Soul Survivor 2008: A Review
Letter from Mike:
2008 Summer events: What happened?
Since Soul Survivor began in 1993, God has taken us on a roller-coaster ride! We grew out of the New Wine family events; having seen the growth in the number of young people coming we wanted to put on a conference just for them. At our first event we had 1,896 people (in my excitement I counted every one of them in myself!) and the events have grown so much over the years that we now hold four each summer, catering for around 27,000 young people in total. Along the way we’ve learnt a lot, not least of all how important it is to equip people to tell others about Jesus and be his hands and feet in practical ways. This has led us to run a couple of missions where we took over 11,000 young people to serve the city of Manchester in 2000 and London in 2004. Our next adventure is SOULINTHECITY Durban which is happening this year (find out more on page 4).
The main focus of our work at Soul Survivor is our summer conferences, which give an opportunity for thousands of young people to gather together and worship Jesus, hear fresh Bible teaching, spend time with their friends and develop their relationship with God in an exciting and safe place. The five-day events each reflect the things we’re passionate about: Relationship with God: We focus on introducing the young people to Jesus and deepening their relationship with him through meeting together every morning and evening to spend time worshipping God in song, hearing fresh and relevant Bible teaching and praying for one another in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our hope in doing this report is that you get an idea of what we’re all about, the ways in which we trying to serve God and his people, what we got up to in 2008 and what we have planned for the future. If you’d like to find out more or get involved with Soul Survivor, please use the contact details on the back cover to get in touch.
Relationship with one another: This means we keep our meetings informal and fun and also provide lots of ways for the young people to have fun together. These include cafes, dance venues, live music, workshops, sports and arts.
Relationship with the world God loves: We’re also passionate that the events aren’t just five days of fun with no practical application for the rest of the year. It’s vital to encourage young people to love the world that God loves and to get involved in their church and community. Much of our seminar programme is aimed at getting them to live out their lives for Jesus wherever they are and whatever they do, placing a high value on evangelism and social action.
God bless,
Highlights of 2008...
New venue for Soul Survivor A: In 2007 we took a step of faith and ran our first summer conference outside of Somerset, with the vision of being accessible to a whole new group of people, as well as our friends from further north. This took place at the Cheshire Showground and in 2008 moved to the Staffordshire Showground (where it will continue to take place) with over 2500 people attending (numbers set to rise in 2009 too).
Mike Pilavachi Executive Director of Soul Survivor
Page 1 | Welcome
Momentum in 2008:
In total around 27,000 young people came to the four events. Around 1800 young people committed their lives to Jesus for the first time in the main meetings alone! Teaching focused on going deeper into the Bible, healing and grace. For the two largest events (Weeks B and C) we put the stage in the middle of the main venue and had the worship leader facing inwards towards a large cross both to take the focus off the band and to create more of a community atmosphere.
Momentum is our conference aimed at students and twenty-somethings. It has the same style and set up as the Soul Survivor events but the teaching goes a bit deeper, focussing on topics more relevant to this age group. For 2008 Momentum was given a make-over with new venues and more opportunities for people to get to know one another.
We received many testimonies of physical and emotional healings as well as people feeling equipped and encouraged to live out their lives for Jesus when they returned home.
www.soulsurvivor.com/uk/ss09 and www.soulsurvivor.com/momentum
Summer events | Page 2
SoulNet Whilst we have the privilege of meeting so many young people at our events, it’s the Youth Leaders who do an amazing job of working with them throughout the rest of the year. Many of these leaders told us that they felt isolated and in need of extra support in their work so that’s where SoulNet comes in. Our annual Youth Leader retreat again grew in 2008 and gave around 600 youth leaders the opportunity to have a refreshing weekend at Elveden Forest, to focus on their own relationship with God.
Through the youth leaders lounge at the summer events and the SoulNet part of our website we are helping to connect youth leaders together and provide opportunities for networking and encouragement.
At the summer events we had a SoulNet seminar stream with teaching aimed specifically at youth leaders. We also provided specific space for Youth Leaders to receive prayer ministry themselves.
