Soul Survivor to close after its 2019 summer events

ONE OF Britain's premier Christian events, Soul Survivor, have today announced that its 2019 summer events will be their last. This decision was reached unanimously between founder Mike Pilavachi, his co-hosts Ali Martin and Andy Croft, the Soul Survivor leadership team and the board of trustees. Said Pilavachi, "We know this may come as a surprise to some but we believe that God has spoken and that this is the right time for us to step aside and make space for others to rise up. This is not a decision we have taken lightly but one we make after much prayer and consideration. We continue to care passionately about young people and will look to support them in any way we can in the future, as well as longing to encourage and equip the whole church to move in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a sense of sadness in making this announcement as we have seen God do some wonderful things at our events since we began in 1993 but we know that God is calling us into a new season and we look forward to seeing all that he will do as we make room for others to grow."

Bishop Graham Cray, Chair of the Soul Survivor trustees, added, "Soul Survivor will leave a legacy of thousands of young people who have met with Jesus for the first time at one of the events, as well as many thousands more who have deepened their faith, or heard God's call to leadership. It is often much harder to hear God's call to end a ministry than his call to begin one but we all believe the Holy Spirit is saying that 2019 is the year when we should finish. Soul Survivor was founded on the value that we will seek to obey what the Holy Spirit says and so we must be obedient. We do this absolutely convinced that God is raising up, and will raise up, new movements to equip young people as disciples of Jesus. We look forward to seeing what he will do as we step aside."