Flow Magazine – Issue 16 by The Message Trust

THE MAGAZINE OF THE

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IS THE P I H S 'WOR MISSION' F FUEL O IEW WITH V INTER T REDMAN MAT

About the Cover

Editor: Alistair Metcalfe Associate Editor: Ian Rowbottom Senior Art Director & Graphic Design: Dan Hasler – Message:Creative

Mo Timbo's miraculous transformation from gangster to gospel preacher points to a God who both saves and sends. Read the whole amazing story, starting on page 16.

PICTURE EDITOR: Hannah Beatrice Prittie Graphic Design: Hannah Beatrice Prittie Matt Varah Wilson Bethan Wilson Contributors: Andy Hawthorne Roger Sutton Sid Williams Subscription & Supporter Enquiries: E: info@message.org.uk T: 0161 946 2300 Giving: E: giving@message.org.uk T: Timothy Emerton 0161 946 2328 Photographer Hannah Beatrice Prittie

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS INTERNALS: P24 – Albert Chipps/ South Africa Team ILLUSTRATIONS: P26 – Bethan Wilson P28 – Jonathan Ogden Contact: E: flow@message.org.uk T: 0161 946 2300 flow – The Message Magazine Lancaster House Lancaster Campus Harper Road Sharston Manchester M22 4RG www.message.org.uk/flow

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NEWS: A report from the launch of Message Scotland in October kicks off a packed news section

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EDEN BUS: You can help us to turn one bus into three in 2015. Find out how

MATT REDMAN: Exclusive interview with the worship leader and songwriter

South AfricA

the first eight months! Message South Africa is firing on all cylinders, writes tim tucker

It’s amazIng to thInk that In the eIght months sInce we launched message south afrIca god has done makIng It offIcIal Though we’d been working behind the scenes since late last year, we officially launched Message South Africa on February 27, 2014 at Jubilee, one of our fantastic partner churches. We received our final legal registration, as a public benefit organisation (official SA charity status) in October 2014.

SOUTH AFRICA: Snapshots from an amazing first year for Message South Africa

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The Message Trust is a registered data user and only uses personal data in connection with its charitable purposes. Registered Office: Lancaster House, Lancaster Campus, Harper Road, Sharston, Manchester, M22 4RG The Message Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales No. 3961183 Registered Charity No. 1081467 VAT Registration No. GB 727 177616

OUR COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT

The paper used for flow is manufactured using pulp sourced from sustainable sources from within Europe. It is 100% TCF (Totally Chlorine Free) and is manufactured to ISO14001 standards.

MArch 2014

26 28

ARISE, SHINE: Andy Hawthorne on a powerful prophetic word to us from Isaiah 60

20 TEACHING

APriL

MAY

Our work in prisons continues with some really great stories of transformation emerging from within prisons and on our ex-offender camps which we are growing to accommodate

tim tucker is national director of message south africa and author of The Pace Setter (message Books) available from our online shop, message.org.uk/shop

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more young people. Right now we also have 26 youth offenders going through our JobReadiness programme in Drakenstein prison, the forerunner to our upcoming Message Entrepreneurial Programme which we will launch next year.

JuNE recruItIng our fIrst creatIve team Thanks to a rigorous auditioning process, we selected four seriously talented young people to join our first creative team to work in sharing the good news of

24 Jesus to young people through music, rap and dance. All four will be joining with the Message Academy in the UK for six months of intensive training starting in January. We

are very excited about the potential of this new team.

TEACHING

Come Dine With Me A meditation on the invitation of Jesus.

By Roger Sutton

www.message.org.uk

Roger Sutton is Director of the Gather Network (wegather.co.uk), which connects together local church unity movements working for social, cultural and spiritual transformation.

/themessagetrust

This talk was originally given at our September Prayer Day and you can hear the full version on our website (message.org.uk) or podcast (search iTunes for Message Podcast).

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@MessageTrust

tIm's Book I launched my new book The Pace Setter while I was over in the UK. It’s a book all about multiplying leaders – something that it’s crucial we get right as we grow rapidly.

workIng wIth ex-offenders

COME DINE WITH ME: Gather Network's Roger Sutton on Jesus' beautiful invitation

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ANDY'S RANT

More than we could ask or imagine Dear friend, I'm writing this from South Africa where The Message launched its first international hub back in March. This is without doubt one of the most exciting things in my world at the moment.

It’s all built on the template God gave us starting in Manchester, and is just part of the ‘more than we could ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20) that always seems to happen, when we press into God’s will and follow his calling for our lives.

The team are really ‘firing on all cylinders’… not only do they have a fantastic new Eden team working in the deprived Salt River community, they already have several more Eden partnerships in the pipeline. Along with Sam Ward, I had the privilege of addressing the first South Africa Proximity conference in October and I could just sense the hunger for community-transforming Eden ministry across the region.

As I always say, none of this would be happening without the faithful support and prayers of so many who have helped us build The Message Trust and all its ministries over almost a quarter of a century. It’s thanks to people like you that we are now starting to impact tough, lost and broken lives not just all over the UK, but increasingly further afield too.

Not only this, but Message SA are involved with effective prisons ministry and reintegration. Their first Message Enterprise has launched successfully and they have already recruited a creative missions team who will come over next year and join our Message Academy students for 6 months of intensive training (you can read more about all this on pages 24-25 of this issue).

