For here is a young man once again ‘in his right mind’ after having almost killed himself through overdoses, self-harm and suicide attempts. It’s impossible to imagine how he could have turned his life around – expect for Jesus.

‘From as young as I can remember, I was never able to handle my temper,’ says Jason. ‘I was always in trouble in school, always smashing up my mum’s house, always running away from home. I even stabbed my own sister. My mum put me in care because she didn’t know what to do with me. I was just out of control.’

Introduced to drink and drugs while in a children’s home, Jason’s life was soon marked by violence and criminal behaviour.

‘I had no good influences. Looking back, 
I know I didn’t want to be that way. I remember thinking, “This isn’t me.” Deep inside my heart, I was always upset, always crying on my own. But I didn’t know how to get out of it.’

Jason was given his first prison sentence aged just 15, and went on to spend most of the next 12 years in custody. Prison itself didn’t help him – he continued taking and dealing drugs, still full of anger and unable to understand his emotions.

His self-destructive streak took over, as he tried one thing after another to harm himself: ‘I stopped eating for a week. I cut my wrists. I took overdoses. I whipped myself with a belt and buckle, cutting myself open. There was a point I was screaming so loud and for so long that blood was coming out of my lungs.’

After one of his sentences, he was so afraid that he would kill himself, he voluntarily handed himself in to a psychiatric unit. Jason was confined to a cell, with staff at a loss what to do. But then, one night, Jason had a dramatic encounter that would change everything.

 ‘I remember shaking, the blood in my veins was boiling – my whole body was in pain. I began walking round my cell, thinking that if I stopped moving, I would die. That was when it happened. I didn’t know anything about Christianity or God but I knew Jesus was speaking to me. I felt like I was getting cleansed and cleaned by him right there in my cell.

‘After three hours, everything just stopped. All the pain, all the bad thoughts disappeared. My brain was empty and hungry for what God was showing me. I asked someone to go and bring me a Bible I had seen once on the hospital wing.

‘I opened it and started reading about sorrow, repentance and salvation. It was for me! God was speaking to me. I started crying my eyes out. Over a small space of time, he built me up rapidly. Before I knew it, I was finding out I can sing and play the guitar. I can speak to people about God. The staff couldn’t believe it.’

Soon after his life-changing encounter, Jason heard about some courses Reflex were running on the wings. Impressed with his new state of mind, staff gave him permission to join a group, where Jason met Simon, Matty and Nick from the Reflex team. They began to mentor him in his walk with God.

‘They’ve become like brothers to me – I feel like I’ve known them all my life. When it came to getting out, they set me up with a church. They come and pick me up, bring me into The Message, encourage me and help me out with what God’s got planned for me.’

Jason is now being considered for a place in one of the new businesses to be housed in the Message Enterprise Centre, opening later this year. He is eager to work to establish a good life for himself and even has business ideas of his own.

‘I feel like a tree that’s come into the light – I’m getting the right nutrition at last. Words can’t describe what he’s done for me in my life — and this is just the beginning!’

‘I had a good family but I was a terror,’ remembers Stacey. ‘I don’t know why. I think I just never felt loved by my mum. I used to kick off all the time and they couldn’t handle me.’

Though she left school with no qualifications, Stacey found work and seemed to be settling down. But everything collapsed when she was introduced to heroin. It quickly took over her life.

‘No one knew at first — I didn’t look like a druggie,’ says Stacey, now 30. ‘I still had weight on me. But I started turning up late because I was using before going in to work. I ended up getting fired for phoning dealers in work time.’

With no job, she turned to shoplifting and burglary to fund her spiralling habit. Eventually she was caught and sentenced. It was the start of nine years in prison on five separate convictions.

‘It was like a revolving door — I’d be in and back out. I had no support. Each time I had every intention of staying off heroin, but I never did. I would smoke on the first day I was out, and I was back at square one.’

It was on her last sentence that Stacey finally found the help she needed. She became a Christian through Bible studies run by The Message’s Reflex team working in HMP Styal and discovered the unconditional love and acceptance she craved.

‘The guys kept telling me about God and what he could do for me,’ remembers Stacey. ‘One time after we’d prayed,

I just broke down. Something happened and I didn’t know what it was. My heart opened up and everything poured out, all that hurt just drained away. From that moment I knew something had changed.’

‘The closer I got to God, the more I changed. He filled that hole I’d been looking to fill for years, using drugs, trying to impress people. I finally knew that I was fully wanted.’

Stacey didn’t keep her new relationship with God to herself: she introduced the Reflex team to lots of other girls who saw the change in her and wanted to know what was behind it.

