One of the most remarked-upon aspects of community action evangelism events is how they act as a catalyst for unity among churches. This always produces results far greater than churches could ever see alone.

Momentum from unity-building work among churches for Festival:Manchester in 2003, resulted in the creation of an initiative designed to help churches support their local police and the public sector, Redeeming Our Communities.

The strength of the partnership which has developed over the years will be shown by a Community Showcase event at the Manchester Velodrome on June 30, held in association with Greater Manchester Police and Fire and Rescue Services. And the results speak for themselves: Greater Manchester Police’s latest figures show crime at its lowest level for 10 years – a fact which they attribute to their operations, changes to policing and new initiatives like Redeeming Our Communities.

What was pioneered in Manchester is now being investigated and adopted by other cities. A Merseyside initiative launched last year; Birmingham launches in November 2010 and London in April 2011. Redeeming Our Communities is also now working with the police nationally through the National Policing Improvement Agency which works with all 43 police divisions in England and Wales and the Home Office.

Debra Green, founder, remarks: ‘There has been a bridge built across the sacred-secular divide which we would never in our wildest dreams have thought possible ten years ago. The idea that we could put on a big event that politicians, police, local authorities would gladly come and be a part of – and that is unashamedly Christian – was inconceivable.’

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The Message is excited to be one of the organisations backing HOPE Together, building on the momentum generated by HOPE 08 in seeing UK churches doing more, together and in both word and action for their local communities.

Launched last week, HOPE Together is a continuation of HOPE 08 which saw 1,500 areas find ways of being good news and bringing hope outside of their church buildings.

The initiative aims to help the Church build on mission activity and become even more outward-looking over the next four years, leading toward an all-out year of mission in 2014.

Roy Crowne, Executive Director of HOPE Together, spoke to over 40,000 people at the launch which took place at the ExCel Centre, London on 23 July.

He said: “Our dream is that we would see what the Lord Jesus sees – he doesn’t see the differences in tradition or styles of worship but he sees His Church, the body of Christ. His prayer is that we would unite in the purpose and the mission of God – that mission is to cause our church to be outward focused, to express acts of kindness and then to communicate the love of God in the good news of Jesus Christ.

“We may differ in the things we do but we need to celebrate diversity and understand that we have strengths when we work together – find a way to work together for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the sake of those outside of the kingdom.”

Message CEO Andy Hawthorne was one of the founders of HOPE 08, alongside Soul Survivor leader Mike Pilavachi and then-YFC head Roy Crowne.

They set up HOPE 08 to be a catalyst to encourage and inspire churches in villages, towns and cities to do mission in order to demonstrate God’s love by doing more, doing it together, and doing it in word and action, and working with Government bodies, police and the media within communities.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Find out more about HOPE Together on their website.

Message 2000 was a kick-start for several new churches and community organisations, including G-Force, a charity working with children, young people and families on the Broomwood estate in South Trafford.

The four-day focus on social action activities during Message 2000, served to highlight the needs in Broomwood and identified Paul and Tina Huxley, leaders of a local Christian youth group, as community action entrepreneurs.

Tina explains: ‘For Message 2000, we had 100 volunteers come into the area to do projects focussing on cleaning up the woods, shifting rubbish, planting flower beds and cleaning round the youth centre, with a big fun day to close. I think it highlighted the big issues on the estate which we knew were there but this really brought them into the light.’

It seemed natural for the couple to set up a community association, involving parents and local residents. This led to God opening doors up for them supporting needy individuals and families; special courses in local schools; adult education classes and groups for the elderly; an arts and crafts drop-in in Altrincham town centre, and a community cafe in the heart of the Broomwood.

Most recently, the group has been involved in a consultation and fundraising with local young people to redevelop local park land.

In just ten years, G-Force has won several prestigious awards for its pioneering work, and has become a magnet for funding from local authorities and businesses. What started as a small youth group surviving on revenues from the tuck-shop on a Saturday night now supports five full time staff and a host of part-time people in face-to-face contact with over 900 children and young people a year.

‘You realise there are certain milestones in the development of G-Force and one of those was Message 2000 and all those guys coming in,’ reflects Paul.

‘The impression they made and the impact within the hearts of the people in the community was huge – they didn’t just change the environment but there was a sea-change in the way local people looked upon Broomwood as the place where they lived. They saw how it could change and the assets that were there but were being overlooked – like the woods.

‘It was inspirational for the community and inspirational for other agencies working here too, one of whom gave us a grant to put a beautiful fence up around the woods, saying “Broomwood Community Woods”. They suddenly realised, hey, we can do stuff here. It all came from Message 2000.’

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‘I was surprised. What on earth did washing someone’s car have to do with the gospel? How did painting park benches lead to salvation? I couldn’t remember Jesus talking about the importance of weeding communal gardens!’

