'Soul in the City' preparations begin in London

Soul in the City is a joint church annual mission project and part of the Soul Survivor Ministry. The mission is based in London where 9 million people live in a complex and multi-layered community. The project proposes to establish partnership with a rich mix of local churches, and will try to bring thousands of young people to join the activities from 26th July until 6th August.

Soul in the City plans to mobilise 15,000 young people from across the UK in community projects, sports initiatives, children’s clubs and other schemes during the event. These have been developed in conjunction with over 570 local churches, and other local partnership organisations such as the Metropolitan Police and Local Government to ensure that they are tailored to meet areas of real local need, and effect lasting social change.

Delegates will be accommodated in a number of “tent cities?within the local centres in the summer. In the mornings, delegates will have times of worship, teaching and ministry and they will have to work on the designated projects in the afternoon. Evening celebrations will be evangelistic.

As a major Christian initiative in London, The Soul in the City has gained the support of many respectable public figures. Now each region is busy preparing, and from next week, a joint church celebration and a prayer meeting will be held in South East London and West London respectively.

On Friday 23rd April at 7:30pm, at the New Wine Church in Woolwich, there will be a multi-cultural evening of celebration and prayer for Soul in the City, with Muyiwa from Riversongz & choir, Patrick Regan (XLP), UK rap act Greenjade, and many other special guests. Simon Hughes, MP for Southwark North and Bermondsey, will lead the closing prayers.

“Celebrations are a great time for the whole church, young and old, white and black, to gather together to worship and pray for our communities. The last Celebration saw over 1,100 people attend and was, as far as we know, the largest Christian multicultural youth event ever in Southeast London!?says Patrick Regan, Soul in the City’s South East London Host.

At 8:00 pm on the same day, at Ealing Town Hall, prayer for the success of Soul in the City’s planned work for West London will be commenced. The projects for Ealing, Southall, Auton, and Northolt have already been confirmed and publicised on Press Releases.

Leading part of the evening will be Debra Green, who provides consultancy on city-wide prayer and networking strategies, helping to transform communities and make mission more effective. Local young people from Ealing and West London will also lead prayer for issues that face young people, and for Soul in the City.

"The coming together of local churches from different traditions for another half night of prayer in Ealing Town Hall on Friday 23rd April is an exciting pre-cursor to local churches working in unison in and around Ealing as part of the London-wide 'Soul in the City' outreach this summer. I am certainly going to be there," says Pastor Richard Buxton, Senior Minister, Ealing Christian Centre.
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