Pastoral training has been provided by some of our team, who have held retreat days, weekends, workshops and one-onone discussions for youth leaders around the country.
www.soulsurvivor.com/soulnet
Soul Survivor Tour Going on tour means we can take the essence of a Soul Survivor meeting (worship, teaching and ministry) to different parts of the country. It gives us an opportunity to meet new people and, for those who come to our summer events, it’s a great chance to bring their friends who aren’t yet Christians. In 2008 2400 people joined us at tour dates in Plymouth, Bristol, Norwich and Loughborough during the October half-term. Sixty eight people give their lives to Jesus! The nights took place in association with HOPE (see page 4). In 2009 tour dates will be held in Southampton, Cardiff, Coventry, Nottingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester with further dates in Ipswich, Clitheroe and Guernsey too.
www.soulsurvivor.com/uk/tour
Soul Sista We are passionate about seeing a generation of young women equipped and released to be all that God wants them to be and Soul Sista is one of the ways we try to do this. It’s a great opportunity to tackle some topics that are specific to Christian girls, creating a safe and fun environment for God to work in them.
We held a one-day conference in February on the theme of why it’s amazing to be a girl who belongs to God which was attended by 650 young girls and their youth leaders. For Momentum, the Soul Sista theme was finding real freedom, real life and real rest.
Thousands of girls got together for Soul Sista at the summer events. These sessions looked at women in the Bible who encountered Jesus and how it changed them. On 14th February 2009 a Soul Sista one-day conference is being held in association with Romance Academy on the theme of sex and relationships.
www.soulsista.co.uk Page 3 | SoulNet & Soul Sista
Soul Action
SOULINTHECITY Durban
In 2005 we set up Soul Action alongside our friends at Tearfund to help young people respond to God’s heart for justice. We want to find lots of practical ways to bring God’s love to the last, the least and the lost.
In 2000 and 2004 we ran missions to Manchester and London respectively, encouraging young people to serve these communities and bring the gospel through their words and actions.
Grants were given to a variety of projects in Zimbabwe, Ghana and South Africa including sponsoring a class of children to attend school for a whole year, funding care and awareness initiatives around AIDS and HIV; and contributing to a project that seeks to rescue street children, educate and empower them.
In 2009 we’re taking a group of 350 people to the South African city of Durban for two weeks to work and serve in some of the poorest communities there.
Over 230 churches took part in the 07-08 ‘Slum Survivor’, raising over £170,000 for Soul Action projects as well as learning more about how people in slums around the world are forced to live. Teams of young people were sent out to work for three, six or nine months in Durban, South Africa. Loads of churches got involved in the Noise weekend where they took part in a a few days of servant-hearted action in their local communities. Many took part for the first time through HOPE (see below) and many joined together to serve their areas.
www.soulaction.org
We’ve spent the last four years preparing for this, working with churches and charities that are there on the ground to make sure that we can be a blessing. And we also know that we’ll be blessed as we go; part of the purpose of the trip is to give the young people a better understanding of what poverty looks like and how it impacts people’s lives. In 2008 87 people went out to Durban over seven weeks as a pre-cursor to the 2009 trip which takes place between 8th and 21st July. We’re also working on plans to take another group out in 2010. Projects we will be working with include crèches, helping out with food distribution, teaching in schools and basic regeneration programmes. Celebrations will be held each evening giving time to worship God in song, learn from his word and pray together.
www.soulsurvivor.com/durban
HOPE Soul Survivor Leader, Mike Pilavachi, was one of the founders of HOPE – an initiative that aimed to get churches of all Christian denominations mobilised into working in their communities, spreading the good news in word and deed. The response has been incredible with new unity, passion and energy from churches all over the country coming up with loads of creative ways to share the gospel. HOPE themed seminars were held at our summer events, giving loads of tips on getting involved as well as sharing stories of what has been happening throughout the year.
www.hope08.com Outward looking | Page 4
Our finances
Testimonies
In 2008, churches, individuals and trusts gave over £350,000 to the work of Soul Survivor (as can be seen in the chart below). Without these generous donations we could not have sustained many of the projects we have committed to. This played a significant part in ensuring that we finished the year with some funds to invest into 2009 projects, and encouraged us going into the new year.