And guess what? There is so much more to come – so whatever you do, please don't stop standing with us in prayer and giving. Thanks so much for all your support,

www.message.org.uk/flow

NEWS

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For King and Country A scene from All Is Calm, currently touring the North West. In Yer Face’s brand new play was written to commemorate the centenary of the Christmas Day Truce in 1914 when the guns stopped firing, ‘Silent Night’ rang out across the trenches and a football match broke out between the opposing armies. Blending live theatre, songs and WW1 imagery, this innovative show draws inspiration from real life stories in order to explore hope amidst the harrowing. As well as performances in schools, churches and prisons, the show will have two high profile public performances at the Imperial War Museum North on Sunday 14 December. For more information, visit message.org.uk.

www.message.org.uk/flow

NEWS

Message Scotland launches

Message Scotland launched with a bang in Glasgow on October 4 with performances from Twelve24, an appearance by the Eden Bus and inspirational words from Message Trust founder and CEO Andy Hawthorne. The official launch event took place at Parkhead Nazarene Church in the east end of Glasgow, partners with us in the first Eden project in Scotland (see overleaf for more on Eden Parkhead). It came as part of a weekend of launch events which saw Andy Hawthorne addressing church and business leaders and speaking at the Sunday services of Queens Park Baptist Church and Destiny Church. ‘Our plan is to replicate the dynamic mix of mission that has become so successful in Manchester and beyond,’ comments John McIntosh-Brown, Director of Message Scotland. ‘As church and network leaders have heard our presentations about creative mission, community transformation through Eden and Christ-centred enterprise, they have become really excited about the possibility for new mission here in Scotland. Our goal is always to strengthen the arm of the local church for more effective mission.’ Message Scotland is the fruit of exciting new partnerships which crosses traditional boundaries. It builds on the successful mission together this summer at CLAN Games, where churches of all denominations worked together to run outreach projects on the streets of Glasgow during the Commonwealth Games in July. Over 60 people gave their lives to Jesus following Message-run events, which included powerful performances and testimonies from Vital Signs and Twelve24. Ish Lennox, who helped to coordinate churches on mission during the Commonwealth Games, recently joined the Message Scotland team as Prayer Coordinator. She believes this is a significant moment for Scotland: ‘More than Gold 2014 was the largest ecumenical initiative in Scotland for decades, seeing denominations and parachurch organisations coming together on mission. There is a new hunger for partnership and Message Scotland’s desire to come alongside and serve the Scottish church – and to tap into the creative heartbeat of Scottish culture – has found a warm welcome here.’

Visit our website to find the MEC’s Laura Wilding sharing her amazing testimony at Destiny Church Glasgow as part of the launch weekend: www.message.org.uk

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‘This is an area that feels like it’s coming to life’

The first Eden team to be planted north of the border will aim to bring transformation to a tough urban community in Glasgow’s East End. Eden Parkhead is a partnership between the newly launched Message Scotland and Parkhead Nazarene Church. The church is located at Parkhead Cross, an area where many of Parkhead’s struggles come to light – including territorialism, violence and addiction. Parkhead Nazarene is a church with the local community already at its heart. Its compassionate ministry, the Oasis Project, hosts a dropin, an emergency food store and a gardening project, as well as a new learning centre where local people can access employability support and IT skills. The Eden team will therefore help to multiply what the church is already doing but also bring a new focus on working with young people. STORY CONTINUES OVERLEAF> Image Credit: www.flickr.com

Graeme Maclean

www.message.org.uk/flow

NEWS 'One of the issues the team is determined to address is the culture of territorialism which exists among young people in Parkhead', says team leader John Craig (pictured below): ‘Although the lines of territorialism are becoming more fluid, many young people still feel unable to cross into neighbouring areas, meaning that they don’t get to access the community services and resources on offer... One project we’re discussing is a new youth café which will rotate around three different venues, aiming to reach young people before they start thinking about which territory they belong to.’ John is no stranger to Glasgow’s East End himself – he’s lived there his whole life and has spent the last two years leading the church’s community work. He moved into the area last year with his wife and is upbeat about his new neighbourhood: ‘As soon as you enter Parkhead you know that this is a community that has its struggles. In many ways the church has had to make the decision either to retreat or to engage. I love being part of a church that decided to stay at the heart of the community – and to work with the people on our doorstep! ‘I never feel alone or unsafe in the areas I work in,’ adds John. ‘There is a good culture of partnership between the church and the various agencies in the community – people aren’t doing their own separate things, but working together. This is an area that feels like it’s coming to life.’ The launch of Message Scotland, which took place at Parkhead Nazarene in October, was another sign of this. The launch night came at the end of a community day building on the aftermath of CLAN Games where a number of people from the local community gave their lives to Jesus and subsequently were baptised. ‘We were able to tell people that Twelve24 and the Eden Bus were coming back up to join the party and that got people excited,’ remembers John. ‘So lots of people from the community came to the church for the day and even though we weren’t expecting it, lots of them stayed for the evening launch event, too. The atmosphere was really good and after Andy’s talk quite a few went down the front to respond.’ Eden Parkhead is gathering pace in the build-up to a commissioning service planned for January. So far, ten people have committed to joining the new team, a mix of people, both moving in and current church members becoming more intentional about engaging with their locality.

MORE NEW TEAMS

Eden Parkhead is just one of the new Eden projects planted in the last few months. Please join us in praying for the following teams getting started right now: Eden Weoley Castle (Midlands), Eden Wyrley Birch (Midlands), Eden Walsall (Midlands) and Eden Southwick (North East).

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Questions and answers – to prayer!

Respect ME have been seeing fantastic responses to their lessons in self-esteem, bullying, sex and relationships, sexting and abuse within schools across Greater Manchester ‘We’ve had great feedback from our new lessons,’ says the team’s leader Emma Owen. ‘After one sex and relationships lesson recently, a pupil and her friend said to the Head of RE, “We had lots of questions that we were too embarrassed to ask, but Emma and Georgia covered them all within the lesson.”’ All of the lessons that Message teams do are rooted in the Christian faith and full of personal stories of how their faith has impacted their own lives and situations. ‘We always pray that God will use these moments powerfully in the lives of the young people and recently, he showed us that he really does,’ says Emma. ‘After just one lesson with Vital Signs’ says Dave Moore (pictured top), 'we were approached by a girl who was so impacted by our words that she wanted to become a Christian there and then. Amazing!’

