| Founder(s) | Mike Pilavachi |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| Location | Watford, Hertfordshire |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Members | 1000 (Soul Survivor Church, 2009) 28,000 (Summer Festivals) |
| Website | http://www.soulsurvivor.com/ |
Soul Survivor is a global Christian charity based in Watford, Hertfordshire.[1] It oversees several Christian summer festivals aimed at young people as well as a number of weekly Sunday services in Watford.
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By 1993 the number of young people attending the annual Summer New Wine Christian Family Conference at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Somerset was significant enough for the organisers of New Wine to launch a special youth event. The first Soul Survivor conference took place in the Summer of 1993 under the leadership of Mike Pilavachi, a youth worker at St Andrew's Church, Chorleywood. Like New Wine, the Soul Survivor conferences were originally overseen by St Andrew's Church. The conference was the inspiration of Pilavachi and one of his church youth club members, Matt Redman who regularly led the worship at early Soul Survivor events.[2]
1,896 young people attended the first Soul Survivor festival and in 1995, the event split across two weeks (Soul Survivor A and Soul Survivor B). By 2006 attendance at the events was around 25,000 spread over the two weeks.[3]
The Momentum festival, aimed at students and young people in their twenties and thirties was founded in 2004.[2]
The Soul Survivor Church (Soul Survivor Watford) is based in two converted warehouses in Watford, Hertfordshire.[4] It was established in 1993 (along with the Summer Festivals) by Mike Pilavachi.
| Soul Survivor | |
|---|---|
Mike Pilavachi in a Soul Survivor main meeting |
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| Date(s) | Week A: 29 July - 2 August 2011 Week B: 9-13 August 2011 Week C: 14-18 August 2011 Momentum: 19-23 August 2011 |
| Location(s) | Staffordshire and Somerset |
| Years active | 1993 - to date |
| Website | http://www.soulsurvivor.com/uk |
At present, four separate Soul Survivor festivals take place every year within the UK:
Soul Survivor A - A week long festival based at the Stafford County Showground in Staffordshire aimed at teenagers.
Soul Survivor B & C - Two week long festivals based at the Royal Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, aimed at teenagers.
Momentum - A week long festival based at the Royal Bath and West Showground aimed at students and those in their twenties and thirties.
The festivals consist of seminars, sporting events and art, music and drama workshops during the day, and a charismatic worship service followed by live bands in the evening.
The evening worship at Soul Survivor is recorded and most years, a live album is released with the most popular new songs from the festival. The albums contain original pieces as well as traditional and contemporary songs from other sources and are published by Survivor Records.
"Soul In The City London" was a 2004 outreach mission in which 20,000 young people from around the world gathered in London to undertake practical projects and evangelistic events.[5]
The idea for Soul In The City started with Message 2000 and Festival: Manchester which were jointly held by Soul Survivor and The Message Trust[6]
Soul Survivor also organised ‘Soul In The City Durban’ which took place in Summer 2009 in Durban, South Africa.[7]
Soul Survivor has spread across the globe and now holds festivals and other events in the following locations:
| Country | Locations | Established |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Melbourne | 2000[8] |
| Australia | Sydney | |
| Malaysia | Selangor | |
| Netherlands | 1998 | |
| New Zealand | Feilding | 2007 |
| South Africa | Durban | |
| United Kingdom | Stafford & Shepton Mallet | 1993 |
| United States | Newport Beach | 2000 |