Mike Pilavachi

Mike Pilavachi MBE[1] (born 7 March 1958) is a British charismatic Christian evangelist and author of Greek Cypriot descent. He is the co-founder and leader of the Soul Survivor charity based in Watford, United Kingdom.[2]

Mike Pilavachi speaking at Soul Survivor 2009 Week C

Christian Ministry

Pilavachi is the senior pastor of the Soul Survivor Watford church, based in North Watford, which he set up in 1993 along with worship leader Matt Redman.[3] A former accountant, he became a youth worker at St Andrew's C of E church in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire. It was here that two ministers at St Andrew's, David Pytches and Barry Kissell launched the New Wine Christian Family Conferences.[4] Pilavachi has written several books on Christianity including Soul Survivor (with Nicky Gumbel, 2004), Live the Life (with Craig Borlaise, 2001), Storylines: Tracing the Threads of the Bible and most recently, “Everyday Supernatural: Living A Spirit-Led Life Without Being Weird”, which he co-authored with friend and colleague Andy Croft.

Pilavachi is celibate and encourages celibacy to those outside of marriage.[5] He has stated in interviews and seminars that the "gift of celibacy" enables him to do certain work which he would not be able to with a family.[4]

Pilavachi helped run the international evangelistic event, Soul in the City, London in 2004 and Soul in the City Durban in 2009. He was also one of the founders of the Hope 08 project,[6] an initiative of the churches of Britain and Ireland which seeks to demonstrate Christian faith in action. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England at St Albans Abbey on 1 July 2012.

Soul Survivor
Main article: Soul Survivor (charity)

Pilavachi launched Soul Survivor in the summer of 1993.[7] The event is a 5-day long charismatic Christian festival aimed at youth and the initial Soul Survivor attracted 1,896 delegates. Under the guidance of Pilavachi, the event has grown to accommodate around 30,000 people over four weeks along with the fifth week, being Momentum (aimed at those in their twenties and thirties). Matt Redman, who had attended Pilavachi's youth club at St Andrews Church of England Chorleywood, was a worship leader at early Soul Survivor camps. Matt Redman returned as a worship leader in 2011. From summer 2014 a fifth week of Soul Survivor is held in Scotland.[8]

In May 2018 Pilavachi announced that the Soul Survivor conference would be ending after the summer events of 2019.[9]

Personal life

On 28 December 2019, it was announced in the new years honours list that Pilavachi would be receiving an MBE for services to young people.[1]

See also

References
  1. "New Year Honours: Hertfordshire". ITV News. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  2. Hope Together, accessed 27 July 2011
  3. Soul Survivor Watford – Church Staff Archived 4 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 27 July 2011
  4. Jesus Army Magazine – Talking To Mike Pilavachi, taken from Jesus Life magazine first published in January 2005
  5. Sex and Celibacy – Mike Pilavachi, YouTube, uploaded by 777agapelive777 on 6 May 2009, excerpt from Principles of Leadership
  6. Donovan, Kevin (15 March 2007). "'Hope08 Reveals Signs of Change' in UK Mission". Christian Today. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  7. I, Vineyard Churches UK &. "The Soul Survivor Story | Mike Pilavachi". Vineyard Churches UK & I.
  8. http://soulsurvivor.com/summer/soul-survivor-scotland
  9. "Soul Survivor summer festival to end in 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 31 May 2018.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.