You only have to look around a normal prayer meeting to realise that young people don’t seem to be catching a passion for prayer. They tend to be mostly older ladies, very few men, virtually no young people.

I went to America a few years ago for a youth gathering called The Ramp. There the Lord massively impacted my life and my heart was stirred for prayer in a way it had never been before.

It seemed that because I was around people that carried a heart of prayer and intercession, I caught something that stirred what was already inside me. I realised: maybe young people that are not giving themselves to prayer simply because they’re not around others who are. Intercession is more caught than taught.

The truth is, sometimes you don’t know you’re asleep until you wake up. Many people are asleep, but until they begin to get around people that are burning for God and are carrying this passion, they don’t know how much lukewarm-ness or complacency has got into them. We need to allow a zeal for God to be something that we’re not ashamed of, and just give God everything with our hearts and our soul, our might and our strength.

We’re seeing a lot of people come with addictions and distractions and the compromise is removed from their lives. There’s just a new focus – they go back to their churches and get involved in prayer. They start prayer groups themselves.

That’s what we want to see God do through Prayer Storm. We want to see a whole generation catching a heart for prayer because God captures them.

The next Prayer Storm takes place on 19 February 2011.

It follows another powerful Prayer Storm event earlier this month.

James Aladiran explains the vision behind Prayer Storm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7Yxb-Ds2M0[/youtube]

How to get to Prayer Storm

To get to the Sanctuary by public transport take a bus to Piccadilly Gardens and then get a tram toBroadway Station in the direction of Salford. Click here for tram times from Piccadilly Gardens.The Sanctuary is only a 3 minute walk from the tram station, just click here for map to walk from Broadway Tram station.

More about Prayer Storm

To keep updated with what Prayer Storm is up to, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook or signup to receive email updates on the Prayer Storm home page.

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A key strand of The Message’s work with young people is in the North West’s young offenders’ institutions. We spent time with the Reflex team to find out more.

Most people have no real concept of what life in prison is like. Our impressions from TV or fiction will be of a lonely, hopeless place; a long wait for freedom.

But imagine if, even before you reached adulthood, you found yourself being punished for a bad decision you made and facing a long stretch behind bars.

For the approximately 2,000 young offenders in prisons across the North West and several hundred more in juvenile units, this is the desperate reality.

With convictions ranging from violent and sexual offences, to robbery, burglary, and drug offences, many are facing sentences which will steal many of their best years. And upon release, they’ll face even bigger challenges of resettlement and reintegration into society. Their sentence won’t end when they walk out of the prison gates.

‘We do everything we can to give hard-to-reach young people vision and hope, to stop them making the kinds of mistakes that will land them in prison,’ says Message CEO Andy Hawthorne. ‘But we realised that for some, we were getting there too late. More than anything, lads and girls in prison need to hear about Jesus and be offered the hope that only he can bring.’

Reflex mainly works with young offenders: in other words, young men and women convicted of a criminal offence between the ages of 18 and 21.  But they also work with juvenile offenders aged 17 and under.  Most are male but some 16% are female.

Simon Sullivan manages the Reflex team of four full-time staff, two interns and a large team of volunteers. He’s been working with the Message since 2006 when he felt God call him away from a 20 year career in engineering:

‘There’s such a need for Christian workers in Young Offenders’ Institutes. Even though prison chaplains do fantastic work, not many have worked with young people or know what to do with them. Reflex came about to work alongside them in doing a difficult and important job.’

Reflex’s work in prisons began with Sunday meetings and Alpha courses run out of the chaplaincies in the region’s young offenders’ institutions: Forest Bank, Styal, Thorn Cross and Hindley.

But over the last few years, the team has developed a broader and more holistic programme designed to address what experts say are the four main reasons young people offend. Crime among young people frequently stems from a lack of positive role models, low self-esteem and confidence, a lack of achievement and non-constructive use of leisure time.

Simon sees it as no coincidence that the very things that experts name as the root causes of offending are also the four main ways Reflex positively affects the young offenders they come into contact with.

‘We’re spiritual fathers, significant role models, to loads of lads and girls. They are learning to be fathered. Once they’ve got that, they’ve got security and self-esteem. Jesus said “knowing the truth sets you free”. Once they get that truth, they can be free.’

To help address endemic low self-esteem among young offenders, the Reflex team aims to show them their true identity as people made in the image of God.

They emphasise that God has a plan and purpose for each young person, showing what true achievement looks like and giving them a sense of purpose to move on, living productive lives.

Reflex’s work of building relationships and releasing potential among young offenders now spans first-contact detached work on the prison wings through to help with resettlement back into the community.

Many young offenders first meet the team during ‘association’– daily leisure time.  But the team runs several accredited courses during the day, such as the ‘Uncut’ course which helps young offenders to open up about their past, challenges their behaviour and brings them into contact with forgiveness and grace.