With a unique, totally fresh sound and an electric stage presence, BrightLine have been wowing young people in schools across the North West since they launched last year. Here's some stills from their music video for their new track, Turn Your Voice Up. 'One recent schools week in Warrington in partnership with Youth For Christ was a particular success', as Daniel from the band explains: ‘In one of the schools the teacher offered to purchase the tickets for the kids to be able to go to the end of week gig – many of whom did. At that gig we saw 30 young people respond to the gospel including a teacher!’ This winter the band are poised to release their first EP recorded in-house here at The Message with the help of studio team Tim Gosden and Al Swettenham. www.message.org.uk/flow

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Image Credit: www.flickr.com

Jez Page

R O O p E h T O T S w E N d O GO

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dANIELLE STRIckLANd VENUE: MEssagE HQ, LaNcastEr HoUsE, HarpEr road, sHarstoN, MaNcHEstEr, M22 4rg

FOR ENqUIRIES: hELLO@EdEN-NETwORk.ORG / BOOk NOw: www.EdEN-NETwORk.ORG/pROxImITy/BOOkING ALSO FEATURING: ANDY HAWTHORNE, SAM WARD AND WORSHIP FROM JAMIE HIll

GUEST SpEAkERS

ASh & ANjI BARkER

NEWS

T-shirts are the business for MaLoKai The MEC is now home to a brand new business, t-shirt and hoodie specialists Unbroken Print. The enterprise is the brainchild of Message associate band MaLoKai, designed to help fund the bands ministry and, soon, to provide work for apprentices. 'For the last couple of years we've been printing t-shirts on a smaller scale, but now the time feels right to grow', says the band's Alex Greig. 'Our goal is to fully support the band with the business which will allow us to work with churches in reaching and discipling young people.'

A brand new high-end M&R automated screen press means Unbroken Print is capable of turning out more than 800 high quality garments an hour. But short runs of only 10 or more shirts or hoodies are welcome, too. There is a huge range of apparel to choose from in all colour, style and size combinations as well as a selection of bags. Delivery is also fast and inexpensive. Alex promises that prices are the best you will find anywhere, so whether you're ready to place an order or you'd just like to ask a question, get in touch now. Contact the team on 0800 148 8064 or visit: www.unbrokenprint.com

DIAMOND GEEZERS

SAVE THE DATE 18|4|2015

We’re partnering with Ivy Manchester again this year to put on a men’s day with a difference. Diamond Geezers takes place on Saturday 18th April 2015 and will feature Andy Hawthorne, Anthony Delaney and special guest Carl Beech. Get the date in your diary and look out for more information in the new year.

Priced at just £6. Includes tracks Spotlight, Fatherless and What If (performed live at Message Vision Night 2014). Eyes Wide Open is available from the Message Shop: www.message.org.uk/shop WIN A COPY OF EYES WIDE OPEN - SEE INSIDE BACK PAGE FOR DETAILS

www.message.org.uk/flow

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INTERVIEW

Naomi Plant, 19 I joined Message Academy after youth pastoring in my local church for the last 18 months. To be honest I resisted coming! I’ve felt a calling on my life to preach the gospel since a young age – but I’ve always felt very attached to my home town of Newark, my family and my church. I had to see it for myself before I agreed to come. I’m a firm believer in looking at something’s fruit and when you look at the fruit from The Message, it’s just incredible. Also, God’s been showing me that in light of eternity, nothing counts except who we’re winning for Jesus. So I want to get trained and make myself available for wherever he wants to send me. I’m excited to see what God is going to do this year because he’s done so much in and through me in the past. I remember a few years back being in school with my friend – we were classic ‘closet Christians’, keeping our lights hidden. But then we went to an event together when God broke our hearts for our school. So we started a Christian group and did assemblies. Something amazing started to happen. At the same time, God grew our youth ministry at church with young people becoming Christians and getting baptised. My prayer this year is: God, send me anywhere. I’m open and totally ready to go wherever you send me! I’m learning to let God take the reins!

We asked two of our new Academy intake to explain what made them apply for the best youth work course in the UK For me the seed was planted in college a couple of years ago. I was reading about Message Academy in Word 4U 2Day and thinking, ‘Yes! I want to be a part of that!’ It looked like something that was perfect for me because I have a range of creative skills – acting, beatboxing, spoken word, rap – and I want to develop them all, and use them for the glory of God. Around that time I also had a specific prophecy that God was going to use my music and drama gifts in a ‘creative academy’. It seemed to make sense, but at that time I wasn’t in a place where I could trust God enough. So after leaving college, I went to work with Saltmine Theatre Company for a year. It was a really foundational time where

God built into me and worked on my heart. I left knowing that this is truly what God has created me for – and full of faith to follow his call to Manchester. The thing about coming to train at The Message is it unites my heart for both performance and the poor. It’s not just about putting on good shows it’s also about reaching real people on the streets. It’s exciting that I’ll be working with In Yer Face, not just doing shows in churches, but in prisons too, and taking the gospel to different settings where people will come to know Christ.

BEN DAVIES, 21

ACADEMY DEC 12TH MESSAGE HQ OPEN DAY THE MANCHESTER GO TO: www.bit.ly/academyopenday FOR MORE INFORMATION

Come and see what The Message Academy can offer for a year out like no other. www.message.org.uk/flow

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FEATURE

Is it time for you to get on board? asks Bus Manager Sid Williams hese are such exciting times for all of us involved in the Eden Bus. You might remember reading about our plans to bring a new Eden Bus to the streets in the last issue of Flow. Well, thanks to a generous gift from a surprise donor – and the hard work of our team here in Manchester – we’re not just doubling our bus ministry in 2015, we’re tripling it! This summer saw the Eden Bus ministry make its first steps towards expanding out of the North West. Our team were up in Glasgow on mission as part of CLAN Games with Vital Signs and Twelve24, and again for the launch of Message Scotland at the beginning of October. It was wonderful to see people come to know Jesus on the bus during the summer, including one family who all came to Christ on the same day. Epic!

