The movement Matt describes has already taken in neighbourhoods far beyond Manchester, where the first Eden teams began working with young people in 1997. Now regional hubs are thriving in the North East, Yorkshire and London, and exciting new doors are opening up in both the Humber region and Merseyside.

NEW PARTNERSHIPS

In all, 24 Eden partnerships are now active or on the cusp of launching.

In Hull, Eden Preston Road is urgently recruiting its team who will live and minister on the estate which has long-standing challenges: the area is in the bottom 0.26% of multiple deprivation nationally, with high levels of crime, benefit dependency and worklessness. The partnership will be boosted by strong links with the newly re-sited Archbishop Sentamu Academy on the estate (see picture). This 1500-pupil high school has a strong Christian ethos and its Principal is keen to work closely with the Eden team to make a significant difference in the lives of young people and their families.

Sited in a highly multicultural area of Sheffield, Eden Fir Vale is the third Eden team to be established in Yorkshire. Team leaders Ben and Beth Baker are building links with local people and organisations and engaging cross-culturally, getting to know their Muslim neighbours and even learning Urdu.

In London, two new partnerships are set to commence in 2012, adding to the four already under way. Eden Brunel will be based on an estate in the Paddington area and Eden Plaistow is to be located in the area close to the West Ham football stadium in East London.

And here in Manchester, plans are being drawn up for a new Eden in partnership in an estate called the Merseybank, in partnership with a church called Ivy Manchester.

We hope to bring you more news about these exciting new Eden teams in the next edition of Flow. However, if you can’t wait that long you’re welcome to contact the Eden office directly, details below.

ASSOCIATES NETWORK

A further significant development for 2012 will be a whole new kind of growth, an opportunity to go far beyond the current geographical boundaries of the Eden Network. Matt explains more:

‘We’re approached often by people who are encouraged by what God’s doing through Eden – they want to connect and receive support from us but they don’t fulfil our criteria for various reasons. Perhaps they’re not focused within a big urban population, maybe they don’t place the same emphasis on youth, or maybe their community isn’t quite in the bottom 10%. But we really want to help them succeed too – we don’t want them to find themselves repeating mistakes we’ve made before. We recognise we need an easier way for them to connect with us to obtain some level of support, encouragement and resource.’

With that in mind, Eden is working behind the scenes on the nuts and bolts of what will become an Eden ‘Associates’ network. This will allow interested groups to benefit from Eden’s expertise without becoming full-blown Eden partners. Associates will have the opportunity to train with experienced Eden workers, join networking events and access lots of great resources.

‘In kingdom terms we hope this shift will have massive impact because it will offer us the opportunity to begin making a difference in many other places – perhaps even in other nations,’ says Matt.

PROXIMITY CONFERENCE

One part of the Associates package will be an invitation to be part of national events such as the upcoming Proximity conference, taking place on 25th and 26th May at World Harvest Bible Church in Salford Quays.

Proximity will feature as its keynote speaker Dave Ferguson from Community Christian Church and NewThing Network (pictured). Dave is a serial church planter who has seen exponential growth in his movement of missional communities around Chicago.

Also speaking will be Patrick Regan of XLP, who works with young people in several inner-London boroughs. Because of his experience of gang culture, Patrick became a key voice in the wake of the riots last August.

And Nims Obunge, CEO of the Peace Alliance and pastor of a church in Tottenham, has also joined the speaking team, responsible for leading the conference’s devotional times.

‘Nims actually gave me a great insight that helped me see Eden in a whole new way,’ says Matt. ‘He said to me, “Biblically, Eden signifies the work that God’s begun and is inviting us to be part of.” Wow! Now that’s great theology! We’ve always known that Eden is God’s movement, not ours, he’s doing something special through Eden and we just want to keep up with him.’

You can find out more about the Proximity conference and the new Eden locations on Eden’s website.

Contact the Eden team now via email.

Matt’s new book, ‘Concrete Faith’, is the inside story of the Eden Network

It’s packed with inspirational and personal stories and shares the lessons learned and challenges faced by Eden teams over the last 
15 years. The book will be out in March, but you can pre-order a copy for just £5 right here.