Together with Prison Fellowship and chaplaincy staff, Reflex also delivers Sycamore Tree, a restorative justice project that brings together victims of crime with groups of unrelated offenders.

Reflex also works together with Twelve24, In Yer Face and other specialist members of the Message team to deliver week-long music, drama and media projects. These are open to all young offenders and in some cases prison officers put names forward. Message teams set the tone but the participants are encouraged to engage creatively, writing lyrics and scripts.

Simon comments: ‘Of course we’re not going to be glorifying crime and drugs. We’re going to talk about identity and what’s next for your life. And ask the question: are you going to walk away from this?’

‘Or say we spend a week doing a music project. It’s not just about the music. What we get out of that is relationships. They spend time with us and they see Christianity proved to them, before their eyes. ‘

But how does this sort of work go down with hardened lads and girls whose lives are broken?

‘They love it. Team building, role play, games, it all helps bring young offenders out of themselves and gives them an amazing sense of achievement.’

Alpha courses in the prison chaplaincy are the way many young offenders get to ask questions about the team’s faith in Jesus, and find answers.

As they find faith, new believers are invited to join daytime discipleship groups, where they can encounter worship, take part in Bible study and pray for one another. The team works through the book of Mark, reading and discussing the text. Here the emphasis is on giving young offenders the skills to live a life of faith: to understand the Bible for themselves, to hear God and to pray.

‘Reading the Bible together and discussing it is so fruitful. We chew it up and think about it together – whether that’s a whole chapter or just a few verses. When you see how the Holy Spirit moves in these lads, it’s astounding. Even though they’re young in their faith, you can see God is doing something amazing.’

Helping ex-offenders get to grips with the real world after a long spell behind bars is crucial and Reflex aims to see all the men and women they have discipled settled into a supportive local church. Some are fed into work through organisations like Project Caleb.

Simon believes this particularly has a massive impact on reoffending. The latest available statistics show that seven out of ten young men released from the young offender custody re-offend within 12 months. However re-offending among Reflex’s clients is rare.

The team sees transformation in the lives of young offenders every day. Across the four institutions, as many as 30 young people responding to the gospel message each month. Some of the stories of transformation are breathtaking:

‘Wayne when he first joined us, his mental health was horrendous,’ remembers Simon. ‘He was brought up by a drug dealer. His dad beat him with crutches when he was a kid. The house he grew up in was raided by the police frequently. That’s all he’d ever been exposed to. When he was in prison he was attending health care all the time, hearing voices in his head.

‘When a lad called Wayne first joined us, his mental health was horrendous,’ remembers Simon. ‘He was brought up by a drug dealer. His dad beat him with crutches when he was a kid. The house he grew up in was raided by the police frequently. That’s all he’d ever been exposed to. When he was in prison he was attending health care all the time, hearing voices in his head.

‘A year later, Wayne was the one asking for worship songs in the group, raising his hands, introducing other people to Jesus. His mental health nurses were coming to our group to find out what we were doing. He was changed and his change was impacting other people. That’s what it’s all about.’

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Find out more about Reflex

On our website, you can watch four powerful testimonies, including Wayne’s, on video. Plus, read staff member Bruce Marshall’s diary on his experience delivering a media project in prison.

Prayer Storm, led by Message prayer coordinator James Aladiran, is a movement of radical worship and intercession calling the youth of the nation to a lifestyle of prayer and intercession. Explains James,

‘It’s not a one-off event. We are being stirred to seek His face like never before. Our hunger for reaching more people for Jesus is leading us to stand in the gap for our nation. We believe God wants us to be a people who pray not just because we should, but because it has become a part of our lifestyle, our way of being.’

Although the event is aimed primarily at young people, it is open to anyone who is passionate about praying for our nation.

Next Gathering:

When? Saturday February 27

Where? Audacious City Church, 5 Mary Street, Manchester, M3 1NH

Time? 10.30am – 9.30pm

Morning Session: 10.30am – 1pm

Afternoon Session: 2 – 5pm

Evening Session: 7 – 9.30pm

For more information, please email James Aladiran or call him on 0161 946 2300.

Manchester born and bred, Nathan Milnes has been part of The Message team for seven years, working first as Eden Team Leader in Failsworth and now leading our outreach in schools.

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7.30am

Early start today… we’ve got Blush, LZ7 and In Yer Face all in schools across Manchester this week. I arrive at a high school to check in with LZ7 and to meet the link teacher. Our church contact is also around all this week, helping establish a really strong relationship with the school. The sound check goes OK and after a few small tweaks to the timetable, I head off.

9am

Back to the office in time for Staff Prayers. I love this part of the job – what other job starts the day with prayer?

