups program, as further explained on the website. They noted that members could start walking into a new, authentic, and powerful life God intends for them by becoming a part of their connect groups.

More importantly, according to the website, more than 13 groups of young adults are all over the Awaken campuses.