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MIRACLES

We saw another miracle in the summer too. After doing a (literally) four-minute presentation about the Eden Bus one morning at New Wine, a man approached Andy and offered to fully fund the entire cost of fitting out a new Eden Bus. That means, along with the bus we are currently working on (and still fundraising for — see below!), we will have two brand new Eden Buses on the road by next year. The plan is that we will have three fulltime buses, serving Manchester, Merseyside and Glasgow all year round, though we will probably rotate the buses to keep it interesting for the kids. Our building team includes our long-serving mechanic Roy, Malokai’s Andy Bell, Anthony Martindale (our first ever Urban Hero of the Year winner), and MEC building team member Michael. They are currently half-way through the exciting though challenging job of converting a regular bus into an Eden Bus. We will have completed one by the end of February and will immediately start

on another conversion in March. Please pray for the team as they carry the extra workload and have a serious amount of fundraising to do! Currently the Manchester bus is in four locations per week and recently we have seen a lot of young people discovering Jesus for themselves and joining churches. We’ve also had the joy of seeing parents come to Christ. Imagine the impact when our two new buses are fully established – it will allow us to be in 12 to 15 communities per week across the country. That’s why we’re really excited about this opportunity.

NEW WHEELS

The bus we’re building at the moment, as always, includes some zany new ideas and features! We have a tree house in it and a climbing wall the full height of both decks (check out our very own Eden Hattersley team leader and climbing expert Simon Davidson testing it out for us in this picture). There are games consoles and a photo booth as well as a nail bar and a karaoke pod. It’s perhaps more unusually laid out than any previous Eden bus, with

various levels and areas to explore. Ultimately the bus is a powerful draw for young people and has to be amazing so that the really important part – the relationships and sharing of God’s love – happens. Please consider supporting us financially and pray for us as we look for partner projects in the three cities, new bus managers as our new buses are established, and all the funds and favour needed to get this thing on the road.

REGULAR GIVING

Regular giving is the lifeblood of our ministry – we’re so thankful when somebody chooses to stand with us long term because it allows us to grow new teams and pay staff and reach more young people on a regular basis.

ONE-OFF GIVING

There is also a very big opportunity to support us with one-off gifts if you would like to help us build a bus! It’s a very tangible end product which you’d be very welcome to come and experience for yourself first-hand. Thanks!

DONATE TODAY USING THE GIVER FORM AT THE BACK OF FLOW OR FIND OUT MORE AT www.MESSAGE.org/edenbus www.message.org.uk/flow

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LEAD FEATURE

NG I L DEA WAS I . NoW H T DEA aling 'I m De

E F FE LI Mo Timbo’s story is an amazing testimony to the power of God who both saves and sends

rison bars are no hindrance to the advance of the gospel. Look at the life of the Apostle Paul, who remained just as fruitful under Roman guard as while a free man. Today, as you read this, our Message in Prisons team are working with dozens of young men and women, helping them to find faith in Christ and, once they’re released, to make the difficult transition back into the community.

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Countless baptisms, successful apprenticeships with the Message Enterprise Centre and a minimal re-offending rate among those who have worked with us, testify to how effective Message in Prisons’ work is. It’s particularly thrilling to hear the testimony of an exoffender who is now reaching others with the good news of Jesus. Often, men and women who have had the most difficult life stories make the most authentic and compelling evangelists. And that’s definitely true of Mo Timbo.

Mo was raised on a tough estate in multicultural Peckham, South London. It was a place where tensions towards the police were always simmering, and sometimes bubbled over. Unlike many young men on the estate, Mo knew his father – and even respected him growing up. But as Mo entered his teenage years, his father walked out on him and his mum, causing a rift between them. ‘I looked up to him and at the same time I despised him,’ says Mo. ‘He wasn’t a bad role

sometimes give me a £5 note to go and buy some McDonalds, which they’d peel off a roll of maybe £1000 cash. For me as a 12-yearold, that was incredible. It didn’t matter that these guys were drug dealers. They were there, they were impressive and they showed an interest in me. My dad was ringing me to check in once a week – these guys were there in front of me every day.’

model; he was a good one. He was a professional, a lawyer, and he always encouraged me to study hard, to do my homework. But he left. He wasn’t physically there. Our relationship was always long distance, over the phone, seeing me at weekends.’ Seeking validation and the approval of a father figure, Mo found himself gravitating towards a group of men on the estate who seemed to have everything he understood as success: ‘They had respect, the best clothes, BMWs, nice watches and chains. They’d

Mo, who up until then had done well at school, started working for them: ‘It was me pulling myself toward them, to be honest. They didn’t tell me to do weed or to stop going to school. They had what I wanted and I started to get involved in what they were doing. It was like a game at first but it didn’t stay that way for long.’ By the age of 14, Mo was selling cannabis in order to feed his own growing addiction. At just 15, he was stabbed five times after an altercation with a local gang – one wound missing his spine by inches. By 18, Mo was making £8,000 a month dealing crack cocaine and heroin on the south coast, violent, and, in his own words, a mini drug lord. But it all came to an abrupt end less than a year later, when he was busted by undercover police: ‘It wasn’t the first time I’d been arrested but this was much more serious. I wasn’t even meant to be there – it should have been a 14-year-old doing it for me! – But I was caught selling to an undercover officer. With the history I already had, I was looking at 12 years in prison.’

Crossroads

It looked like Mo had become another statistic: another life ruined by gangs, guns and drugs.

But amazingly, the seeds of Mo’s transformation had already been sown. Mo picks up the story: ‘Here’s the grace of God at work: shortly before I was picked up, I’d met a girl, who would later become my wife. She’d told me all about how she was a Christian and that she had a personal relationship with Jesus. This was all meaningless to me – I was raised in the Muslim faith – you’re not supposed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. But to be honest, crying out to Allah wasn’t doing much for me. So I finally swallowed my pride and prayed: “Jesus, if you’re really there, help me get out of this situation.” Within two or three minutes, there was a knock on the cell door and an officer appeared. He said, “You were supposed to go to prison tomorrow. But you’re being let out until we’re ready for you.”'

