The Message Trust is a Christian charity working to improve the lives of people in the UK and beyond through work in schools, prisons and communities.[1]
In 2018, The Message was named the Best Not-For-Profit To Work For in the Sunday Times' annual Best Companies survey.[3]
Andy Hawthorne outside Message Trust Manchester HQ, July 2014
History
The history of The Message is told in Andy Hawthorne's books, The Message 20 - Celebrating Two Decades of Changed Lives,[4] and Diary of a Dangerous Vision.[5]
The Message Trust has its roots in a week-long youth event that took place at the Manchester Apollo in 1988, Message '88. Founder and current CEO Andy Hawthorne together with his businessman brother Simon felt stirred to present the Christian gospel message relevantly to the young people of Manchester and organised a week of mission gigs at the Apollo. Message ‘88 attracted over 20,000 young people to hear live performances by bands and artists and a presentation of the gospel message.[6]
A repeat run in 1989 attracted similar numbers and led to the brothers being approached by a member of one of the bands involved about forming a full-time youth mission to schools. ‘Message to Schools’ was the result, formed with the express purpose of taking the gospel to young people in schools through hip hop and dance music.
As the team continued to develop a sharper focus on Manchester, particularly the toughest areas and estates, the charity expanded their initiatives from just schools work, changing its name to what we know it as today, The Message Trust.
In more recent years, The Message has expanded into other parts of the UK, and across the world, with Advance Groups meeting in 96 nations across the globe.
World Wide Message Tribe and creative teams
The Message has a history of engaging young people with a message of hope through creative mission, including the development of popular music. The World Wide Message Tribe, later shortened to simply The Tribe, was initially formed to run the schools weeks. Demand for the band to play in schools and further afield quickly increased and the Tribe went on to record successful albums which brought international recognition and critical acclaim. The Tribe disbanded in 2004, but The Message's schools work has multiplied with new creative teams to reach young people in high schools in Greater Manchester and beyond.
These have included bands LZ7, Twelve24, Vital Signs, MaLoKai, BrightLine, KineticIV, SoulBox, Amongst Wolves, OTC and NXT Chaptr; theatre company In Yer Face; dance crew Square1; sex and relationships team Respect ME and disability engagement team Enable.
Eden
As the team developed a sharper focus on Manchester, and particularly the toughest areas and estates of the city, Andy Hawthorne and team began to have a vision to see Christians moving into these areas to live and work, supporting local churches particularly to reach young people. This initiative was named Eden, and the first Eden partnership was launched in 1997 in Benchill, Wythenshawe, at that time the most deprived neighbourhood in the UK.[7] Others followed and over the last 30 years, they have planted more than 70 Eden teams, with 700 volunteers, in key areas of urban challenge in Greater Manchester and across the UK. The history and philosophy behind Eden is explained in Matt Wilson's books Eden: Called to the Streets and Concrete Faith.[8] In 2009, the Eden Network [9] was formed with the aim of spreading the Eden vision to other urban areas across the UK, and 2014 saw the first Eden team outside the UK in Cape Town, South Africa.[10] Eden launched in the neighbourhood of Downtown Eastside, Greater Vancouver, Canada in 2018.[11] In September 2021, Message Germany set up their first Eden team in Chemnitz.
Message Bus
A bus ministry was launched in early 2000, to extend The Message's reach into local communities. The Message Buses (formerly Eden Buses) are cutting edge mobile youth centres, equipped with technology and staffed by volunteers from local churches. Each week the 6 buses visited deprived neighbourhoods in the North West, London, South Wales, Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humberside, working with hundreds of young people each week.
Festivals and tours
Message 2000
In the summer of 2000, The Message partnered with another Christian youth charity, Soul Survivor, to run an ambitious citywide youth mission, Message 2000. Around 10,000 young Christian volunteers worked in partnership with Greater Manchester churches on social, environmental and crime reduction projects. The project was hailed as a success, not least because during the 10 days of work in one estate, Swinton Valley, there were no recorded incidence of crime. Since the summer of 2000, police have reported a sustained reduction in crime.[12]
Festival:Manchester
In the summer of 2003, The Message partnered with the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, to put on another week-long citywide venture, Festival:Manchester. Over 5,000 young people got involved in a total of 317 local community projects, many in association with the Greater Manchester Police. Around 55,000 people from across Manchester attended the open-air festival that took place in Heaton Park the following weekend, featuring Luis Palau, and performances from The Tribe, Michael Tait and TobyMac.[13]
The Higher Tour
In 2015, The Message announced plans for the Higher Tour, a UK-wide mission to share the gospel with young people in schools and arenas.[14] In partnership with LZ7, Twelve24 and Chip Kendall, the tour was first delivered in Greater Manchester in 2016, reaching 35,000 young people in 55 schools over three weeks.[15] Since then, Higher has visited the Midlands, Cambridgeshire, the Channel Islands and South Wales.[16] As the UK went into lockdown in 2020, the Higher Tour went online and the team delivered lessons and entertaining content through YouTube and social media. Since 2022, The Higher Tour has continued to run in South Africa in person, in schools and youth groups.