But Stacey’s biggest challenge was still ahead of her. How would she stay clean and begin living a productive life after prison fifth time round?

‘Prison never worked for me, until I became a Christian,’ says Stacey. ‘Then I started to make it work for me. I did lots of courses and I used the time well. Reflex supported me every step of the way.’

Her faith in God and the help of Reflex gave her the strength she needed to adjust to life outside, finding a job, securing a flat and settling into a church.

Stacey was released as a Priority and Prolific Offender (PPO), with a stringent monitoring regime. But her probation officer was so impressed with Stacey’s new attitude she was released from the scheme within seven months — the quickest time on record. Stacey has now been home two years.

‘I look back and think, who was that person? If I hadn’t met the Reflex team and become a Christian, I’d have been in and out of prison for the rest of my life.

‘I couldn’t have done it without them.’

But someone did — Jesus. ‘I’d left Manchester to get away from the drugs scene I was in and try to beat my own addiction. I was only there for two days, when I met some guys who started telling me about Jesus. They started praying for me, and I had this amazing rush all through my body. It was better than any drugs I’d ever had. It was the Holy Spirit.’

He gave his life to Christ and immediately began telling others about being born again. A natural evangelist, Adam amazed others as he led people to Jesus on the streets.

Just months later though, it all fell apart. Adam was laid off a job he’d found to start getting his life back on track. Down, depressed, his pride broken, Adam set off on a bender:     ‘I hit self-destruct again. I still had issues in my heart from when I was younger. One night I went wild and I knocked two lads out so badly, I knew I’d get sent down.’

Adam did the only thing he thought he could do — he ran. But back home in Manchester, the Holy Spirit convicted him again. He drove back to Newcastle and handed himself in.

‘I got on my knees and repented. I said to God, I want to really give you my life and lay it down. I want to leave all that stuff at the cross and move on with you… But if a prison sentence is what it takes for me to get back on track with you, then amen.’

Adam was convicted of two counts of GBH but CCTV evidence meant he was spared a prison stretch. Instead, he was given a two-year suspended sentence, a large fine and 180 hours of community service.

‘I prayed and I prayed, “God, I needed a good church, and  to get around people who really love you.”’

God answered his prayer when he started community service. Adam was sent to work on clearing the derelict site which will soon house the Message Enterprise Centre. One morning, he felt God tell him to come into The Message office next door to the site and on his next break he did. Members of the Reflex team helped him get plugged into a church and introduced him to Andy Hawthorne who recognised in Adam exactly the sort of person the M.E.C. will help.

Adam is excited about how the Message Enterprise Centre is going to help him and other lads like the ones he worked with on community service: ‘It’s obvious why people continue to offend: it’s all they know. If you only know one thing, you’re going to carry on doing that thing.

‘It’s so important that the Enterprise Centre is going to be there to point people in the right direction and give young guys like me godly wisdom and guidance. From seeing these business people, how they live, what they’ve got in life, how they are around people, I believe you’ll get huge breakthrough.’

More about the Message Enterprise Centre

‘Our journey to Gorton actually started decades ago when Mike chose to support Manchester City at age 11. As a family, we’re all season ticket holders and we often used to come all the way up to watch them play from our old home in Whiteley, near Portsmouth.

Years of praying for an opportunity to serve God somewhere as a family came to an end when we heard an interview on Premier Radio mentioning Eden.  It sounded like just what we were looking for: being able to reach out to a poor community on our doorstep.

So I looked into it online and saw they were looking for people in Gorton, Manchester. Mike suddenly piped up, ‘That’s where we stay in a hotel when we go up to watch City!’ It turned out we drove through Gorton regularly but had never realised it.

The differences between our old home and Gorton were stark. The crime rate in Gorton is sky high, whereas in Whiteley it was next to nothing. We’d been away for the weekend before and left the front door open by accident! We left our car unlocked all the time.

In Gorton on the other hand, we had stuff nicked from outside our house on our first night here. And we were burgled almost six months to the day of moving in. I was praying for an opportunity to get to know our neighbours better – I didn’t expect it to be a burglary!

Our two boys, William and Harrison, were a key part of our move. The fact the boys were so young had almost stopped us going on mission in the past – what if their education suffered or they were bullied? But we felt God clearly saying, ‘I’m more than capable of looking after your children – trust me.’ And every single step of the way, God has opened a door. At first we were told there would be no places in the local school for our boys – but two places opened up at just the right time.

We think the fact that they go to a school where there are 25 languages spoken and lots of different cultures is really healthy for them. We found it was very easy in leafy suburbia to become quite complacent – life was comfortable and often not very challenging. Up here, yes, we’ve had discomfort spiritually and physically but that’s brought us closer together and made us stronger.

