A shift away from arenas

Following a review of our journey so far and a renewed sense of God’s direction. In this next season, we will focus our investment in local Send events, the development of Spotfire communities, and regional missional training with our partners. Josh Cutting explains aspects of this in this short video and we give more detail below.

Firstly, thank you for your incredible support. This past year has been remarkable – launching at Ovo Arena Wembley, followed by local gatherings, a national tour with Francis Chan, Martin Smith, and Elle Limebear, and major events in Glasgow and Belfast. Over 25,000 people have been inspired to live fully for Jesus and carry the Gospel wherever He leads. More than 70 mission partners have followed up with over 5,000 young people responding to this call. Our Ireland team is currently running 32 local events – one in every county – culminating in Dublin this November.


Your partnership – through prayer, participation, and financial support – has been vital. We are grateful to share in the fruit of this movement with you.

Our time of prayer and discernment over the last few weeks has led to a number of conclusions:

  • Large events bring inspiration and spiritual momentum, while smaller, regular gatherings foster deeper personal engagement.
  • The resources required for arenas have prevented us from building necessary infrastructure for Spotfires and training.
  • The financial cost has created a significant deficit which means that we are not currently in a position to run arena gatherings in the same way we have been doing.
  • With growing openness to faith among Gen Z, the church's primary need is to form mission-focused communities – not just large gatherings – to disciple this generation and God is calling the Send to invest in this.

As a result, we are cancelling the three arena events planned for November in Dublin (1st), Wembley (16th), and Leeds (22nd). In their place, we will hold an event in an alternative location in Dublin and smaller, local events across the UK and Ireland.

This hasn’t been an easy decision. There is real cost and sacrifice involved, but we believe this is what God is leading us to do and we have a sense of the significance of this call. We’re grateful for your support and we hope you’ll continue to walk with us as we follow the Spirit's lead.

With gratitude,

John McGinley, Josh Cutting and The Send UK & Ireland team