Festival Manchester
Messagebuses at Festival Manchester 2022
In 2022, a second free event, Festival Manchester took place in Wythenshawe Park over three days in July 2022.[17] Alongside gaming tents, skatepark and fairground, the live stage featured Grammy-award winning artists such as Matt Redman, Lecrae and 2x Platinum artist, Goodboys.
No More Knives Tour
As a response to the increased number of knife-related incidents in the UK, The Message started a school tour encouraging young people to lay down their knives. These lessons, supported by the police, teach young people not to carry knives.[18] Alongside the tour, The Message band OTC, released the song 'Lay Your Knives Down' which is performed as part of this tour, and at the end-of-tour gigs.
'Words and action' evangelism
The model of ‘words and action’ evangelism which characterised both Message 2000 and Festival:Manchester continued in the ‘Big Deal’, ‘Hope 08’ and 'Shine Your Light' initiatives. Supported by police, schools and councillors, Big Deal and Hope 08 brought together local communities to deliver social action and community-building projects in the ten boroughs that make up Greater Manchester. These range from environmental clean-ups, painting, car washes, barbecues, children's activities, fun days and youth concerts. In 2010, The Message launched a national campaign to spread the model of 'words and action' evangelism further, challenging young people to complete 15 specific acts of kindness in their local communities during the summer of 2010.[19]
Ministry in prisons
The Message was a founder member of the Reflex network in partnership with Youth For Christ, delivering ministry in prisons across the North West of England. Outreach workers engage mainly with young offenders between the ages of 18 and 21 but also with juvenile offenders aged 17 and under.[20] Their work spans first-contact detached work on the prison wings through to help with resettlement back into the community in conjunction with the Message Community Hub (see below).
Message Evangelism School
The Message School of Evangelism (formerly Genetik/Message Academy) is an annual gap-year programme for young people aged 17 and over who wish to train in Christian mission and youth work. Nearly 500 young leaders were trained by The Message between 2001 and 2018. The Message Academy course runs over 10 months and involves placements in The Message's community-based Eden projects and partner organisations. Guest tutors have included Matt Redman.[21]
Message Enterprise
In January 2013, the charity opened the Message Community Hub (Formerly Message Enterprise Centre), a new business and training hub for young people in the region.[22] Building on The Message's track record for mentoring young men and women from disadvantaged communities and those leaving custody, the centre has created several new businesses which employ ex-offenders.[23] As of February 2019, these include The Mess Café,[24] a property maintenance and development business, and events businesses. The Community Grocery flagship store was also opened in the Message Community Hub.
Community Grocery
During the first Covid lockdown in 2020, The Message Trust saw that a number of their neighbours in Wythenshawe were struggling to put food on the table, so they delivered 60,000 meals and food parcels to families across the area.
As lockdown lifted, the need became even more apparent, so they set up The Community Grocery in Sharston, one of the first of its kind in the UK. For just £5 a year, and from £5 a shop, members come into store and can choose 12 items of food from fridge and freezer, tinned goods, bakery, fresh fruit and veg and household goods. They work with a number of major partners and suppliers from FMCG companies who have a surplus of food, helping to reduce food waste. They also work with other charities and church partners to provide practical support, including cookery classes, money management and the Alpha course.
As of March 2023, they have 21 Community Groceries across the UK including Lincoln, Telford, Bolton, Ilford and Burnley, feeding over 40,000 families each week.
Advance
In 2017 The Message was a founding partner of Advance 2020 along with the Church of England, Evangelical Alliance, Hope, Luis Palau Association and Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).[25] The groups are designed to encourage, train and disciple Christians for practicing and proclaiming the gospel into the world. This is achieved through monthly small group gatherings using the free 3-year mentoring material. The organisers say that Advance exists “for anyone who wants to grow their understanding of the gospel and their ability to share it”. Advance Groups run in churches, homes, universities, and a wide range of locations in more than 96 nations around the globe. Course materials are translated into native languages to equip the groups and churches as they are trained.
