Soul Survivor (frequently shortened to SoSu) is a worldwide Christian charity based in Watford, London. It runs Christian festivals worldwide that share the name Soul Survivor. The biggest of these festivals occurs every August at the Royal пїЅBath and West Showground, near Shepton Mallet.

There is also a church, founded shortly after the Soul Survivor Festivals and under the same leadership, known as "Soul Survivor Watford". This is a separate registered charity, and meets in Watford, close to the Soul Survivor ('Ministries') offices.

"Survivor Records" is a christian music production company, also linked to Soul Survivor Ministries.

History

Soul Survivor's origins can be traced back to St. Andrew's Church, Chorleywood (the Vicar of which was Bishop David Pytches). The youth worker (Mike Pilavachi) and a young musician (Matt Redman) had a vision of thousands of young people praising God together at their own festival. Their vision became reality in 1993 when 1896 young people attended the first Soul Survivor festival. The festival grew in popularity and by 1995 it had to be split across two weeks (Soul Survivor A and Soul Survivor B). By 2003 attendance at the events was around 21,500 over the two separate weeks.

Today

2005 saw the first Momentum festival, sandwiched between weeks A and B - aimed at 18-30 year olds. Soul Survivor has also branched into other countries such as Malaysia, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada and Australia. These international conferences are administered locally and agree to work under the values of Soul Survivor. It is usual for a small team from Soul Survivor's Watford staff to attend the international events.

Outreach

The Soul Survivor staff believe very strongly that the worship of God is more than just singing songs; it is about putting faith into action, "getting out onto the streets" and proclaiming social justice. In the US their slogan was "actions speak louder". As a result the charity runs outreach events like London's Soulinthecity (summer 2004) and supported the Festival:Manchester event in 2003. Thousands of young people come from all over the UK and even the world to work in multi-cultural communities on very diverse projects to help improve the quality of life for the people in each city. At Soul Survivor 2005 the creation of a new mission charity was announced. "Soul Action" aims to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to the last, the least and the lost.

In recent years, the task of leading worship has been undertaken by Tim Hughes.

External links

• The Soul Survivor website
• The Soul Action website
• PFYN - "Resourcing the worship leader, refreshing the worshipper"