In 2008 we took 9 non christians to Soul Survivor and 8 of them became Christians! You have been a blessing in my and many other peoples lives. So I basically want to say thank you and I pray God will use you to carry on doing God’s amazing plans! Gregor, 14
Resources As well as our events we try and resource young people in a number of ways. Every month we update our online magazine with new articles, videos and talks to listen to; it’s all there for anyone to look at for free! In 2008 we also started using video blogs to communicate with our delegates and produced our first podcast which was for new-Christians after the summer events.
Apprentices Our Apprenticeship scheme provides the opportunity for four young people to work with Soul Survivor for ten months, growing in their gifts of administration and leadership. Apprentices gather a wide-range of experience through their work and are mentored in order to help develop their walk with God.
Interns For a number of years Mike has invited young men in whom he sees the potential for leadership to be his interns. They receive mentoring (both from Mike and from another person in the Soul Survivor team), have time to develop their spiritual disciplines, serve the conference teams and assist with one of the ministries of Soul Survivor Watford Church as well as travelling to events around the world with Mike.
We currently provide teaching from our events on MP3 and CDs. In 2008 we placed an emphasis on the Bible and we’d love to produce more resources that would help make the Bible more accessible to young people too.
Visual media, both online and on DVD, is a key way to communicate with young people and this is an area we are seeking to develop. In 2008 we produced a new DVD resource about following Jesus and hope to do more of these projects over the next few years.
Holy Spirit training day Before our summer events we invite everyone who is going to be on team (and anyone else who wants to) to come to a one-day conference about the Holy Spirit. Our emphasis here and in the summer is about encouraging young people to pray for one another and move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In 2008 several hundred young people joined us for our annual training day and were equipped to take the principles of prayer ministry to their home churches.
Since the first Soul Survivor event in 1993, our aim has always been to keep the delegate fees low to make it accessible to as many people as possible, while at the same time covering our costs. This is important for us as the young people we are looking to reach are generally unwaged. As the years have progressed, the work of Soul Survivor outside of the summer conferences has grown in response to the issues brought to us (for example all that can be found on pages 3, 4 and 5). We recognise that many of these ministries are not selffunding, and therefore we have made an active choice to invite others to partner with us in reaching this generation.
The breakdown Income The income and expenditure pie charts to the right give a general overview of where our funds come from and go to. The breakdown below details the income and expenditure for all our activities outside the summer conferences. Clearly the gifts and donations received in 2008 have made it possible for us to continue to develop these areas. The figures used here have all been taken from the audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2008. Soul Action is a joint venture between Soul Survivor and Tearfund and has therefore not been included here. A copy of our 2008 audited accounts is available on request or downloadable from the Charity Commission website.
£2,600,000
Expenditure
£2,500,000
Fundraising (£10,124)
£2,300,000
£2378000
HOPE 08 (£27,984)
£2,200,000
SITC Durban (£86,458)
Soul Net (£135,804) Summer events (£2,106,325)
Other restricted gifts (£8,175)
SITC Durban gifts (£58,488) Bank interest (£28,366) Net income from International trading (£20,867)
£2252000
International (£86,678)
£2,100,000
See the graph below for keys and figures.
Young leader gifts (£39,297)
Young leader projects (£56,573)
Called to Lead This year we’ll start a new leadership training course in conjunction with Soul Survivor Watford Church. ‘Called to Lead’ will be led by Andy Croft, alongside Mike Pilavachi and Ali Martin, with the main aim being that participants develop and deepen their relationship with God, and grow in their gifts. The 10 month, residential course will cover theology (including looking at key doctrines, apologetics, and an introduction to both of the Old and New Testaments), communication, leadership and values, serving and worship.
Other projects (£17,624)
Income
Gifts & donations (£296,797)
Soul Sista & other events (£11,113)
£2,400,000
Expenditure
Total: £2,628,473
£2504000
Other events (£50,970) International ationalet (£26,151)
£2126000
I came to Soul Survivor in 2004, and fell in love with Jesus! Since then, I felt my friends had to meet Jesus also, so I set up a Christian fellowship in my school. We started loads of random projects and now we have over 150 members. Many of whom are from an ‘unchurched’ background. George, 18
Income
Total: £2,552,211
Governance (£13,525)
Previous interns have gone on to become Associate Director of Soul Survivor (Andy Croft), set up ‘Soul Edge’, an adventure-based leadership course, lead worship for Soul Survivor (Sam Parker) and become Youth Workers. This intern programme has now evolved into a new course as detailed below.
