Come and see for yourselves what goes on at Message HQ and find out more about our exciting plans for the future!

At our Open Day on Saturday 2 July you can hear the latest vision from Andy Hawthorne, sing along with our bands, engage with In Yer Face Theatre Company, come on board our mobile youth club, the Eden Bus, enjoy street games with the Eden teams and break out with Reflex.

There is also an opportunity to go behind the scenes, meeting the crew that keeps The Message on the road, including our creative and technical staff who will be hosting fun activities and sharing with you what goes on day to day. Plus there will be free food, drinks and ice creams and prizes to be won along the way.

It all starts at 11am and goes on until 3pm and is a must for all friends of The Message – and it’s completely free of charge. It would be great if you’re able to tell us you’ll be coming, but you don’t need to book and can turn up on the day.

For further information, please email Jo Nicholson at: jo.nicholson@message.org.uk

The latest Flow Podcast is now out, packed full of great news from our work in schools, communities and prisons.

Hosted by Ian Henderson, this regular ‘behind-the-scenes’ update is designed to fuel your faith and guide your prayers for The Message.

Here’s what’s on the April 2011 Flow Podcast:

Andy talks about his hero George Verwer, who came to speak at our Message Prayer Day last month: ‘He has this incredible anointing of raw passion, humility, humanity, vision, faith… he’s like a whirlwind’. (Download his talk on the Message Podcast too.)

We hear the latest from the big Eden adventure: Our biggest need is workers – the opportunities are growing faster than the applicants coming forward. Could it change your life too?

In Yer Face (Christian) Theatre Company are in the studio talking about their brilliant two new members Emily and John, and how their hard-hitting theatre works at communicating the gospel in schools and prisons and encouraging people to discover God’s Word.

Lindz West from LZ7 talks about how the This Little Light single has ramped up their effectiveness in schools and how they’ve seen lives turned around in Manchester and further afield.

Don’t miss this fantastic faith-building hour – listen now!

View (and subscribe) to the Flow Podcast in iTunes

Listen to latest teaching and media from The Message on the main Message Podcast

Message Supporters now have a great new way to stay in touch with everything we’re up to in schools, communities and prisons: the Flow Podcast.

Hosted by Mission Director Ian Henderson, this regular ‘behind-the-scenes’ update will fuel your faith and guide your prayers for The Message.

Here’s what’s on the March 2011 Flow Podcast:

Andy’s just back from his sixth visit to Haiti with Compassion International. His last visit in January 2010 followed the devastating earthquake that killed over 300,000 people and left a million homeless. He talks about what’s changed in the last year, recounts some of the stories of hope behind the headlines, and share how we can pray for this struggling nation.

Ryan, Christina and Josh from Twelve24 are in talking about their new EP and sharing some exciting recent testimonies from their work in schools.

Andy reviews how the recent Urban Impact Tour went and talks about how the five Eden hubs are growing and word of Eden is spreading fast around the UK.

Matty Hawthorne shares some amazing stories from Reflex’s work in young offenders’ institutions and explains how the team sees hardened criminals change as they encounter God inside prison.

…and there’s a sneak preview of one of the most exciting initiatives we’ve ever been involved with – the Message Enterprise Centre.

Don’t miss it!

Listen now to the March 2011 Flow Podcast

View in iTunes where you can subscribe to the Flow Podcast for FREE

Listen to latest teaching and media from The Message on the main Message Podcast

Message theatre company In Yer Face are bringing a groundbreaking new show to Greater Manchester high schools this spring.

‘The Rough Guide To Staying Alive’ is a new interactive performance which works as a hard-hitting guide to drugs, sexual health, relationships, peer influence and crime.

‘The show pushes the boundaries of what theatre is and what it can mean for young people,’ comments the show’s writer and cast member Matt Britton. ‘It stares its audience in the face challenging them to be a part of the drama and a part of the solution.’

The performance is structured as three separate stories which intertwine to become one whole story, exploring issues relevant to healthy life development and citizenship.

The audience is constantly invited to bring their own thinking into the issues raised, with specific breaks in the narrative to enable this to happen. This process creates a safe environment for students to explore their own behaviour and choices and acts as a catalyst for promoting personal development and change.

New In Yer Face actor Emily Lawson joins Matt Britton and Brenda Noble in the three-strong cast.

Find out more about In Yer Face

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

Four exceptional youngsters and a pioneering group from Greater Manchester are to be honoured on Friday at our third annual Urban Hero Awards.

The awards recognise young people who have made exceptional contributions to their local communities over the last year – or have bravely overcome a major obstacle in their lives.

All of the nominees have been directly impacted by the work of The Message Trust, a Christian charity working with the hardest-to-reach young people in Greater Manchester’s schools, communities and prisons.

Five category winners have already been named as winners of the Achiever, Champion, Courage, Inspiration and Volunteer Awards.

They include a former drug dealer now helping young offenders in prisons; a school drop-out now back in full-time education; and a notorious community trouble-maker who is now an active local volunteer. A pioneering group which worked together to help combat antisocial behaviour among young people in Oldham is also receiving a special award.

