Student life

Find out where you’ll study, live, serve and go to church and hear what the historic and vibrant city of Manchester has to offer.

Message School of Evangelism is part of the award-winning Christian charity The Message Trust. The Message Trust is a worldwide movement passionately sharing the love of Jesus in words and actions with the hardest-to-reach young people and communities. 

Message School of Evangelism is based at the charity’s headquarters in Manchester, UK. Much of the life of the school is interwoven with the work of the charity including their Community Groceries, Eden teams, prisons work and schools outreach.

On campus you’ll find The Mess Café, a music studio, a Community Grocery, a Community Clothing Store, our prayer cabin and the events venue where we gather to pray and worship each morning with Message staff. All the facilities are available to students to book or use. 

Study and prayer spaces

Our classroom is equipped with individual study desks that make it easy to take notes during class. Free, fast and reliable wifi is available throughout the building. There’s also a space with sofas to relax between sessions, chat with friends or gather for group discussion. A separate study space with a library next door to the classroom is reserved for MSE students during term-time.

Prayer is a central part of life at the school and there is a dedicated prayer cabin open all day. The space is equipped with art materials for creative worship, a keyboard for sung worship, Bibles and plenty of space to gather individually or in groups.

Accommodation

You’ll live in shared accommodation with other MSE students. All bedrooms are single rooms with shared bathrooms and kitchens. There are budget supermarkets nearby as well as a doctors, pharmacy, library, gym and swimming pool. Travelling to The Message campus is easy, either on foot or by bus. Some students choose to buy a bicycle to get around, with new or second-hand options available locally. A tram line connects you to the city centre and others parts of Manchester.

At the Message we want to see Jesus’ love shared in urban estates and inner cities, as we know it’s where people often feel forgotten. That’s why our students housing is in Wythenshawe, a neighbourhood in the south of Manchester where The Message Trust has their headquarters.

Wythenshawe is a great place with a strong community spirit but is also a town named as one of the top 10% most deprived in England (2025 Indices of Multiple Deprivations). Here people can face a wide range of challenges including poor health, limited access to jobs and the financial strain of the cost-of-living crisis.

As they live here and get to know the community, students are on mission from day one and are given opportunities to share Jesus in a variety of different ways. From serving in our two nearby Community Groceries and getting involved in their churches’ outreach to talking to people in the streets and being part of local youth work, there’s lots of ways students are involved in the life of Wythenshawe.

Church

Being an active part of a local church is essential to your School of Evangelism experience. Students will be placed with one of two partner churches in Wythenshawe:

Message Community Church meets at the Message campus in the north of Wythenshawe and grew out of the charity’s work to serve the local community. People from the local community are regularly giving their lives to Christ and learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus. 

William Temple Church meets in its own building in the south of Wythenshawe. This fairly new congregation is a Church of England ‘church plant’ with a vision to do something new in the old building and support their neighbours to love Jesus, discover purpose and build community.

Manchester is a city bursting with history and culture from theatres, art galleries, museums and live music venues to shopping and two world-class football teams. And many activities are free. Home to communities from all around the world, you can enjoy food from every continent even on a budget. It’s easy to reach the city centre by tram or bus from Wythenshawe. Popular central areas like Ancoats which is known for its restaurants, mills and marina, and the Northern Quarter which is known for its street art and creative studio spaces are perfect Saturday trips.

Beyond the city centre there are lots of neighbourhoods that were once separate villages for you to explore. Visit Chorlton for independent shops and cafes or Didsbury for great charity shop finds and a picturesque park. Sale offers walks along the canal and an independent cinema whilst Altrincham is home to the popular market house. The Trafford Centre is a big shopping mall on the edge of the city with a cinema, bowling, arcade and restaurants. All of these destinations can be reached easily by public transport.

Much more to North West England

Manchester sits in the north west of England and is surrounded by popular national parks like the Peak District and Lake District. These are easily reached by train from the city centre and full of walking routes, cycle tracks and rolling countryside. An hour or so away are the world-famous castles and coastline of North Wales. Enjoy a day at a traditional seaside town like Llandudno with a walk on the pier and trip in the cable car. Or visit the bustling cities of Liverpool and Chester, each full of history, music, food and shopping. Even capital cities London, Edinburgh and Cardiff are just a few hours away by train.

A little closer to home you can visit country houses and deer parks, stroll in beautiful gardens and soak in the history of this area. From the cotton mills at the beating heart of the Industrial Revolution to the gorgeous mansions that featured in films and television shows there’s so much to see. You might like to try Quarry Bank Mill, Chatsworth House, Lyme Park and Dunham Massey.