Reference & Testimonials

Pastor, HTB Church

“Festival time is a deeply biblical experience. When the church gathers together to celebrate, worship, pray, and seek God, big things happen! Cedarwood Festival is an exciting new opportunity for all ages and denominations in the north of England to join together and fuel many Kingdom adventures!”

CEO, Evangelical Alliance

‘‘Cedarwood festival is an amazing event that creates a community that both fires up existing Christians to make a greater impact and draws those who don’t yet know Jesus towards Him. I thank the Lord for this gathering and look forward to what the years ahead will bring.’’

Coordinator, Creation Fest

“I’m always glad to cheerlead new kingdom focused events for people to gather and then go out to serve the world in Jesus name and I pray Cedarwood festival can become one of these gatherings.”

Evangelist, missiologist & author, Evangelical Alliance

The UK church desperately needs regular moments where communities gather to celebrate Jesus, learn together and see the big picture of what God is doing in our nation.  Cedarwood shows Christians who are rooted in the Bible, filled with the Spirit and committed to change the world.  

Director, Share Jesus International

“I am thrilled to be supporting Cedarwood Festival. There is a great history of God doing exciting things in the North of England and my hope and prayer is that Cedarwood Festival will be a catalyst that ignites lots more prayerful mission across the region!”

Executive director of HOPE Together

“God needs a ‘northern powerhouse’ – I’m praying that the Cedarwood Festival brings churches together to focus on Jesus and to be sent out to work together to love and serve people  in the region in Jesus’ name.”

CEO, Great Lakes Outreach

I’m thrilled to have been part of the Cedarwood Festival for the last few years. It’s a fantastic context to meet with God alongside a rich variety of people hungry for God. The team are superb, the speakers are inspiring, and the venue is perfect.

UK Director, Christians in Sport

Cedarwood heightened my affections towards God! What a joy to experience His good gifts of food, fun and friendship whilst being encouraged to think carefully about how the good news of Jesus affects every inch of the world around us.  A brilliant time!

Director, Solas 

Cedarwood is an amazing event! A brilliant combination of bible teaching and music, worship and seminars, the spoken word and the sung word. I’ve loved both times I’ve spoken at Cedarwood and it’s brilliant to have seen churches across the North East come together in unity. 

Director of Advocacy & Policy, Care.org

“Cedarwood Festival is Jesus-centred, Holy Spirit-drenched, mission-focussed and is an incredible blessing to the North of England. It always feels fresh and relevant. Visitors are ready to worship, hear the Word, encounter God, and make an impact in their worlds. I cannot wait to be there in 2024”

Author, Speaker

I love Cedarwood Festival! Having been part of it for a few years, everyone I engaged with there was so friendly and the weekend had the Holy Spirit all over it. I highly recommend the festival and look forward to next year! See you in the field! 

Director, Burn 247 UK

Cedarwood Festival carries a real heart to serve Jesus, and to serve His people from every part of the church. There’s a love of God’s word and a desire for wholehearted worship in its foundation, so those who come have a feast in God and leave strengthened and encouraged.

Director, Palau Association

It was a pleasure for us to share a workshop on exploring evangelism at Cedarwood Festival 2023.  We love the festival’s heart to encourage both community and mission.

Director of Evangelism, Elim Churches, UK 

“Cedarwood Festival is truly something special. I had the privilege of speaking over two days, and I experienced the gatherings as powerful spaces of encounter, teaching, and refreshing. From the thoughtful layout of the site to the incredible team who make it all happen, everything contributes to a brilliant sense of community.

Set in a beautiful location that is genuinely good for the soul, Cedarwood is a gift to the North of England. I would wholeheartedly encourage churches to unite and be part of what God is doing there.”

The Message Trust, North East

For two years the NE Message served the Youth programme at Cedarwood Festival. It was a great time of building community and seeing lives changed. The overspill for The Message has been that we have seen a number of the youth join our ongoing Advance Youth mission programme and their families are regularly feeding back to us the changes they are seeing. 

Tutor in New Testament, Cranmer, Durham & Ridley Hall, Cambridge 

“I am so grateful that the North has a festival as vibrant, warm, and joyful as Cedarwood. There is a hunger for Scripture during the teaching sessions and a deep yearning for God during worship. There is such a friendly, open, welcoming atmosphere and a Christ-Centered focus.