There are still strains on family life – not least being burgled. But even that was turned into a blessing as we all learned more about putting our security in God alone. Our youngest Harrison was really shaken up by the burglary, and wondered why God had allowed it when he said he’d protect us.

But one day while he was praying, he felt God spoke to him, ‘You are a mighty warrior’ and everything changed for him. For Harrison to have grabbed hold of that is amazing. I really don’t think that would have happened if we hadn’t brought him on this adventure with God with us.’

Don’t miss a brilliant new series of five-minute films about Eden called Extra Ordinary Lives.

The 21-year-old is giving his whole life to becoming the kind of committed youth worker who helped him turn his own life around as a teenager.

Four years ago, Allan was arrested for robbery – an attempt to feed a drug habit that had spiralled out of control. He was given a community penalty and had to undergo a drugs treatment course.

Everything changed for Allan when he met team members from Eden Westwood and Firwood Church who shared the gospel with him and helped him start afresh.

He quickly started volunteering with the Eden team, helping out with youth work and acting as a mentor to other young men. Just two years later, he was nominated for the Volunteer Award – and won.

‘Receiving the award was a real encouragement to keep going,’ says Allan. ‘The awards are a real recognition of what God is doing in people’s lives.’ It also confirmed Allan’s desire to continue to train for full-time youth work. After completing a course in music technology, Allan enrolled on a BA Honours course in Theology at the Nazarene  theological college:

‘I have two main passions in my life – one is God and the other is music. My dream is to combine the two with youth work. I want to work with young people.’

Allan returns home to Oldham every weekend to continue helping out with the youth work at Firwood, investing in relationships with young people over sports and music activities and two services on a Sunday. All the hard work is bearing fruit – Firwood’s youth work is thriving and seeing many young people coming to know Jesus.

‘We’re starting to see some of the young people we’ve been working with for a long time finally making decisions for God,’ says Allan. ‘The reason many of them have waited is because they wanted to take it seriously. One came up to me recently in tears and apologised for being rowdy and hard work. There’s real change happening – what was for a long time evangelism is now discipleship.’

Janine’s life was transformed when she met God through the Eden team working with the church in Harpurhey.

‘My story started when my sister died when she was 24 and I was only 14. I didn’t know how to deal with it and my whole life turned really fearful and went downhill.

‘I started having panic attacks and they gradually got worse. I had to quit my job and eventually I couldn’t even leave my house. I couldn’t even go downstairs. I didn’t leave my house for two and a half years. I couldn’t see friends or even my family. It was horrible.

‘There was nothing that medical professionals could do to help. They tried to give me antidepressants but I wouldn’t take them. They said I wasn’t fit for counselling because I couldn’t even make it to an appointment.

‘I knew about God but I would say I didn’t know God. But I would pray for help. One night I had a dream that I had to go to Christchurch in Harpurhey, the Eden partner church. But I didn’t feel I could go so I asked my mum to go for me. After the service, she prayed with the vicar, Mark, and with Lucy from the Eden team.

‘Their prayers worked and God started healing me. Gradually I would take small steps out of the house – just a little way, then I would run back home again. It was really hard but God helped  me. Every week it got a bit easier.

‘The first times I went to Christchurch, I couldn’t speak or even look up from the pew. That went on for ages. Somehow Mark and Lucy knew what I had been praying to God and they were so sensitive, it was like Jesus himself helping me.

‘The Eden team really showed me Jesus. They supported me and encouraged me, shared special words and scriptures and prayed for me. They were my friends when I needed them.

‘They helped me get my life back together. I’ve got a job now and I’m working with young people in the church. I took some of them to an LZ7 concert and it was amazing to see so many of them giving their lives to Jesus.

‘Now I just feel like I’m living again. I’ve known what it is to be low and depressed. Now I know what real joy is. It could only be God.’

Find out more about Eden at the Eden Network website.

Dear Matty,

I’ve been a Christian for four months now and I’m doing everything I can to read God’s Word. I read the Bible every day without fail. I pray morning, night and, when I can, through the day. I hold my own Bible study group on the wing as well as attending the Chaplaincy Bible study group. I’m also learning to memorise scriptures, one a day at the minute. All in all I’m really keeping myself busy with Jesus.

I am serious and honest with my belief and want to join a church when I leave prison – and preferably one that is like the Reflex groups.

I am learning a lot about missionary work and have a view to becoming a full-time missionary worker when I leave prison. I don’t know just yet what our Lord has planned for me, but I am willing to yield to him and he can use me as he sees fit.

