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.

Yet the 35-year-old rapper is now also our newest Eden team leader, moving on to the underprivileged Andover estate in Islington, North London with his wife and daughter this autumn.

So how did this award-winning gospel MC find himself moving to lead the newly formed Eden Tollington?

‘I never planned on having a career in music,’ says Jahaziel. ‘It was fun and people said I was good, so I kept doing it. I put out a record and one thing led to another and I was full time for two and a half years. I’ve had opportunities to travel around the world and met loads of different people who say that they’ve been blessed by my music, which is amazing’

‘But music isn’t, and never has been, a priority for me. It’s not my ambition in life. I’ve always had an itch for something more.’

It’s not surprising therefore that Jahaziel’s CV is lot more interesting than most rappers’. Jahaziel has worked with young people in schools and in prison, through a post working in Feltham Young Offenders’ Institution, helping ex-offenders back into education and employment.

But working as a member of staff, Jahaziel found the atmosphere could be restrictive: ‘You would find you had to be careful about what you could and couldn’t say. I was working with one of the boys and gave him an assignment to write some lyrics about friendship, using a Bible verse for inspiration. But I couldn’t tell him it was a Bible verse — although it would’ve been fine if it was from Shakespeare!

‘It was the opposite problem with music. You can say what you like during your show, but you don’t get any time to do anything deeply. You jump in, you do a couple of songs, say a few things and you’re out, you’re done.

‘So I found myself praying, God, how can I do both of these things — to talk about Christ and go deep with people?’

His search ended with an invitation to get involved with a new Eden partnership in Tollington N4. There, a local parish team was seeking to deepen its work on this close-knit multicultural estate, building on successful summer outreaches as part of Soul in the City.

‘I’d been involved in Soul in the City for a few years — that was how my relationship with the church started. One thing I was always impressed with was the church’s obvious passion to reach the community. My experience in the past has often been that there’s a church in the heart of the community but the community has no idea they’re even there. But this church was putting energy and effort into to being visible and blessing the community – so much so that would be difficult for you to live there and not be blessed by them. I wanted to be a part of that.’

He believes there are major needs that the church can help address by being a positive presence in the community: ‘Violence and crime in the area aren’t frequent, but they’re still too frequent,’ says Jahaziel. ‘We had a murder and some stabbings in the space of just a few weeks earlier this year. We’ve got Night Pastor teams going out which are as much about socialising as evangelising, but that’s kind of the point — it’s about making our presence felt. At the funeral of the guy who was murdered we were at the grave side with a load of young people, helping to lead the singing.’

And this summer’s riots proved how important consistent and regular youth clubs and provisions are, believes Jahaziel: ‘It’s very apparent that young people need some kind of activities to engage in. It might not be much — a pool table and table tennis — but for some of the kids from the estate, it’s better that we know they’re there than somewhere else.’

Targeted mentoring with young people, and sessions on CV writing and other practical topics are helping to pastor young people in practical ways, as well as opening opportunities for contact with parents. Jahaziel says it’s rare that he walks through the estate without stopping to say hello to someone.

A new youth centre on the estate is equipped with facilities for the performing arts, including a recording studio. A proposal to run rap workshops there has already been approved, meaning Jahaziel may soon have the opportunity to disciple and mentor the next generation of Christian MCs.

The Eden team in Tollington is starting to take shape to support all these opportunities. Alongside Jahaziel, wife Nadine and daughter Azaliah, are James, a young man from the estate, and teacher Naomi recently moved from Croydon.

Have there been sacrifices for Jahaziel and his family in moving to be a part of Eden Tollington? ‘No doubt, it’s been an adjustment. There is a sacrifice to moving to a new situation and leaving people behind. But it’s definitely worth it. If God’s leading you, you need to do it.’

Find out more about Eden.

Download a free sample of Jahaziel’s latest music at: www.jahazielmusic.com

I know how hard our Eden teams work to be a positive influence on the young people in their neighbourhoods. Yet they often describe to me how hard their task is as these young people are often caught in webs of toxic relationships. Every hour they spend with a young person is competing with many more hours spent with other people whose influence is likely to be a lot less healthy.

The fact is, Jesus is not the only one saying ‘Follow me…’ to teenagers growing up in our cities. With too much time and too little to do it’s a real problem when someone turns up saying ‘Try this’ or ‘Have a go’. And that someone usually has some kind of power or leverage – there’s often an ‘Or else’ attached. We see this over and over again, messed-up, bad-news people who maliciously drag others down to their level.

This is why I’m so thrilled with the calibre of people who have chosen to join Eden teams throughout 2011. We had a target of recruiting 100 new people to our teams this year and, praise God, we’re well on our way to achieving that. These are people who realise that the only way to turn the tide in our estates and inner cities is to go to where these kids are, to become part of their world, and to begin to exert a positive influence.

People often ask me to summarise what it means to belong to an Eden team. The answer is simple really: it is to move in, live deep, and say ‘Follow me as I follow Christ.’ I’m more convinced than ever that the Jesus way is the only way. Whether we’re in the terraced streets of Sheffield, the tower blocks of London or the council estates of the North East, making disciples is the only strategy that the Master gave us. We’re called to be those who draw others away from destructive influences into a creative
community of love called the church.

