The Message Trust
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| Founded | 1992 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Andy Hawthorne OBE |
| Type | Registered Charity number: 1081467 |
| Location | |
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Area served
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Greater Manchester, UK |
| Slogan | Faith in young people |
| Website | http://www.message.org.uk |
The Message Trust is a Christian charity working to improve the lives of young people in the UK and beyond through work in schools, prisons and communities.
Working in partnership with churches and other organisations, The Message is in contact with around 100,000 young people each year.
The Message was founded by Andy Hawthorne OBE.
The history of The Message is told in Andy Hawthorne’s books, The Message 20 - Celebrating Two Decades of Changed Lives and Diary of a Dangerous Vision
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.
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.
A band was formed to run the schools weeks, dubbed the World Wide Message Tribe, later shortened to simply The Tribe. 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 include bands LZ7, Twelve24, Vital Signs, MaLoKai and BrightLine; theatre company In Yer Face, dance crew Square1 and sex and relationships team Respect Me.
Continuing the sharp 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. Others followed and today there are 23 active partnerships in key areas of urban challenge in Greater Manchester, London, the North East, Yorkshire, the Humber region and Merseyside. The history and philosophy behind Eden is explained in Matt Wilson's books Eden: Called to the Streets and Concrete Faith. In 2009, the Eden Network was formed with the aim of spreading the Eden vision to other urban areas across the UK.
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