Festivals are a growing phenomenon that churches are using to reach others.

Churches in Newcastle, Devon, Dronfield, Staines, Raynes Park, Tooting and Wimbledon have all held festivals over the summer, hosting quality events to reach their communities with the gospel.

And more churches are expected to follow suit, leaders say.

Rev Joanne Cox, the Evangelism in Contemporary Culture Officer for the Methodist Church, is looking forward to more churches putting on festivals.

She said: “We are constantly reminded about the ways in which our society is divided.

"Festivals help us to join together as a community, to celebrate, and to make us aware of the exciting and beautiful things that are already happening within our community.

“Festivals help bring communities together. I am really excited about the potential of Festival to bring people together to change their local community and to transform the world.”

Baptist minister Osoba Otaigbe recently coordinated a festival in Tooting.

He said: “Festivals are a great way to share God's love and very helpful for community building relationships. Apart from that it is also a means of building confidence and team spirit among organisers. To achieve these objectives festival training is the key.”

Share Jesus International (SJI) co-ordinates Pentecost Festival in central London. The organisation has put together a training day and resource pack offering churches advice on community outreach.

The training day comes highly recommended from LBA Regional Minister for mission, David Shosanya.

He said: “We hosted a community festivals training day with SJI. It was one of the most engaging and fun-filled training programmes I have attended and was informative, interactive, practical and to the point. It is a must if you are planning to host a community festival. I highly recommend it.”