Festival Cancellation

As time has gone on, our planned theme of ‘Unshakable’ for the 2021 Catalyst Festival – about the God who is our rock in the midst of everything swirling around us – has become more and more relevant. There is still a huge amount of uncertainty about what the future will look like in the months and years ahead, and yet, in the midst of that, our invitation is to listen to the radical call to put our trust in an unshakable God.

With that in mind, we have taken the decision to cancel our on-site, in-person 2021 Festival, planned to have been hosted at Stoneleigh Park on 29^th May-1^st June 2021. In light of the ongoing pandemic, it would be unwise to press ahead with plans for an event that now almost certainly cannot take place as we had originally hoped. It is desperately disappointing not to be able to gather next year, but we believe it’s the right call to cancel and it’s better for everyone that we make that call now.

It’s been such a hard decision to make, but it’s one we’re making in faith that, as we raise up world-changing disciples together in this season, God is doing a work in us that will enable His kingdom to go out even more powerfully into the world.

With that in mind, a refund is available to anyone who originally purchased a ticket, either for our postponed 2020 Festival or for the 2021 Festival itself. At the same time though, the financial cost of this decision is significant for our movement given the unavoidable costs incurred up to this point. And so, we would also invite attendees to prayerfully consider whether they could donate either the full cost or half of the cost of their ticket to enable us to continue supporting mission, training, church planting and social action around the world. Details of how to confirm either option have been emailed to ticket holders, and anyone experiencing problems can email festival@catalystnetwork.org and our team will look into it. This will be a large administrative process for our small team though, so please do bear with us if it takes some time to process enquiries, donations or refunds.

Although we won’t be gathering in person next year, one of the key lessons from this year is the vital importance of ensuring that we are staying connected – to other believers, to our churches, and to our wider movement around the world. So, over that bank holiday weekend, 29^th-31^st May 2021, we will instead be running a separate, online Catalyst Global event to provide a weekend for us to celebrate in all that God is doing amongst us, even during this difficult season. Our hope and expectation is that this will be a significant moment in the history of our movement – enabling us to connect as a truly global family with contributions from around the world for the first time. More details for this will be announced in the New Year.

In the meantime, let’s keep looking to Jesus, and pressing in to that promise from Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”