10am

Time to check emails, return a couple of phone calls and log on to Facebook. This isn’t a chance to check my own page (well maybe a cheeky peek!) but to check all the bands’ pages – it’s a great way for us to keep in touch and answer questions from past school weeks. We also use Facebook to continue follow-up with young people and encourage them to get along to church.

11am

Update meeting with Alan Saunders. Alan and I work closely together on finding local churches that want to do mission in their local high school. Our goal is to run every schools week as a partnership with a church because they are absolutely vital in providing prayer, follow-up and finance.

Alan tells me he has met with a local church leader who is excited about a possible schools week but they are struggling with one aspect: it’s likely to cost £1,500 and they can’t afford to pay for it. We agree to go back to them and say that we’ll find a way to make it work: the opportunity for mission is too good to let it pass by. We’ll say to them to raise what they can and we will underwrite the rest.

12.30pm

Head off to Starbucks to meet up with a local youth leader to catch up with them and find out what’s going on within their church and youth ministry. I try to meet with youth leaders across the city as much as possible.

2pm

Find a quiet space in the office (not easy to be honest!) to do some prep for a church I’m speaking at on Sunday. When a church decides to partner with us on a schools week we’re committed to helping the whole church buy into the vision of a schools week and pray for it. I will be preaching about mission and the call we have to tell people about Jesus.

4pm

Get on the phone to find out numbers for an upcoming curry night for youth leaders. We do these quarterly for youth leaders in the area to network and get some quality input that will benefit them and their ministry. It is a fact that all youth leaders love a good curry.

5.15pm

Snatch a few minutes off before the evening gets going.

6.30pm

Arrive at Costa Coffee. Tonight we’re doing the second part of a four week follow-up course for young people who became Christians at a recent Unleashed gig nearby. We like to do these at neutral venues like coffee shops where kids can feel relaxed. We always do it in partnership with the local church. We talk through the programme and the team prays together.

7.30pm

About forty young people have arrived and are sipping drinks and chatting. The programme kicks off, led by the local youth leaders and with contributions from the Message team. The girls are particularly excited that a couple of guys from LZ7 have put in an appearance!

Tonight we’re looking at more of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and how to live as a Christian. You can tell that the young people are really responding to the talk and building quality relationships with the youth leaders. At the end of the four weeks we hope that most of the young people will feel really at home with the local church and become members of the youth group.

9pm

The young people have gone so there’s just time for a quick debrief about the evening and to share encouraging stories from our small groups. We then pray for the young people and do the job that everyone loves… pack-down!

9.30pm

The day is done and I’m on my way home.

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Get The Message in your school

You’re only one call away from having one of our bands or theatre company coming to your local high school. If you’re a church,
 please contact Alan Saunders. For schools, contact Nathan Milnes.
 Or call 0161 946 2300.

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The evenings are led by Andy Hawthorne and the Message team. Worship is led by Andy Smith and band.

Dates for the rest of 2009 are as follows: July 20, Sept 21, Oct 12, Nov 9, Dec 14.

Andy Hawthorne writes: ‘Our monthly prayer meetings are now a real fixture of life here at The Message. They are highly significant times for us and for our city. If you can possibly make it, please do.’

Message Prayer Nights begin at 7.30pm and usually wrap up by 9pm.

They take place at Message HQ, Sharston. Parking is plentiful and free. Click here for a map

14 July at 7.30pm.

Hundreds of people of all ages, backgrounds and denominations from across Greater Manchester are expected to attend the free event called ‘Hope for the Future’.

The evening will focus on youth culture and what is being done all over Greater Manchester to help our young people.

Alan Saunders, Coordinator of Hope Manchester, comments, ‘Hope for the Future is an evening when we don’t focus on any ministries or initiatives but Manchester Cathedral is filled with Christians to pray for young people and the future for Greater Manchester.

‘The night will feature prayer for revival and revolution, parents praying for their children, prayer for young people in our churches, praying for all those who work with young people, and young people who don’t yet know Christ.’

‘During the planning, we were led to Isaiah 61: 3 and 4 which prophesies: “They will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them.”‘

Entry to ‘Hope for the Future’ is free of charge. Everyone is welcome.

’1 Million Hours of Prayer’, an inspirational prayer, initiative launches this spring in partnership with UCB, Audacious and the  World Prayer Centre, amongst others.

History has shown that God moves to change nations through sacrificial prayer. The vision of this partnership is for one million hours of prayer to cover Greater Manchester, preparing the way for a week-long conference in the summer of 2009, culminating in a massive city centre evangelistic event.

It can’t be done alone. In fact, it would take one person an entire (one hundred and fourteen year) lifetime of ceaseless, unrelenting prayer from birth to death, to reach the million hour mark.

That’s why 1 Million Hours is all about community. To succeed in time for the Manchester event, thirty thousand people worldwide will need to commit 20 minutes of prayer a day, for 100 days from May 1st to August 9th 2009.

Sign-up today at www.1millionhours.com