But his decision to agree with the Soul Survivor leader led to the creation of Message 2000, an unprecedented festival of ‘word and deed’ evangelism that was to set the tone for the rest of the next ten years.

Over ten summer days in July 2000, 400 community action projects across Greater Manchester involved almost 10,000 young Christian volunteers in social, environmental and crime reduction projects on some of the city’s roughest and toughest estates. The results were instant and dramatic. New life burst out on old streets.

Andy continues: ‘There was something remarkable about that time we spent together in the summer of 2000. It was as if we did ten years’ work in ten days. Perhaps some of our earlier attempts at ‘hit and run evangelism’ had led people to believe that we were some kind of foaming-at-the-mouth fundamentalists. But suddenly we had the police and local authorities on our side, seeing us as a real force for good rather than people to be avoided.’

In the coming years, The Message built on this momentum with Message 2K1 (2001); Festival:Manchester, in partnership with the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association (2003); the Big Deal weekends in Salford, Stockport and Macclesfield (2005-6); the UK-wide Hope 08 initiative in partnership with dozens of other agencies and thousands of local churches (2008), and last summer’s 10,000 Hours of Hope, part of the !Audacious youth conference.

Stories of how lives were changed and whole new initiatives were birthed as a result of Message 2000 and subsequent word and deed evangelism find their way back to The Message all the time.

Communities benefitted from the sudden influx of fired-up young people with a paint brush in their hand and a smile on their face. In several cases, whole new churches or community organisations were set up as a direct consequence of people being inspired by what they saw was possible when churches worked together to make a difference.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking back on Message 2000 and asking: what’s changed?

Church unity grown

Local communities transformed

Individual lives impacted

What’s next?

Until recently Greater Manchester was known as the ‘ASBO capital of the UK’ reflecting the high number of antisocial behaviour orders imposed across the city since they were introduced in 1999. Around half were imposed on youths under the age of 17.

But that’s beginning to change thanks in part to new partnerships between the police, communities, churches and organisations like The Message. Leading the way is the innovative Eden Bus project. Its two double decker buses show up weekly in some of Manchester’s toughest neighbourhoods, acting as a focus for long-term youth work, and a remedy for youth crime and antisocial behaviour.

Bus Project Manager Julie Mason explains: ‘On our estates in the city there are so many young people just hanging around, nothing to do, nowhere to go. At the same time, within our churches we’ve got hundreds of people who really care about the kids in their own communities. What the Eden Bus does is put the two together.’

Each bus is fitted out with hi-tech gadgets and games but more traditional games, including skipping, football and rounders, are just as popular: ‘We try to get kids involved in activities which cause them to chat to each other and interact with the adult volunteers on the bus’, adds Julie.

The Eden Bus team works in partnership with local churches who supply volunteers with a heart for local young people. Increasingly support is also being provided by police and local authorities who are beginning to see the bus as a powerful way of fighting nuisance behaviour and crime.

One partnership that has seen particular success over the last year is in the Limeside area of Oldham. There, local police turned to churches and third-sector organisations to help tackle problem behaviour among young people around Limeside.

In the autumn of 2009, neighbourhood police Inspector David Stopford began planning with local groups for a three-month dispersal order. But the approach was different from the beginning.

‘Dispersal orders are often initiated by the police on their own, without partners,’ Inspector Stopford told us. ‘It’s one tool in the toolbox to deal with young people acting in an antisocial manner. This is fine but what you can end up doing is simply moving a problem from A to B, and not really solving the root issues.’

‘What we tried to do this time is to work with partners to provide positive diversionary activities for young people. So it’s not just been about law enforcement, it’s been about providing good facilities for young people to go to, rather than hanging around on street corners.’

By the time the dispersal order began in December, several new initiatives for young people were in place, including the Eden Bus, strongly supported locally by New Life Church in Failsworth.

The partnership was a huge success. Inspector Stopford’s team saw a reduction of over 50% in calls about antisocial behaviour from the general public from December to March. Reports of associated crimes such as criminal damage and vehicle crime were also down. It’s a trend that he believes will continue:

‘It’s had a great impact. Right from the launch of the initiative in December, the young people have understood why we’re running this dispersal order and seen how groups of young people can be intimidating to other residents. They’ve also seen our motivation to put something on for them – facilities, initiatives, opportunities – and these things will continue even though the dispersal order has finished.’

The project has also succeeded in changing young people’s attitudes towards the police, their community and the church, believes Julie Mason:

‘We can certainly see a difference within the young people and the way they interact, both with us and the police. They were quite sceptical at first but that’s disappeared. They’re starting to come to the bus volunteers with issues and asking for support in the things they want to achieve in their lives. It’s a real testament to the people working on the project.

‘Barriers between young and older people in the community are beginning to break down. I’m delighted that the Eden Bus has played a part in that.’

To find out more about the Eden Bus project, visit www.message.org.uk/bus or call Julie Mason on 0161 946 2300.

