Since Message 2000, The Message has been involved with well over a thousand more community action projects in every corner of Greater Manchester.

‘We’ve cleaned and painted and fixed and helped, and as a result, crime has come down, whole areas have been changed, and — yes — we’ve been privileged to have some great opportunities to share our faith’ says Andy Hawthorne.

‘For me the secret to success in any ministry is to genuinely combine word and deed. We have to ditch the dualism that says that it’s only words that matter, or that actions win out every time. We have to have both, because that’s how Jesus did it.’

The latest in this long line of word and deed evangelism projects is this year’s Shine Your Light campaign. This nationwide initiative fronted by Lindz West and LZ7 kicked off earlier this year with the Shine Your Light website. It will continue throughout the summer on a long tour of Christian festivals.

The campaign challenges young people 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 or dropping in a thank you card to the local police station.

After completing each challenge, young people are encouraged to post pictures, videos and stories on the website and Facebook, helping spread the positive and encourage others to do the same. The goal is the same as ever – that these small acts of kindness will point towards a generous God and provide opportunities for the good news.

‘Facebook and social networking give us an unprecedented way of communicating with vast numbers of people,’ comments Andy. ‘They make peer-to-peer evangelism easier than ever before.’

Shine Your Light ties in with a government campaign for young people, Shine Week, running from July 12-16. Over 6,000 school and organisations took part in Shine Week last year, involving nearly 1 million young people, showcasing their talent and putting young people in a positive light. Shine Week’s theme song is none other than LZ7’s This Little Light, which will be released into the UK charts at the end of the summer.

A nationwide competition to create a music video for the expected chart hit is one of the ways young people will be able to engage with Shine Week, bringing many into contact with The Message’s bands for the first time and opening doors for sharing the good news.

‘Shine Your Light and Shine Week really are awesome opportunities for the good news to go further than ever – quickly and relevantly,’ says Andy. ‘This has all the potential to be the biggest thing we’ve ever been involved with.’

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Perhaps the most powerful change in all has been in the lives of the thousands of individuals who took part in serving during ‘word and deed’ events.

One young man, Tim Mycock, was 19 at the time of Message 2000. He had made a commitment to Christ at a World Wide Message Tribe gig some years earlier and had volunteered to help on the merchandise stand during Message 2000.

Finding himself with a bit of time on his hands during the day, Tim volunteered to help wherever he was needed and was soon asked to go and help with a project in Oldham where a particular young man had been causing discipline problems. Tim picks up the story:

‘My first introduction to this kid was to stop him bringing a chair down on the head of another young person. He was a troubled young man but through the week as I got to know his story and understand him, God broke my heart for him and other young men on the margins, the disaffected.’

‘A police officer I talked to told me about him. He called him a lost cause, a hopeless case. I knew that wasn’t true – that God could change his life if he’d let him. On the last night of the event, miraculously this kid showed up and I had the chance to pray with him as he gave his life to Christ.’

As a result of serving on Message 2000, Tim gave up his ambition to be a music teacher and instead trained with The Message’s Xcelerate course. Today he works with young offenders with the Reflex prisons team.

‘I never saw him again so I don’t know where he ended up. But I wish I could have a chance to let that young man know that getting to know him had a profound impact on my life.’

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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.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9_Pg80QzQ[/youtube]

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?

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.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRenM5O7LDM[/youtube]

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.

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? I have been here since April 2007, but I also volunteered between August ‘05 – April ’07.

What is your role on the team? I’m the manager of the Bus Project. I develop the projects and co-ordinate leaders, drivers and volunteers. I also develop the vision for the Project within the community.

What’s your favourite part of the evening? Watching people from local churches build relationships with young people and seeing the volunteers’ confidence develop.

Can you give us a brief version of your testimony: The most amazing thing God has done in my life is transform me from a woman who would ‘cross to the other side’ when coming across groups of young people in the street, into being a woman who encourages others to engage with these groups- someone should do something!