West Kelowna blocks Sean Feucht’s Christian concert

After weeks of delays, West Kelowna joins other Canadian cities in shutting out peaceful Christian worship under the guise of safety and inclusivity.

DREA HUMPHREY   |   AUGUST 21, 2025   |   NEWS ANALYSIS   |    BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

After weeks of delay and activist pressure, West Kelowna has joined other municipalities in blocking American Christian singer Sean Feucht’s peaceful “Let Us Worship” concerts.

On Wednesday, just three days before the event at Memorial Park, Chief Administrative Officer Ron Bowles announced the city denied the permit due to an inadequate safety plan.

“After consultation with the RCMP and the fire department, the safety and security plan could not address the number of people who were expected to arrive at Memorial Park on Saturday,” Bowles writes in a statement. City estimates anticipated 2,000 attendees and 1,000 protesters.

Earlier this summer, West Kelowna hosted Music in the Park (700-1,200 nightly attendees) and Westside Daze (thousands of attendees), which occurred at the same park without incident.

Christian events, of late, have been designated public safety concerns, while ignoring Feucht’s past peaceful and lawful worship concerts in Canadian public spaces.

This year, nation-wide cancellations of Feucht’s events, except in two jurisdictions, coincide with increased political pressure from progressive activists lobbying for the concert’s cancellation everywhere.

Feucht’s events, which Canadians should have a right to enjoy, continued to be targeted by the intolerant cancel mob. Anti-Israel protesters previously targeted an event diverted to a church, where a man threw two smoke bombs at Feucht and his team mid-worship.

Feucht alleges his team and family received threats, making Canada more resistant to his worship leadership than Iraq and Turkey, where he has previously performed.

Days before Kelowna’s decision, Kelowna Capital News published a hit pieceagainst Feucht, downplaying Canada’s rising anti-Christian sentiment. This trend, which appears to be legitimized, includes Christian pastors imprisoned for lockdown preaching and over 130 churches burned or vandalized since 2021.

Political strategist and LGBTQ+ activist Wilbur Turner asserted that Sean Feucht’s events are political rallies disguised as spiritual gatherings, using “coded Christian nationalist language” to “attack queer and trans individuals, reproductive rights, and pluralism.”

“When officials dismiss or reframe these messages as benign or incidental, they turn a blind eye to real harm,” Turner wrote. “When they lend their names and platforms to such figures, they side with the message and its consequences—not with the inclusive, public spirit that Canada’s values demand.”

The article omitted details of attacks against Feucht and his team in Canada and lacked direct examples to support its claims. Feucht’s controversial comments, such as calling drag queen story-time and secular music “demonic,” should be protected under freedom of expression as they were not directed at individuals.

In 2023, Kelowna Capital News falsely depicted Christian prayer as a Nazi salute during a parental rights protest. Despite calls from Christians, the publication failed to correct the misrepresentation.

Kelowna–Lake Country–Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong strongly criticized the city’s decision, highlighting its implications for Christian Canadians.

“West Kelowna just cancelled a peaceful Christian concert because protestors promised disruption. As a result, over 2,000 Canadians are denied their right to worship,” Armstrong wrote on X.

“In a country governed by law, protesters don’t get to shut down public gatherings with threats of violence. I’ll be contacting the officials. You should too,” she added.

Despite another cancellation, Feucht stated, “We’ll find another venue in Kelowna … We don’t stop for nothing.” He urged prayers for “hearts healed, chains broken off,” baptisms, and a “shift over of this heaviness over the nation.”

Feucht’s team is praying for a venue for Saturday at 3 p.m. and will update LetUsWorship.com when secured.

Worship continues Friday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton, where officials defend gathering rights. Despite Abbotsford’s permit denial, the concert proceeds Sunday, Aug. 24, at 2:45 p.m. at 197 Clearbrook Road.

LET US WORSHIP

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Christian worship leader Sean Feucht is being shut down in Canada — six peaceful worship events cancelled simply for praising God in public. While pro-Hamas mobs are welcomed, public Christian faith is under attack. Stand with Sean to defend freedom of worship, expression, and assembly for all Canadians.

Drea Humphrey

B.C. Bureau Chief

Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.