Looking to the future we still believe that we are called to work with the church to equip, empower and encourage young people across the UK. To do so we will continue to rely on the financial support of our partners to make this happen.
SoulNet (£60,394) Summer events (£2,038,968)
I just thought I’d let you know about something that happened at Soul Survivor Week C. I have suffered from depression, leading to suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide, self harm, and various problems with my eating. One night I finally plucked up the courage to ask some people to pray for me so they did. Not exactly sure what they prayed, but I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I’ve not felt down, or suicidal or thought about self harming since. This is amazing! Anna, 15
We attended Soul Survivor Week C this year with our youth group (aged 13-16), we only brought 5 youth with us and 2 leaders this year, two of them were not Christians and really against God at the start of the week, both of them have now given their lives to Jesus! Praise the Lord! The others who were already Christians have experienced God in new ways and experienced healing in different ways. I’ve been to Soul Survivor 7 out of the last 10 years (first as youth myself and recently as a leader) and I have never been so blessed by God. We were feeling a bit discouraged before we came because we felt that we weren’t getting anywhere with them, but God has reminded me what his grace can do. We were both crying last night about how far God has exceeded our expectations: ‘Grace has a name and his name is Jesus!’ Thank you to the whole team for the hard work and prayer that goes into Soul Survivor, it is so worth it. Soul Survivor gets better every year. Rachel (youth leader), 24
www.soulsurvivor.com/uk/lead Page 5 | Training
Finances | Page 6
Testimonies | Page 7
How you can help We are really grateful to the thousands of individuals who give their time volunteering at our various events, to others who continually pray for us and to those who support us financially. Soul Survivor would not happen without them. Would you consider partnering with us? If so, please fill out the form below and send it back to us at the address on the back cover or go online to
www.soulsurvivor.com/uk/support
I would like to... Give by making a one off-donation (fill in parts 1&2) Give by setting up a Standing Order (fill in parts 1&3) Pray regularly for Soul Survivor (fill in part 1) Serve on team at one of the events (fill in part 1)
1. Your contact details: Name Address
Postcode
Date of birth
3. Set up a standing order:
2. Make a one off donation: I enclose a cheque for/please charge my card for: Amount
I would like to give regularly to Soul Survivor. To the manager of (Bank) Address
Signed Date a) If sending a cheque please make them payable to ‘SOUL SURVIVOR’
Postcode
b) If donating by card please fill out the following information:
Sort code
Card no.
Acc no. I would like to give:
Issue date
£2
Exp. date
Other? £
Issue no. Security code
£5
£10
£20
£50
To be taken from my account (tick) Monthly
Quarterly
Annually
Starting from (tick) Using Gift Aid means that Soul Survivor can reclaim the tax from HM Revenue & Customs. Tick below if you’d like to Gift Aid your donation. All gifts of money that I make today and in the future as Gift Aid donations. All gifts I have made in the past 6 years and all future gifts that I make from the date of this declaration. You must pay an amount of income tax and/ or capital gains tax for each tax year that is at least equal to the amount of tax that will be reclaimed on your gifts for that tax year.
The first of the month Other? Please pay to Soul Survivor, Acc No. 00032382, Sort Code 30-12-10, Lloyds TSB, 79 High Street, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1BE. [Ref No. (office use only) ]
Signed Date
How you can help | Page 8
e. info@soulsurvivor.com t. 0303 333 1333 Unit 2 Paramount Industrial Estate, Sandown Road, Watford, Herts, WD24 7XF
www.soulsurvivor.com/uk Soul Survivor is a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (No. 03991111). Registered charity (No. 1080720). Registered Office: As above. Soul Survivor Trading Ltd: Registered in England and Wales No. 2921868. VAT number 649 5784 76. Registered office: 1st Floor, Sheraton House, Chorleywood, Hertfordshire WD3 5AL