Do you think you could be a positive influence on a teenager growing up in poverty? If so, perhaps you should look into joining one of our Eden teams. We’d love to hear from you.

In North London, Eden Tollington N4 is partnering with Tollington Parish, a Church of England team of three churches: St. Mark’s Tollington, St. Saviour’s, Hanley Road and Emmanuel, Hornsey Road. Tollington is classified as a UPA (Urban Priority Area) which has seen multiple waves of immigration, becoming densely populated and wonderfully ethnically and religiously diverse.

The church runs night pastors, youth clubs, work with refugee communities, drop-ins for mums and toddlers, Alpha in the community centre, and much more, including the hugely successful annual Soul in the City event aimed at young people and families.

The new Eden Tollington team is led by Jahaziel Elliot. A successful and award-winning rapper, Jahaziel felt God calling him and his family more deeply into the life of a needy local council estate. Jahaziel is also the subject of the latest film in the Being Extra Ordinary series. In the film, he talks about his experiences moving his family on to the estate and what he thinks success really means.

Watch it now and comment on the Eden Network website.

Find out more about Eden in London and how you can get involved.

Lewis Murch, pictured, had already picked up the Inspiration Award but was called back to the stage at the fourth annual Urban Hero Awards to be told his was the story that most impressed the judges. Watch his nomination video.

He was presented with his trophy and a prize of a high-end laptop and pro music software by Chris Bowles from Awards Sponsor Stagecoach Group.

The Urban Hero Awards recognise young people who have been helped by The Message Trust over the last year through our pioneering work in schools, communities and prisons. It also showcases some of the talented performers in music, drama and dance who work with The Message.

The Awards were hosted by Message Trust founder and CEO Andy Hawthorne OBE, himself recently recognised in the Queens Birthday Honours List.

Over 700 people gathered to see the young people presented with their awards, among them Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Peter Fahy; High Sheriff of Greater Manchester Christine Lee Jones; Lord and Lady Edmiston; MPs Paul Goggins and Fiona Bruce; and Councillors Afzal Khan and Sameem Ali.

Exceptional winners

The six award winners took to the stage to rapturous applause.

Drama student Georgia Houghton won the Courage Award for overcoming an abusive relationship that almost drove her to suicide. Watch her nomination video.

The Volunteer Award was presented to Anth Brown for his work with young men coaching football on the Easterside estate in Middlesbrough. Watch his nomination video.

Stacey Murray received the Achiever Award for her strength of character displayed as she rebuilt her life after five consecutive prison sentences on drugs charges. Watch her nomination video.

The Champion Award went to Nina Whittaker from Harpurhey whose work with young girls in her community has helped many find a sense of self-worth and identity. Watch her nomination video.

And Laura Neilson was honoured with a special award for Enterprise for her amazing entrepreneurial work setting up new health practices in four of Greater Manchester’s underprivileged communities. Watch her nomination video.

Wonderful generosity

Thanks to the generosity of our guests on the night The Message raised a wonderful £119,286 towards our pioneering work in schools, communities and prisons.

Some of this was earmarked for the new Message Enterprise Centre which is now over halfway towards its fundraising goal of £1m with almost £700,000 so far pledged.

Urban Heroes Supplement

This Friday, June 24, the Manchester Evening News will be running a special eight-page supplement featuring all our winners’ stories and coverage from the night in all its editions.

Make sure you get your copy!

Laura’s experience as part of an Eden team opened her eyes to a massive problem in Fitton Hill: her community wasn’t getting the kind of health care it desperately needed.

Part way through a medical degree, Laura put her studies to one side to do something about it. With a small team, Laura put together a Community Interest Company and wrote a 700 page bid for the tender – and they won it. Not yet 30, Laura now oversees four local practices.

With thanks to Award Sponsor Subaru UK.

Anth had a bad reputation as a troublemaker on the Easterside estate in Middlesbrough. Despite being a gifted footballer, he was excluded from school 48 times and was arrested and barred for life from his club Middlesborough FC for streaking across the ground one match.

But thanks to the support of youthworker Tony Grainge and the Eden team in Easterside, Anth turned it all around. He is now helping run a football outreach on his estate and finishing a sports science course.

With thanks to Award Sponsor Creamline Dairies.

Lewis grew up on the Buttershaw estate in Bradford without a stable father figure in his life. His talent for free running was spotted by the Eden team there and he was encouraged to use his gifts to help others.

Now, thanks to his leadership of a free running outreach project, Lewis has become a father figure to many other younger lads like him.

With thanks to Award Sponsor Discover Holidays.

Nina wanted to set up a youth club to help girls in her local area, Harpurhey, because nothing existed at that point.

Showing impressive leadership, Nina and a mate applied for funding from the council and got it – and now there is a club which is very successfully attracting and helping young girls regularly in this disadvantaged part of the city.

With thanks to Award Sponsor The Grand.