Regional and international hubs
During 2014, two UK hubs were launched to develop The Message's reach across the nation of Scotland and the Midlands region. In September 2015, Message Wales was launched when Ignite merged with the Message Trust. Gary Smith, founder of Ignite was appointed Message Wales Director. Since then, The Message have established additional UK hub locations with offices across the UK.
Number One Coffee Shop in Manchester on TripAdvisor
2022 - Now
Urban Hero Awards
July 2008 saw the first annual Urban Hero Awards at which young people are honoured for notable achievements, often against the odds. The Awards have been repeated each year since, with winners from all over England emerging from Eden work in Yorkshire to the Message School of Evangelism programme in Manchester. The Urban Hero Awards 2018 took place at Lancashire County Cricket Club's Old Trafford ground with 800 guests.
In Christianity, evangelism or witnessing is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is sometimes associated with Christian missions.
Soul Survivor is a Christian movement, based in Watford, Hertfordshire, part of the charismatic evangelical tradition. From 1993 until 2019, it ran Christian summer festivals aimed at young people, as well as other events throughout the year. It is also the name of a church, centred around weekly worship services at its warehouses in Watford.
The Prince's Trust is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unemployed or struggling at school and at risk of exclusion. Many of the young people helped by the trust face issues such as homelessness, disability, mental health problems, or trouble with the law.
The Tribe, formerly the World Wide Message Tribe (WWMT), were a British Christian dance band. Their aim was "to communicate the gospel to young people in Greater Manchester". They were part of the Christian charity, The Message Trust, in Manchester.
GOD TV is a word of faith Christian media network that started in the United Kingdom. The network's main offices are located in Plymouth, England, UK, and Orlando, Florida, US. Regional offices are situated in India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Australia.
Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station, part of Premier, owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.
Peace Mala, is a British Registered Charity based in Morriston in Swansea, Wales dedicated to fostering inter-cultural, inter-faith tolerance, and promoting international humans rights and dignity. According to Peace Mala’s memorandum, the project aims to: To advance the education of the public in global citizenship through the promotion of understanding, respect, friendship, tolerance and peace between all communities, cultures and different faiths and, To promote human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations conventions and declarations.
Edinburgh City Mission is a Christian charitable organisation in Scotland, UK.
Andy Hawthorne, OBE is a British evangelist, author, and founder of The Message Trust, a Christian mission organisation based in Manchester, UK.
The Pais Movement is a global non-denominational, non-profit organization founded in 1992 that creates partnerships between schools, communities, businesses, and churches. Initially known as the Pais Project, its founder, Paul Clayton Gibbs established the organization in Manchester, United Kingdom. The Pais Project then evolved into what is currently known as the Pais Movement. The Pais Movement is currently headquartered in Arlington, Texas, United States.
LZ7 are an English Christian electronic dance music group from Manchester. The band was formed in 2005 by Lindz West, a member of dance band The Tribe, who had split up the previous year. LZ7 worked for many years as a part of the Christian charity The Message Trust, working with tens of thousands of teenagers each year in schools across Greater Manchester, Maidenhead and Reading. In 2012 LZ7 moved on from being part of the Message Trust and moved under the banner of independent charitable organisation "Light". The group is fronted by West who is the band's lead singer and rapper. In recent years LZ7 have moved into more mainstream areas, collaborating with artists such as Silentó and supporting Jason Derulo on his '2 Sides World Tour'.
Debra Jean Green is an author, popular speaker and founder of Redeeming Our Communities, a UK-wide charity based in Manchester, UK.
Redeeming Our Communities (ROC) is a UK-based charity, founded by author and popular speaker Debra Green OBE in 2004.
John Ioannou John, best known as J.John, is an Anglican minister, evangelist and author based in the United Kingdom.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS Acute Foundation Trust which operates 10 hospitals throughout Greater Manchester. It is the largest NHS trust in the United Kingdom, with an income of £2.2bn and 28,479 staff in 2021–2022.
The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and were officially announced in The London Gazette at 22:30 on 28 December 2018. Australia, an independent Realm, has a separate honours system and its first honours of the year, the 2019 Australia Day Honours, coincide with Australia Day on 26 January.
The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and were officially announced in The London Gazette on 27 December 2019. Australia, an independent Realm, has a separate honours system and its first honours of the year, the 2020 Australia Day Honours, coincide with Australia Day on 26 January.
The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Official Birthday celebrations during the month of June. The honours for New Zealand were announced on 1 June, and for Australia on 8 June.
The 2021 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and those for 2021 were announced on 30 December 2020.
The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of January and those for 2022 were announced on 31 December 2021.
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