The overall Urban Hero of the Year will be named and presented with their award at a glitzy red carpet ceremony at the Palace Hotel, Manchester.

This is the third year the Urban Hero Awards have taken place. In 2008, teenager Anthony Martindale from Harpurhey scooped the award for services to his local community. Last year, Stephanie North from Openshaw (pictured above) won the award for courageously pursuing justice in the face of bullying and threats to her family.

The event, which will feature performances from In Yer Face, Twelve24 and Lz7 is sponsored by Stagecoach and a host of north west businesses: Wigwam, Safe Records Management, Stephensons, The Grand and Jurang.

Word 4U 2Day is the youth version of UCB’s Word For Today, written by Bob Gass and distributed throughout the world. Over 120,000 young people get each issue, published in one of three languages: English, Portuguese and Filipino.

The Message’s In Yer Face team rewrites each day’s content making it more relevant for young people. The team also narrates the daily UCB Radio version which is then distributed via podcast and accessible by subscription from iTunes.

Team leader Matt Britton comments, ‘One of the things we at In Yer Face love doing is writing Bible studies for young people…we also have a lot of fun recording them for UCB Radio, so that people can listen on the move’.

Read today’s Word 4U 2Day.

Sign up to receive a printed version of Word 4U 2Day in the post.

Subscribe to the Word 4U 2Day podcast.

Sign up to receive it by email.

A benefit concert rushed together by The Message and Ivy Manchester has raised over £60,000 for the survivors of the Haiti earthquake.

Heart for Haiti at the Manchester Apollo on Thursday night was put together within ten days of local leaders Andy Hawthorne and Anthony Delaney returning from an emergency mercy mission to the disaster-stricken island.

Booking the Manchester Apollo, they managed to persuade Hollywood actor Stephen Baldwin to join the line-up, fresh from his recent appearance on Celebrity Big Brother. He joined Manchester bands LZ7 and Blush and singer Hannah Atkins in the 90-minute show which also featured a full gospel choir and local theatre company In Yer Face.

Andy Hawthorne (of Manchester youth charity The Message Trust) and Anthony Delaney (of Didsbury-based church Ivy Manchester) returned from Haiti on January 25 They were part of a team delivering life-saving medical supplies to emergency clinics in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince and nearby island La Gonave set up in the wake of the January 12 earthquake.

After seeing with their own eyes the great need for life-saving food and medical supplies, they decided to rush together the benefit concert in order to raise funds and keep the needs of Haiti’s people in the public eye. Both men shared personal stories and footage from their trip during the night.

Money raised from the event is going direct to Haiti relief efforts through charity Compassion UK. Compassion also found sponsors for 73 children from Haiti and a number of people expressed their interest in going to help as medical volunteers.

‘I was thrilled to be a part of it,’ commented Stephen Baldwin. ‘We all need to respond to this crisis. Even though the pictures are starting to fade from our TV screens, we need to keep the people of Haiti in our minds and hearts.’

Andy Hawthorne added: ‘The people of Manchester have responded wonderfully to the call to help the people of Haiti through giving, sponsoring and even going. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the night in whatever way.’

The Heart for Haiti show is being aired on UCB TV on February 27 and 28. Find out more.

Donations are still being received for the Heart for Haiti appeal here.

See pictures from the show on our Flickr page.

The Message’s theatre company In Yer Face reword UCB’s daily devotional ‘Word for Today’ for a younger audience, and also narrate the UCB Radio version and podcast.

Team leader Matt Britton comments, ‘One of the things we at In Yer Face love doing is writing Bible studies for young people…we also have a lot of fun recording them for UCB Radio, so that people can listen on the move’.

Around 500,000 issues of Word 4u 2day are produced each year, making its way into the hands of an estimated 120,000 young people. The quarterly devotional is available in English (delivered in the UK, Ireland and Australia), Portuguese (Portugal) and Filipino (The Philippines).

Read today’s Word 4U 2Day.

Sign up to receive a printed version of Word 4U 2Day in the post.

Subscribe to the Word 4U 2Day podcast.

Sign up to receive it by email.

***

The 2009-10 school year looks set to be the busiest year by far for our bands and theatre company working in Greater Manchester’s schools.

A total of 75 schools weeks are planned for LZ7, Blush, Twelve24 and In Yer Face next year and we are working harder than ever to ensure that the majority of schools weeks are done in partnership with local churches.

Check out the ‘Day in The Life with Nathan Milnes’ story for a behind-the-scenes look at our schools work in action. And there’s more.  Look out in the new year for news of our biggest ever evangelism event in Manchester. We can’t say too much yet but it’s going to be… big.

Also next year, we are attempting to get the LZ7 anthem This Little Light into the UK charts, not so that the boys can be stars but so that we can reach even more young people. ‘White label’ versions of the track will appear in clubs from the summer and a release is scheduled for next autumn.