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This article first appeared in the Summer edition of Flow Magazine.

Shine Your Light is challenging young people across the UK to do fifteen specific acts of kindness for their friends, family and local community including spending time with the elderly, buying lunch for a homeless person and dropping in a thank you card to the local police station.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s all designed to bring a little more light to our dark world, says Message CEO Andy Hawthorne: ‘Two thousand years ago, Jesus said’ “You are the light of the world… let your light shine. Shine Your Light is all about that – plugging in the power, ripping off the lampshades and shining brightly. We’re serious about wanting to see massive changes in our schools and communities.’

The campaign is being run online, hooking into the power of social networking and digital media. Over the next few days, new challenges will appear on the Shine Your Light homepage. As youngsters complete each task, they are encouraged to post comments and footage.

The Message hopes that over the coming weeks and months, Shine Your Light will become a massive movement which in the words of William Wilberforce will help to ‘make goodness fashionable’ in the UK.

The Shine Your Light campaign is the latest in a long line of community action projects backed by The Message over the last 10 years. Last year’s Audacious festival saw over 1,000 young people taking part in 50 area improvement projects in 25 locations across Greater Manchester.

Eden Bus, operated by Manchester-based youth charity The Message Trust, assisted Operation ‘Super Vortex’ by providing a venue for officers to meet with the young people of Brinnington and explain to them what was happening as the police sweep took place. Young people were directed from the streets by police officers to the Eden Bus, situated in Brinnington Park.

Operation Super Vortex was designed to address the concerns and fears of local residents worried by anti-social behaviour – part of a police strategy to find long-term solutions to local worries. A total of 120 police officers were involved, resulting in several arrests and warrants executed,

Staff from the Eden Bus worked alongside members from St Luke’s Church and police officers organising a number of activities ranging from hi-tech gaming consoles to old-fashioned skipping games. Eden Bus is in Brinnington Park each Wednesday evening until 9pm for young people to meet up with their friends and meet new people.

This is just one way in which Eden Bus is working together with churches and statutory agencies to help to find solutions which help to build communities which have a ‘feel-safe’ factor.

Read a report of the initiative from local newspaper, Stockport Express here.

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London is one of the world’s most popular tourist cities but my time in London hasn’t involved the usual sightseeing. Instead I’ve been well off the beaten track exploring London’s many council estates – places you’ll never see in the travel brochures.

The differences between Urban Manchester and Urban London include both the obvious and the subtle. Urban London estates are more obvious on the landscape – tall, concrete, fortress-like, and often very compact, unlike Manchester’s endless sprawls of low-rise council semi-D’s and terraces.

Another curiosity to me is the way that the London estates often sit side by side with rows of pricey gentrified houses. The most striking symbol of this wealth–poverty divide has to be the East End communities along the Dockland Light Railway where overcrowded council flats are overshadowed by the glittering towers of Canary Wharf.

In the face of extreme overcrowding and huge ethnic diversity, establishing Eden teams in London is a big challenge. Your prayers are needed on both these fronts. Because living in the community is central to the way Eden goes about its ministry, we need to see some real breakthroughs in the provision of property.

We need divine favour with local councils, housing associations and private landlords if we’re to find homes for all our workers. We also need to get our recruitment message through to non-white church networks if our teams are to reflect the diversity present in the communities they are serving.

All the signs are that God is making a way where there was no way – which is exactly what we’re believing for!

If you want to become part of the adventure in London, or want to get a ticket for the launch celebration on March 18, visit www.eden-network.org.uk/london

How long have you been here? 8 years

What is your role/what do you do? My job is to maintain the Eden Buses.  I look after the engines, fill the fuel tanks, make sure there is oil and water, take the buses for MOT’s and Safety Inspections, and make sure that the equipment on each bus is in good working order. The Eden Buses are almost 28 years old now, and need lots of nurturing.

What’s your favourite part of the evening? When the buses come back at 10pm, because I know that they are back from their evening’s work and parked safely in the Bus Shed.

Please write a brief version of your testimony: I became a Christian after seeing a big change in my wife, and thought ‘I want some of that’. Things have happened in my life: I had ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) for eight years, and I was booked in for an operation, but it was called off because the problem had vanished! God is Good.

How long have you been here? Over 10 years now.

What is your role on the team? I’m the Fleet and Facilities Supervisor and I occasionally get to play bus driver around the yard. I also fill in for Roy, another member of the team, when necessary, fuelling and checking the buses. I help Roy sort out the tax and check on the insurance and MOTs.

Please write a brief version of your testimony: I grew up in a Christian family. Getting not-so-good A-Level results led to me doing a course in Computing Science with German, and a move to Congleton. I started taking our church youth group to Message ’88 and ’89 and later became a supporter of The Message. After spending some time in Germany, I started helping with the rigging at World Wide Message Tribe gigs and the rest, as they say, is history. Each step has served to lead me to where I am now.