This summer, the stands of Wembley Arena, normally filled with fans singing football chants, were instead filled with 6,000 young people singing the praises of God.
This was the launch event of The Send UK & Ireland - a new collaboration between churches and mission agencies for the purpose of inspiring teenagers and young adults to live missionally in five key areas: secondary school, university, family life, workplaces and the nations.
The thousands who attended spent the evening praying, hearing testimonies and listening to facts from the Evangelical Alliance’s Talking Jesus report. Towards the end, over 1,000 stood to demonstrate they felt called to mission – lifting their mobile phone lights into the air. 500 indicated they felt called to mission overseas.
One young man there felt God speak to him of a tribal group whose name he didn’t recognise – and yet when he researched them, he discovered they were all in a region which had not yet heard the gospel. He has committed to pray and go and share the gospel there.
Another sixth form student ordered 25 Bibles after attending the event and took them to school and is now leading Bible studies each lunchtime.
A London churchgoer, Beth, shared that the evening in Wembley felt like a ‘taste of heaven’.
‘When I walked in, thousands of people were signing “Holy Forever”. It was so special,’ she commented. ‘I was really challenged by the stories of people who have committed to pray for their neighbourhoods – and the encouragement that revival happens with prayer at the heart of everything. My main takeaway was the prayer we prayed together: “Hinder me from safe Christianity and send me where people have a softness to hear”.’
The Send, which did not exist before 2024, is currently working with more than 70 different denominations and mission agencies, including the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), Fusion, and Navigators.
Speaking to en, co-leader of The Send UK & Ireland John McGinley commented, ‘It is the gospel that unites us across many other things that are points of difference.’
Focusing on younger generations
When asked why The Send focuses on younger generations, John answered, ‘The statistics about the engagement of this generation with the Christian faith are tragic – it is estimated that less than 2% of 18 to 25-year-olds actively follow Jesus Christ in the UK. But alongside this story of decline, there are clear signs of God at work in this generation – there is a spiritual hunger in those outside the church, with stories of young adults starting to read the Bible, walking into church, expressing curiosity about, and not antagonism, to the Christian faith.’
In the next year, The Send will continue working in UK and Ireland, visiting churches and forming ‘Spotfire’ groups in local communities. These are small groups which aim to gather people together to pray for revival and seek opportunities for evangelism – 700 have signed up to be a part of a Spotfire community already.
John McGinley stated, ‘It is easy to misunderstand The Send as being focussed on events when our focus is the mobilisation of the younger generation into their missional calling. At every large event, we ask them to click on a QR code and register their sense of call to one of the missional outcomes and to live as devoted disciples. In response to this, every young person is followed up by mission agencies or local churches and encouraged to be part of a “Spotfire" community.’
The Send UK & Ireland is part of a wider movement, which originated in America and held its first major gathering in 2019. Over the next two years, there will be events held in Dublin, Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow as well as further afield in South Africa, Finland, Armenia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
To connect with The Send, visit: www.thesend.uk
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