MANCHESTER, ENGLAND — Following a build-up that has seen Christians from local churches all over the North West of England setting up and getting involved in community action projects in the last few months, Festival Manchester culminated in a huge Gospel centred celebration in Wythenshawe Park at the festival weekend on 1st-3rd of July, with more than 3,000 people accept Christ in response.

Festival Manchester, the largest Christian mission in the North West of England in a generation attracted crowds of 65,000 July 1 to the 3 with more than 3,400 people responding to the Gospel Message.

Organised by hundreds of churches, businesses and charities The Message Trust and Luis Palau Association, Festival Manchester included a high-tech gaming lobby, a fun fair, family fun zone, white knuckle sports zone as well as performances from Christian artists on the main stage as well as a Gospel message each night.

Evangelist Andrew Palau who was one of the main speakers said people need to hear about the hope in Christ more than ever before:

For those who don’t know Jesus Christ yet, you come out of a season like this wondering if all these things I put my faith in have failed me, what really lasts, is there anything I can put my feet on that is solid. And we’re here to say we’ve been through that, we feel it and all we’ve had is Jesus Christ and the Word of God and we want to tell you about that. So this is a season that the Lord has designed for us to come right out of COVID and be ready for this moment. And the best is yet to come. There’s more to go.

Following the remarkable response over the weekend Message Trust Founder and CEO Andy Hawthorne is hoping to see a long-term impact in this part of the UK beyond the festival:

Well, always the dream is so much more than lots of people becoming Christians at Wythenshawe park. That’s amazing that could happen, but we want to see a whole region transformed. We want to see the spiritual climate change and it is happening in Manchester.

And churches throughout this region working alongside the Message Trust will continue to work together to see that transformation in the North West of England.

About the Luis Palau Association

For more than 25 years Andrew Palau has played a key role in the ministry of the Luis Palau Association (LPA), which was started by his father, evangelist Luis Palau. Andrew has been instrumental in building the LPA model for citywide outreach as an evangelist, director, and key team leader. He has guided campaigns, led church relations efforts, trained thousands of believers in friendship evangelism, and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ in person to hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world through evangelistic campaigns. Andrew’s festivals have brought him and the Palau Association into partnership with thousands of churches in cities throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. Andrew’s weekly radio broadcasts, in partnership with his wife, Wendy, are heard by millions of people on thousands of radio outlets around the world. He is also the author of The Secret Life of a Fool, a retelling of his personal journey to faith in Christ, and What is Christmas?, a groundbreaking evangelistic book published in China in 2012.

CONTACT: Jay Fordice, jay.fordice@palau.org

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