Over the last 15 years, Eden has established itself as part of a movement of God embracing the different strands of incarnational living, church planting, urban youth ministry, missional community and urban church. Proximity 2012 will bring these ministries together in one place for two days of vision, conversation, inspiration and celebration. Proximity will be light-hearted and yet intelligent; fast-paced and yet reflective; boundary-pushing and yet affirming.

If you’re a leader or practitioner in any of these five overlapping areas of ministry Proximity is for you.

When and where is it happening?

From Friday 25th – Saturday 26th May, at The Sanctuary, the home of World Harvest Bible Church, a stone’s throw from the newly regenerated Salford Quays, the new home of the BBC in the north of England. Those interested in urban regeneration will find the area absolutely fascinating. There is an abundance of hotels to suit various budgets and local transport links into the area are excellent.

How much will it cost?

Proximity has been specifically designed to be flexible enough to accommodate a variety of needs and to allow maximum participation. Many will choose to be involved for the whole two days, which will cost £44; however booking before the end of March will save you 10%. Day tickets for each of the days are also available at £25 each. Finally, we will be opening up the Friday evening celebration at a cost of just £5 per ticket (limited numbers available).

How do I book?

The event is being administrated using the online ‘Eventbrite’ system which means you’ll need a credit card handy in order to place your booking. To visit the booking portal CLICK HERE.

The films give a window into the lives of people who have chosen to live in challenging communities as part of the Eden Network.

Collecting the award on behalf of the production team at Message:Creative, Eden’s National Director Matt Wilson spoke of the inspiration behind the short films: ‘The Being Extra Ordinary films are designed to foster a richer understanding of what life is like in the communities we’re serving. Through the real-life stories of our team members and their neighbours, we hope to break down the assumption that you need to be a superhero to be involved in this kind of ministry.’

The latest film, number four in the series, features Chris and Laura, team leaders of Eden Byker, who talk about how God interrupted their lives to call them to the North East. Watch it below.

It follows number three in the series, telling the amazing story of Tony Grainge and his work with young people on the Easterside estate near Middlesbrough.

Click to watch Part Three on YouTube

Part Two featured Jackie and Simon Blanchflower, part of Eden Notting Barns (W10). They talk about how they moved on to the Lancaster West estate, the thrill of living in multicultural London and their dream to build ‘a local church for local people’.

Watch Part Two (featuring Jackie and Simon) on YouTube

Part one featured Ben and Amy Woodfield, team leaders of Eden Old Trafford, which gives glimpses of life on Eden Old Trafford together with some of the couple’s experiences and motivation behind being part of Eden.

Watch Part One (featuring Ben and Amy) on YouTube

Eden is looking for 100 people to join their teams in Manchester, London and in the North East in 2011. Could you be one of them?

Find out more at the Eden Network website

Watch it here:

To find out more about the work of Eden visit: www.eden-network.org

The latest film, number four in the series, features Chris and Laura, team leaders of Eden Byker, who talk about how God interrupted their lives to call them to the North East. Watch it below now!

Number three in the series, tells the amazing story of Tony Grainge and his work with young people on the Easterside estate near Middlesbrough.

Click to watch Part Three  on YouTube.com

It follows Part Two, featuring Jackie and Simon Blanchflower, part of Eden Notting Barns (W10). They talk about how they moved on to the Lancaster West estate, the thrill of living in multicultural London and their dream to build ‘a local church for local people’.

Click to watch Part Two (featuring Jackie and Simon) on YouTube.com.

Part one featured Ben and Amy Woodfield, team leaders of Eden Old Trafford, which gives glimpses of life on Eden Old Trafford together with some of the couple’s experiences and motivation behind being part of Eden.

Watch Part One (featuring Ben and Amy) on YouTube now.

Eden is looking for 100 people to join their teams up and down the country in 2011. Could you be one of them?

Find out more at the Eden Network website.

Read some great testimonies from this year’s summer festival here.

New Wine team leaders will host the evenings with Andy Hawthorne, Ian Henderson and Matt Wilson speaking. Andy Smith and band will lead worship and In Yer Face will bring cutting-edge theatre.

Admission is free – please be early to ensure a seat. An offering will be taken at each event. The evenings begin at 7.30pm.