Founder, Speaker

It has been such a blessing to see hundreds of churches represented and people from all spheres and expressions of the church from all over the UK gather and worship, pray and commune with us together, in the field at Cedarwood Festival. 

Founder & Speaker, Sowing Seeds

I have loved seeing the growth of Cedarwood Festival over the years and the many stories of hope, connection and transformation coming from the community and festival each year. I loved sharing at CF23 and seeing many friends from years gone by in the field. 

Assistant Pastor, Stockton Baptist Church, Teesside

Cedarwood Festival is a fantastic space for the church to gather in unity, hear the word of God, meet with Jesus, be filled afresh with the Spirit and be catapulted out on mission. It was a particularly powerful time for our young people to grow in their faith and be equipped for mission. The Northern flavour really helped us to apply the wonderful lessons from the festival straight into our context on Teesside.

Leader, Vineyard Church

I love Cedarwood Festival! Having been part of it for a few years, everyone I engaged with there was so friendly and the weekend had the Holy Spirit all over it. I highly recommend the festival and look forward to next year! See you in the field! 

Director of Unity, Evangelical Alliance

It has been an absolute joy to have been involved and to see it grow over the last couple of years. Cedarwood is a refuge from the chaos of life, full of adventure, campfires, and deep encounters with Jesus. The North of England has needed an event like this for years. If you can get there, I’d encourage you to come and join us.

Core Team, Worship the King, Hexham

God is at work in the North of the UK! Cedarwood Festival is great evidence of this and one of the things we are seeing God do is connect believers across (or irrespective of) denominational boundaries. He is mobilising His Church for what lies ahead, and Cedarwood Festival is a part of that; both through the Cathedral worship tour and the annual Festival.

Speaker & Theologan

Cedarwood is a fresh & exciting Christian festival with something a little different about it. There’s a distinct community feel about it and Cedarwood has a compelling entrepreneurial vision which inspires both local and global mission. It’s clear they have a big-hearted team, full of love and faith, who reflect a range of faithful Bible-believing churches from different backgrounds. And unlike many institutions today, Cedarwood is unafraid to talk about the important matters of Christian faith and morality currently under fire in our time.

Alpha UK

It was so much fun to be a part of Cedarwood Festival in 2023. Such a beautiful gathering of people pursuing the presence of God and coming together in community. Something significant happens when we create larger spaces to worship alongside one another, and Cedarwood Festival has this priority at the heart of its mission.

Trustee, Dnipro Hope Mission, Durham

Cedarwood Festival is a fantastic gathering of the Church. I love its ecumenical heart—bringing together different traditions with one worship and one love for Christ. It feels like a living answer to Jesus’ prayer: “that they may be one.”

Teesside, Tees Valley Community Church

I’ve been attending Cedarwood Festival since it first started in 2022 and have brought my young family and I’ve also brought people from the community I minister in.

Many have been hugely impacted by the festival. The sense of worship, presence of God and community with other believers. It’s helped deepen friendships within the people I have brought and they have made new friends too – I fully endorse Cedarwood Festival and I’m looking forward to joining in this year too!

CEO, The Jonas Centre, North Yorkshire 

”At the Jonas Centre, we share Cedarwood Festival’s heart for supporting and encouraging local churches in the North. We love the North Yorkshire location and the amazing team of volunteers and contributors that bring the festival together each year.’’

Founder, Cornerstone Fostering UK, Darlington

”We have been part of Cedarwood Festival for over 5 years and have been part of exhibiting at Cedarwood as an organisation and also been involved in a strategic level within the organisation. We fully endorse this gathering in the North of England!”

Church & Community Lead, Tearfund

”Cedarwood Festival is a great space for Tearfund to connect with people who are passionate about faith and justice. What we value about Cedarwood is the heart behind it. It’s not just about running a good festival, but about creating a place where people can worship, learn, and think about how their faith shapes the way they live. It’s been really encouraging for us to be part of that and to see people engage with issues of justice in such an open and genuine way.”

Leader, Kings Church, Colburn

Having been involved with Cedarwood Festival personally and as a Church for a number of years, we are fully behind the vision of the unity gathering, with opportunity for the whole church to come together as one in the field!