Like the Apostle Paul, the change was dramatic and immediate, a 180-degree turn. Mo threw himself headfirst into his new found relationship with Jesus, joining a local church and seeking to be discipled: ‘Honestly, I was hungry for God. I had never read the Bible up to that point – now I couldn’t get enough of it. I was at every church service, helping out wherever I could. I even started preaching.’ As he grew closer to Jesus, something began to change in Mo: ‘The first six months were mainly about me coming to God because I www.message.org.uk/flow

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LEAD FEATURE didn’t want to go to jail. But then something different started to happen. I started to realise that whatever happens, my relationship with God was bigger than ‘Keep me out of prison.’ My heart has changed. I knew that I would follow him regardless of whether he got me out of jail or not. And I started to accept that if it was God’s will for me to go to prison, then I would serve him there.’

Prison evangelist

Mo was given a three-year sentence, of which he eventually served 18 months. In that time, God used him powerfully to win souls for Christ as he shared his testimony and preached the gospel whenever he got the chance. ‘From the moment I landed, I knew what I was there for. I wasn’t in prison as a gangster and a drug dealer. I was in prison as a gospelpreaching Christian! I’ve got an audience – and my audience can’t go anywhere! ‘I could look out and see prisoners, lonely and angry and sad. What I was reading in the Word of God, came alive for these men and I shared it with them. The Word started spreading. People started coming to me with their problems. Officers would ask me to speak to certain men about issues they were facing. It was a massive mission field.’ On Mo’s first placement, he helped to grow the Sunday chapel service from five men to over 100 as rapists, murderers, thieves were getting saved. Mo moved prisons three times and estimates that somewhere in the region of 600 young men made commitments to Christ through his personal testimony and preaching.

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His final stop was HMYOI Thorn Cross, where he met members of our Message in Prisons team. He remembers it as a real blessing: ‘What started happening was that towards the e n d of my

to invest in me over the phone, or by coming down to see me. It was this “aftercare” that helped me get through those first difficult years. They gave me care, love and advice about what to put on my CVs. I finally got a

sentence, my faith was drying out to be honest. I’d been giving out non-stop for months, with almost nothing coming in. It was such a blessing to have someone reaching out to me, and helping me build some roots of my own.’

job with a telecoms firm and worked my way up from the bottom.’

‘Jesus didn’t just save me for me. He saved me to send me. He blessed me so that I can be a blessing’

Life on the outside

Mo became a free man again in 2009 and was nominated for an Urban Hero Award in recognition of his bold faith in helping so many other young men find faith in Jesus Christ. But, he now admits, he was only at the beginning of a difficult readjustment process. 'It was after I got out that The Message really kicked into my life,’ remembers Mo. ‘It was a big deal adapting back to life on the outside. I married my girlfriend Elizabeth four weeks after I got out… you can imagine, after being locked up with a bunch of guys for 18 months, I wasn’t the best husband. I also had no job, I couldn’t find one. I felt like a shadow of myself. ‘During this time, my church was a great support and many of the Message guys took the time

Death to life

How does Mo, now aged 26, and married with a young son, feel about his past experiences? ‘I’m obviously not boasting about my past but I do boast in God who can turn those bad things around for good. God has redeemed these past experiences and even those skill-sets which the enemy tried to use for bad, into good.’ ‘As a dealer I remember one time I sold some heroin to a guy in a town and the person overdosed. I got out of there – I don’t know if they made it but they were in a bad state. A few years later I was on the streets of the same town, witnessing. He mentioned he was a heroin addict and told me how he wanted to kill himself because he was so depressed. I started telling him about Jesus and what he’s done for me and the guy gave his life to Christ, then and there. Later he turns up to church. ‘So a few years ago I handed out something that killed people.

A few years later I’m handing out something that gives them life. I was dealing death – now I’m dealing life. It’s only God who does that.’

Saved and sent

Mo’s remarkable story has been made into a short stage play which has been seen in churches around the UK. Wherever the story ‘Get Rich or Die Trying’ plays, Mo will get up at the end, reveal that it was based on his own life story and give an altar call. Mo is increasingly being used by God to mobilise believers, too. He and his wife have grown a youth group from the ground up in local churches in Derby and assisted a group in Burtonon-Trent. In time, he dreams of pastoring and planting missional churches. ‘If God is going to save anyone, he will first send someone,’ he told a packed venue at New Wine summer festival this year. ‘Jesus wants to send you. There are people all around you that need Jesus. Estates, schools, colleges. God wants to save them. How can they be saved unless someone is sent?’

A Promise fulfilled

Message in Prisons team member Jo Hirst shares a recent story which shows how our work in prisons is helping to change lives one at a time. I met John (name changed) when I first started in my post with Message in Prisons back in 2012. He did our ‘4Points’ course where we explore the gospel. John was very quiet during all the sessions and just listened and took everything in. But on the last session something happened that really got through to him. As we were praying with the lads to receive Jesus, I got a word from God that someone in the room was going to go on and impact many people for Jesus in the future. I didn’t know who it was for but just threw it out there. That week he prayed and experienced God’s love so strongly that he ended up crying on the floor of his cell, repenting and asking God to help him live differently. John got baptised and came to my discipleship group for about nine months before he was transferred to another prison because he’d turned 18. John’s life was transformed by Jesus, but prison still took its toll. At one of John’s lowest points, awaiting a court case and the prospect of a much longer sentence, he opened up to me about how much he missed home, his family and especially

the Snowdonia mountains which he used to climb a lot. I was at a loss for words and just prayed with him, then I felt faith rise up and I said to him, ‘We are going to climb Mount Snowdon and it will be sooner than you think – keep focused on that!’ That made him cheer up a bit, and then and there we both agreed we’d do it to raise funds for The Message. I made sure to keep in touch with John through letters and he was finally released at Christmas last year. Since his release he has not reoffended and is doing really well – rebuilding relationships with his family, looking for work and being a father to his little girl. He is still growing in his faith, loves reading his Bible, attends a chapel in his home town and says that his dream is now to go into ministry and do what we do at The Message! In October of this year I was able to keep my promise to John as we climbed Mount Snowdon together to raise money for The Message Trust. He told me how glad he was to be able to give something back as we had helped him so much. God is faithful!