Thursday 3 March – St Thomas Crookes, Sheffield
Hosted by Steve & Andrea McGanity

Monday 7 March – Heaton Baptist, Newcastle
Hosted by Ian & Nadine Parkinson

Tuesday 8 March – The Oakwood Centre, Stockton-on-Tees
Hosted by Ian & Nadine Parkinson

Wednesday 9 March – Ivy Manchester
Hosted by Steve & Andrea McGanity

Friday 11 March – St Barnabas Church, 23 Addison Road, Kensington, London, W14 8LH
Click for Direction on the www.stbk.org.uk website
Hosted by Mark & Lindsay Melluish

Visit Urban Impact on the New Wine website

Book your place at PLANT CHURCH now.

Here are the four seminar titles:

1. Do church-planters give a stuff about urban communities?

Why is it so unusual for church planters to locate themselves in poorer urban areas? This seminar uses Eden’s experience to explore the costs and benefits of following a calling to church plant in a tough community and considers the signs of a turning tide toward our nation’s church-forsaken neighbourhoods.

2. Whatever happened to the local church anyway?

This seminar considers how the contemporary world around us is made up of radically different planting environments. Using a framework of Network and Neighbourhood we will consider what it means to be local in the 21st century city and how this might affect where and how we plant. Particular emphasis will be given in this session to what is meant by ‘Incarnational Ministry’.

3. Planting churches where Sunday isn’t ‘the main event’?

Looking at what a local Eden team actually does on the ground on a day to day basis – and how it is intentionally evolved over time as the new work becomes established. Reflecting on the importance of the planting team sharing a distinctive set of values as both a well of inspiration and an anchor for accountability.

4. What does success look like in a deprived urban context?

Do the traditional measures of church success translate into start-ups in deprived communities? Using Eden’s experience in the inner city to imagine what might an ‘urban scorecard’ might look like? And perhaps smaller urban churches may have valuable lessons to share with the wider church about how to combat consumerism and transience in order to achieve high levels of participation, empowerment, rootedness and fulfilment?

Daniel Haigh has been appointed to the key role of Director of Eden London.

Dan joins the Eden team after a successful career in both business and the voluntary sector, most recently for Participation Works and West London YMCA. He has also served as Assistant Minister at St Paul’s Ealing.

He joins at a foundational time for Eden London. Two new Eden teams are to set to begin, each with a full-time leader and its own local mission strategy. Over the next few years the goal is to see Edens all across Greater London positively impacting communities with the gospel in word and deed.

I’m really excited to be working with partner churches in north, south, east and west London to begin new missional communities in some of the most deprived places in the capital,’ says Dan.

His main priorities getting started will be to develop prayer support, recruit team members for the new projects and to raise finance to underpin the vision.

‘Dan is an amazing addition to the national Eden team,’ commented Matt Wilson, national director. ‘His natural gifts and professional experience make him a perfect fit for this key strategic role.’

You can watch a sixty-minute video of Shane answering questions at the Eden Formation event over on the Eden Network website. Enjoy!

Message HQ hosted team leaders and church partners from as far away as London and Newcastle, for a day spent together hearing from National Director Matt Wilson and special guest Shane Claiborne (pictured right).

‘It was a huge day of partnership – of meeting one another, encouraging and praying for each other, and hearing ideas,’ said Matt.

‘Everyone there has invited Eden into partnership with them at the local level to move forward their with their work with young people in some of the nation’s most challenging high-density, high-population neighbourhoods.’

Strategic leaders travelled from as far afield as London, Newcastle, Middlesborough, Bradford, Sheffield and Humberside to be part of the day.

With less far to go were those from Eden’s birthplace, Greater Manchester. In the last year, five new projects have launched in Manchester, bringing the total to 11. New since May 2009 are partnerships in Westwood and Limeside in Oldham; Leigh; Gorton and Eccles.

It was a real milestone moment for Eden,’ reflects Matt. ‘It’s so important to us that we are creating Eden partnerships, not Eden projects. Eden works with, for and through local church and relationship is at the heart of it – we are journeying together.

‘There was a lot of warmth and a great buzz generated in the room among those who share a heart for the least, the last and the lost.’

You can watch a sixty-minute interview with Shane Claiborne on the Eden Network website.