2004 Cross Rhythms Festival cancelled.

THE CROSS RHYTHMS FESTIVAL, held in Devon at the end of July, has been officially cancelled for 2004. Said Chris Cole, Cross Rhythms CEO, "After last year's event we took the step to put the dates in the diary for this year and did some initial advertising in our Cross Rhythms magazine. However, we did little else, as we never felt a release to put the festival on. We didn't have a theme and had only provisionally booked a couple of speakers and one band.

"We have been praying about the direction of the festival for the last two years. During this time, a strong vision has been emerging between Cross Rhythms and a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, Gilead Foundations, on whose land the festival is held. This strategic partnership is developing a strategy we call The Word In Action, where Christian media and Christian rehab are working together to respond to damaging reality addictions in our society. The vision behind The Word In Action is that people need more than to simply hear our words (something we're good at in the media!), they need to see how it actually works in reality. Christians involved in social action with personal holiness demonstrate a holistic understanding of the Christian faith.

"This, we believe, 'God-given' strategy between both charities is growing to the point we would see that the original Cross Rhythms South West festival is giving way to a brand new event, The Word In Action Festival. This event will be very different to the previous Cross Rhythms festivals. Whilst we see this as the new direction for a joint festival in Devon, we believe we cannot rush the process of delivering this vision, and the remaining three months before the festival was scheduled would be too soon to hold a new event. It could also be however the beginning of a long held vision to see 10 festivals across the country working in collaboration with local partners."

The Word In Action festival will be launched in 2005. More details on this event and the wider vision of The Word In Action partnership will be released later this year.