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The internationally renowned songwriter and long-time friend of The Message stopped in to lead worship at our Prayer Day in October. We caught up with him over a coffee in the Mess CafĂŠ...

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INTERVIEW Matt, we’ve been blessed to have you with us today. What’s inspired you about being here? For one thing, just sitting here in the Message Enterprise Centre for the first time is amazing, and getting a chance to meet the apprentices whose lives it’s changing. More than anything, it’s been inspiring to hear the extent of the work going on from all the reports – God at work in different parts of the country and even the world, prisons ministries, school ministries. It’s astounding, really. When I think of The Message, it reminds me of moves of God in the past – the likes of Wilberforce or Booth, people who shaped culture in a holistic way by moving in words, works and wonders. But it also gives me a lot of hope for the future. Sometimes it can appear that the story of the church is just decline and scandal, but actually this is the real story: there’s stuff like this going on all time, all over the world. Where did it all start with you and The Message? It all started with my wife, Beth. I’d seen her around the church where I was on staff and I finally plucked up the courage to ask her if she’d like to go out for a drink one time. The very next day after I said this to her, she went to Manchester! Andy had called her up and asked her to come and sing with The World Wide Message Tribe – but he told her she had to come straight away. So this girl that I really liked suddenly disappeared! We stayed in touch, but I had to keep finding ways to get her to come back to Chorleywood. Eventually she came and joined us at Soul Survivor and I don’t think Andy’s ever quite forgiven me for stealing Beth back again! What are your memories of The Message in those early days? I was lucky as I got the inside track, hearing stuff from Beth and from Mike Pilavachi, who became good friends with Andy. I was instantly struck with the passion of the whole thing. It was incredible to see how energetic The Tribe were – getting up early every day going into schools, and then jetting off around Europe doing events at the weekend. I always loved how holistic the Message was – a real full-on preaching of the gospel but with a depth of compassion for the downtrodden and the broken and a total confidence in the power of God.

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The Message and Soul Survivor went on to work closely together… Yes. I remember being in the room the day Mike and Andy dreamt up Message 2000 together – in some ways, it seemed a bit of an odd idea. Back then, I don’t think Andy would mind me saying, he didn’t really enjoy worship music. He thought it was a bit, ‘What’s the point of that? Let’s get out there and do evangelism!’ What we all realised pretty soon was that worship and evangelism are meant to fit together. What you find now, years down the line, is that Soul Survivor has an evangelistic edge it didn’t have back then, and The Message has a worship edge. And both organisations have got this care for the poor at their heart. We’ve grown together and shaped each other. So worship and mission have a sort of symbiotic relationship? Exactly. Worship is the goal of missions but it’s also the fuel of missions. You can’t separate them. What I love most is when you can’t tell what’s what. I remember being here in Manchester for Message 2000 as one of all the thousands taking part. I got to visit one estate which had been overrun with young people serving, renovating it and rejuvenating it. What really struck me was that as they did it, they were singing songs of worship – the very same songs we’d been singing a few hours before in the meeting. They were doing the stuff out of the overflow of their heart. At other times it’s the other way around – the church will be doing the stuff and we’ll need a song to sing to put it into words. That’s where songs like 27 Million, or Let My People Go come from – the church is waking up to the issue of human trafficking and spearheading the response to modern day slavery. Usually our issue is we’re singing it, but not doing it, but this is a case where we were doing it, but not singing it.

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You’ve written hundreds of worship songs which have helped so many people connect with God. Tell us what you’ve learned about songwriting over the years? The biggest thing for me is never forgetting how powerful a tool a song is. When it’s congregational and relevant, and biblical and poetic, something can go really right. Lots of people have written to me to say how much certain songs have meant to them – people who want to hear this one song as they go to be with the Lord. One couple who aren’t even Christians wrote to me to say the song saved their marriage! I get to hear so many stories that could only have been God – you know for sure you didn’t do that! These days I value team much more. I used to think the only model for songwriting was to shut yourself away in a little room and pour out your heart to God. That is still true but I’ve come to see that partnership is key as it opens you up to lots of ideas. Also it’s a powerful statement of church unity to be writing with Roman Catholics, full-on Pentecostals and people from different cultures. When you’re writing, how do you know when you’ve really got something? I have no idea! That’s where team comes in actually. I’ve missed quite a few songs that other people have seen potential in. Funnily enough, I wouldn’t have put 10,000 Reasons on an album! For that album we had more songs than we needed, and I didn’t think that was one of the better ones – I thought it didn’t have a pre-chorus, didn’t have a bridge, was bit folky. I’m obviously not a good judge. In fact, I was the first person who ever heard Tim Hughes’ Here I Am to Worship and he asked me what I thought. I said, ‘I don’t think it’s one of your best.’ Six months later, Tim played it to Mike Pilavachi and Mike said, ‘Why didn’t you play me this earlier?’ Tim grassed me up and said, ‘Matt told me it wasn’t very good!’

INTERVIEW

BEHIND THE SONGS 27 Million

single (sixsteprecords / Sparrow Records)

‘We wrote 27 Million here at The Message, after one Prayer Day. Generally songwriting for me is a longer process but with 27 Million, it’s amazing how quickly we wrote it. Beth told us the story of a real girl who had been caught up in trafficking and it all came together immediately. We played it to Andy and Michele Hawthorne that same night. It was like we tapped into the heart of God. The first time we led it in the UK was at Hillsong London and there was a lady there who had never been to the church before – she’d been brought along by a friend. We met her after the service and she told us, “I don’t know how you did it, but you told my story through those lyrics.”’