My life has changed so much since being in prison. For most of my life I’ve been lost or imprisoned in my own self-centred universe. Now I’m saved, I’ve never felt so free and at peace. I trust Jesus to do what he will and my time in prison won’t be wasted.

Thanks for always being there,

Callum (name has been changed)

We’ve been working with Amy (not her real name) for the last six years, since she was just 11. She’s had lots of tough things to deal with in her life – she didn’t engage well at school and was passed around social services from a young age.

Her future looked likely to follow the same pattern as her family’s past – three generations without work, education or training. She always seemed to think she couldn’t do anything.

Amy started coming along to one of our follow-on sessions where we cooked tea together, ate and chatted. We noticed that cooking seemed to really inspire her so we started encouraging her to have a go. To our amazement, this August she had enough confidence to apply for a course in catering at college – and they accepted her!

With a bit of support, Amy’s now doing really well. We believe that showing her unconditional love over the long term has helped her to realise that she is valuable and can do something positive with her life – what a transformation!

We need your help to put another vital Eden Bus on the road. Will you ‘get on board’?

When I was younger, I went to church with my family but I was forced to go. Around the age of 10 I stopped going altogether because there was nothing in it for me. In my heart I didn’t want to be there and I didn’t feel like I fitted in.

Then LZ7 came and after their concert something clicked – I wanted to know more about why I was here and what God had planned for me. I filled out a welcome card for a Christian youth group, SoldOut Youthworks, so that I could be guided on the right path to help me on my journey with God.

Since then my life has changed loads. I feel like God has given me confidence to help other people more. I was given the opportunity to help to lead our youth group for a month, I think because God wanted me to share my experiences about him.

During this time, I preached for the first time to some of the youth about becoming a Christian, and even though I am not that confident saying things in front of people, I believe God gave me the strength that night to help pass on my message.

My life has completely changed since the LZ7 concert. They brought me closer to God and now I couldn’t see my life any other way.

I feel like a completely different person now that I know God is with me. I feel like any mistakes I have made in the past don’t matter because God has changed me and made me into a new person in the last few months.

This year’s Urban Hero of the Year award winner turned his problematic behaviour around to become a follower of Jesus and a leader among his peers.

‘We knew John from the age of about ten,’ says Ben Woodfield, team leader of Eden Old Trafford and youth worker of Urban Hero Awards 2010 winner John McGuinness.

‘He was known in Old Trafford as a little rascal – or words to that effect! – and it was clear that his behaviour was starting to get out of control.’

Until two years ago, 15-year-old John was regularly being excluded from school and grounded at home.

Anger and confusion at the early death of his father led to John making some destructive choices and getting a bad reputation in Old Trafford. But support from the Eden team and their partner church, St Brides, helped John to find a different path.

‘We began to get to know him, his mum Barbara and her partner Nick, and gradually John got involved in some of our youth activities,’ recounts Ben. ‘Through his relationship with us he experienced people’s real faith in action. He saw people moving into Old Trafford, attempting to follow Jesus in his neighbourhood, and often experiencing tough things.’

John made a decision to follow Jesus and began to be mentored by Ben who immediately saw enormous potential in him: ‘We saw he was obviously a strong character and had leadership written all over him,’ says Ben. ‘As he entered his teenage years, we started to see a change. He began to get his head down and realise that some of the decisions he was making weren’t good for him.’

John was given the chance to join the St Brides worship band on drums. As he learned to serve, he found himself wanting to put something back into his community.

His discipline and commitment surprised everyone. John started taking an active role in the work of Trafford Housing Trust, completing the first stage of an apprenticeship as part of their Repairs team. He also led the way in putting together a proposal for a new permanent play area for children on his estate.

‘John is inspirational in his commitment to see his local area improve,’ comments Michaela Baker from Trafford Housing Trust. ‘He gets involved on many different levels – he helps plan programmes, runs litter picks and gets fully involved in decision-making groups – often sitting with people with more experience than him but contributing at the same level. He’s really well thought of within the Trust – people look up to him.’

John recently sat his GCSEs and has secured a place at Trafford College to study plumbing next year. He hopes to continue his work with the Housing Trust alongside his studies.

Ben Woodfield adds, ‘It has been an honour to journey with John the last few years. He has really grasped what following Christ is about in a tough place with tough things happening around him.

‘He hasn’t lost his personality – this hasn’t been a “socialisation” process. He has met with Jesus in a deep and profound way. He’s proved to us that he’s not just saying he’s changed – there’s real fruit to those words.’

‘He would honestly say that knowing God has turned his life around.’