Following the dynamic launch of ‘Soul Week 2006: Louder than Words’ last weekend at Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), the week continues to vivaciously move forward with numerous Soul Week projects running across London.

|PIC1|CEO of XLP and Soul in the City Patrick Regan told Christian Today: “Soul Week is about encouraging churches to engage in their communities. It’s all about proclaiming the Good News of Jesus in word and action.”

According to Regan, this year’s Soul Week theme ‘Louder than Words’ comes from James 2:17, which talks about faith without action being dead.

“Sometimes, people don’t want words, but they want an arm put around them. They just want to see the love of God in action,” Regan said.

He added: “It’s about going to where the community is. So often, our evangelism is telling kids ‘come to church, come to church,’ but the reality is, these guys are not going to come to church. So we have to come to them.”

|AD|At a Soul in the City South event yesterday, young people from across the region gathered in a park in Roehampton, where special facilities to hold the event were set up for the day. Sports and activities were prepared for kids aged eight and up, while a performance was led by award-winning Christian rapper Jahaziel.

Soul Week 2006 (29 July- 5 August) will host similar projects across London throughout the week, leading up to the ‘Big Event’ that will be held in 5th August.

Jahaziel shared with Christian Today: “My hope and prayer is that [young people] could see what we do as an alternative to the life-styles that are promoted in the world, and understand who Jesus is.”

He added: “We want to show them that God is real— He deals with real people and real issues— and the Bible is relevant for real life.”

Soul Week 2006 kicked off last Saturday, 29 July, at KICC with special guests Nicky Cruz and his sister hip-hop ministry TRUCE.

The ‘Big Event’ will be held on the last day of Soul Week at the Carling Academy Brixton. Over 5,000 people are expected to attend, with the line-up including Andy Flannagan, 29th Chapter, Jahaziel and Judah and Secret and Lou Fellingham.