10,000 Reasons

from the album 10,000 Reasons (sixsteprecords / Sparrow Records)

‘I was writing with my friend Jonas Myrin in a little chapel in Sussex and he kept going on about this melody he had. I kept putting him off saying, “Mate, we’ve got so many songs on the go already – now’s not the time!” He’s not usually a very pushy person so after the third or fourth time, I thought I should probably hear it. As soon as he played the melody I said, “I know what that it – that’s Bless the Lord, O my soul!”, and the song came very quickly after that. In fact verse two came out pretty much spontaneously. It was really a great moment. I’m not sure any song I’ve had a hand in has had as much momentum as that one: the stories we’ve heard about where this song has been sung – Chinese underground churches, the back streets of Mumbai, India.

Mercy

from the album Your Grace Finds Me (sixsteprecords / Sparrow Records)

‘This was another song Jonas and I wrote together. It was written on the craziest day: my son had had a rugby accident and we thought he’d broken his leg; I’d ripped the door off my car in a bizarre parking incident; and I had tendonitis in both hands so I couldn’t even play guitar. It’s just another attempt to sing in a fresh way about the cross. That’s one of the key calls to worship leaders – to keep the cross central. This song is pretty special because it contains a time signature change on the tag section at the end: “May I never lose the wonder, O the wonder of Your mercy; may I sing your hallelujah, hallelujah, amen.” The first time we tried it out I remember feeling a lift when we got to that section and I’ve felt the same lift every time I’ve led with it since.’

www.message.org.uk/flow

South Africa

the first eight months! Message South Africa is firing on all cylinders, writes Tim Tucker It’s amazing to think that in the eight months since we launched Message South Africa, God has done so much. Here are just a few highlights to get you up to speed!

Making it official Though we’d been working behind the scenes since late last year, we officially launched Message South Africa on February 27, 2014 at Jubilee, one of our fantastic partner churches. We received our final legal registration, as a public benefit organisation (official SA charity status) in October 2014.

MARCH 2014

Tim's book I launched my new book The Pace Setter while I was over in the UK. It’s a book all about multiplying leaders – something that it’s crucial we get right as we grow rapidly.

APRIL Working with ex-offenders

Tim Tucker is National Director of Message South Africa and author of The Pace Setter (Message Books) available from our online shop, message.org.uk/shop

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Our work in prisons continues with some really great stories of transformation emerging from within prisons and on our ex-offender camps, which we are growing to accommodate more young people. Right now we also have 26 youth offenders going through our JobReadiness programme in Drakenstein prison, the forerunner to our upcoming Message Entrepreneurial Programme which we will launch next year.

MAY

JUNE Recruiting our first creative team Thanks to a rigorous auditioning process, we selected four seriously talented young people to join our first creative team to work in sharing the good news of Jesus to young people through music, rap and dance. All four will be joining with the Message Academy in the UK for six months of intensive training starting in January. We are very excited about the potential of this new team.

FEATURE

Eden launches As we’ve shared the vision among churches, there has been a tremendous rise in faith for Eden. Fourteen people have been accepted to form the first Eden team in South Africa, Eden Salt River. Grant Porthen is a perfect fit to lead that team – a man who grew up on the Cape Flats and whose life was totally freed from the grip of drugs and crime by the power of Jesus. We have a vision for many new Edens across Cape Town and are already recruiting for our second team in a neighbourhood called Pelican Park.

AUGUST

Grant's Story

Enterprise!

Meet the family!

We appointed our first two Message Apprentices Jade (far left) & Siphe (far right) who will be working with Jessica (middle l e f t) i n our f i r st Message Enterprise, a soft serve ice cream company called The Soft Machine. Andrea who is also pictured here (middle right) is our events intern.

At our launch event back in February, Message South Africa employed three staff. At the time of writing we now have a team of 17 people! Here’s our first all-staff photo. Check out our South Africa website to read some of these guys’ amazing stories and to keep up to date with the news from Cape Town: message.org.za.

SEPTEMBER

I grew up in a single parent home (with my mum) in a place called Athlone, on the Cape Flats. The area is known for its gangs, and from the age of 13 I got caught up in this lifestyle. I lived a life in total rebellion towards God and this was expressed through a life of crime. This decision radically altered the course of my life – my mum threw me out at the age of 16 because she feared for her life; later on at the age of 21 I found myself facing a hefty sentence for armed robbery, of which I was later acquitted. But even after being given a second chance, I still chose to use my freedom negatively –

Proximity It was a privilege to host the first Proximity conference outside of Manchester where we gathered 120 delegates hungry for God to move in power to transform their communities. Andy Hawthorne and Sam Ward joined us to give valuable teaching and training input.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

I sold drugs, and later on starting using drugs, which caused me to hit rock-bottom. I was left homeless with nowhere to go but God. I went back home to my mum and asked her for a place to stay. She graciously gave me a place to sleep in her run-down car outside. It’s in that place, in my complete hopelessness, that I found my hope in Jesus. I remembered the gospel which I heard as a young boy who was dragged to Sunday school: that if I turned to Jesus I could be saved and enjoy an everlasting life with him. I cried out to the Lord and his mercy heard my cry! www.message.org.uk/flow

TEACHING

Come Dine With Me A meditation on the invitation of Jesus. By Roger Sutton

Roger Sutton is Director of the Gather Network (wegather.co.uk), which connects together local church unity movements working for social, cultural and spiritual transformation. This talk was originally given at our September Prayer Day and you can hear the full version on our website (message.org.uk) or podcast (search iTunes for Message Podcast).

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n the fourth chapter of Luke, Jesus says something that almost gets him thrown off a cliff.

It was a powerful way to exclude people. It was like having a list on the door: if you belonged to certain professions, you weren’t coming in. Shepherd After reading from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue and or farmer? A shopkeeper? A butcher? Not coming declaring, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in in. In health care? A hairdresser? A cleaner? Not your hearing,’ Jesus is attacked by the religious lead- welcome. A tanner? A tax office official? Nope. After ers: ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they ask, exposing an that came people whose lifestyles were excluded: undercurrent of jealousy and a lack of faith. Jesus senses it and responds to them, reminding them of the stories of two major events in their history: Elijah and gamblers, adulterers, prostitutes or idolators. All the widow of Zarapheth, and Elisha’s healing of the forbidden entry. Gentiles of any kind were obviously Naaman the Syrian. Sounds innocuous enough to barred. Even those Jewish people who didn’t maintain us, perhaps. But something about his words made the strict purity laws to the full extent were barred! things go seriously downhill. The religious leaders The point is, not one of us would have been were filled with rage, driving him out of allowed in to the culture they understood to be town with murderous ‘holiness’. We would all have been despised, outcasts, intent. Amazingly, he escapes. untouchable. If one of the ‘holy’ people so much as There was a reason for their rage. touched one of us, they’d have to go through a whole Jesus was preaching a message of radical ceremony to make themselves clean. acceptance. Both stories illustrate God’s love But Jesus message is that the kingdom of God is for those outside of the nation of Israel, and not like a private dining room. While the Pharisees not only foreigners, but enemies too. For the are sat behind closed doors, Jesus stands in the middle Syrians to send for Elisha to heal Naaman of a food court, sets an enormous table and says at was a bit like us receiving an email the top of his voice, ‘If anyone is hungry, if anyone is coming through from the head of ISIS: thirsty, come and eat with me!’ ‘Our leader’s not very well. Would you come and pray for him?’ This is the call of grace. Holiness is not something Love for outsiders made no sense to the Pharisees. Their whole to be defended. This is one of the common mistakes of theology was built on a flawed the church of God – that somehow we get the idea we understanding of holiness. For have to defend holiness. Jesus didn’t come to defend them, holiness was about keeping holiness, he came to unleash it on the world! Later we read about how Jesus goes out into yourself separate, pure, away from the wrong kinds of people. And the crowds and is touched by a woman who’s not nowhere was this more clear been able to enter the synagogue because she’s been than in the question of who you bleeding for twelve years. Under the law, he would need to go through a whole series of rituals to clean ate with. himself because he’d been touched by an unclean person. But what happened? Did he become unclean or did she become holy? When you touch Jesus, that’s Of the 341 rabbinical what happens. laws, 229 were to do with So whoever you are, come to the table and eat – food and who you ate that’s what communion is about. If you’re a sinner, a with. It was probably failure, abused – particularly if you are – come. Disloyal, a way of taking back some bankrupt, in debt? An addict, abused or abuser? Jesus control: under Roman occupation, says come. The table is for you. I don’t understand this the Jewish people had very little control over grace. I certainly don’t understand why it found me. their private lives, but they could control who But that’s the thing about grace: it’s shocking. And they ate with. If you were 'really holy', you would that’s why they wanted to throw him off a cliff, because only eat with other people who were 'really holy'. this kind of grace makes people angry.

Grace unleashed

Closed doors & food courts

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TEACHING

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BY andy hawthorne n the closing weeks of last year, John Bunjo, a prophet and apostle from Uganda came to speak to us here at The Message. We know John and we trust him so when, among a number of other accurate words for us as a movement, he declared that 2014 was to be ‘the year of open doors’, we received it with faith. Then back in May, John returned to the UK and spoke to us again. He told us that after a period of fasting, prayer and seeking the Lord, he’d had another clear word from God for us: to get ready, because the Lord was about to take things to another level. In particular he pointed at me, instructing me to get away and seek the Lord. I wasn’t about to ignore that word so I managed to find some time for a short retreat. On the way to a place in the Lake District I listened to a CD by Paul Hallam, leader of the Lighthouse Church here in Manchester. Called ‘Keeping Your Vision Hot’, Paul speaks about Isaiah 60 and specifically the revival that God is bringing to his church inspired by verse 1: ’Arise, shine for your light has come.’ By the time I got to the Lakes, I was really fired up and expectant for how God was going to speak. As I met with the Lord over the next few hours, one of the things that kept coming to mind was a conversation I’d had with Lindz West of LZ7 and Light, who were recently back from a mind-blowing schools mission in New Zealand. They’d blitzed schools, building up to a big arena gig and seen phenomenal responses to the gospel off the back of it. We were wondering if we could see something similar here in the UK. My mind was buzzing. When I got back to my room, I knelt by my bedside and picked up my Bible. Although I had been reading through Romans, it fell open at a completely different place – on Isaiah 60! It felt like the Lord was saying, ‘Read this now, Andy.’ As I read through this chapter, it felt like the last twenty years of The Message unfolded before me. Pretty much everything we’ve been dreaming of is crammed into this one chapter of the beautiful book of Isaiah. It took me right back to the one of the very first promises God gave us: ‘Commit your way to their Lord; Trust in him and he will do this: he will make

your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun’ (Psalm 37:5-6). Key words and phrases leapt out at me: ‘nations will come to your light… all assemble and come to you… you sons will come from afar…’ and most of all, ‘Arise, shine for your light has come.’ We’ve been doing a lot of ministry over the last few years that’s focused on the ones and twos – pouring our lives into the hardest to reach in prisons and tough communities. That’s so right, that’s God’s heart. Jesus did that. But Jesus also drew crowds to his teaching about the Kingdom. There’s something down the generations of the church when large numbers of people gather, where the presence of God is heavy and incredible things happen. Only three times in 25 years has the Lord spoken so powerfully to me – right at the beginning when he spoke through Isaiah 43; in a car park with a word from Psalm 37; and this year, in a hotel room, from Isaiah 60. I felt God stirring new faith in me for proclaiming the gospel to the masses – and that we’ve got to start believing for something bigger. By the time I was finished in the Lakes, I knew God had given us a green light to begin to gather large numbers again. Not to look at academy-size venues, but arenas. Not just focusing on individual schools but to work regionally to reach 50 schools at a time and then put on events where we see thousands respond. Chatting later with Lindz, we started asking what a culturechanging number of new disciples would be? How big would this thing need to be to shift something in our culture? On the way back to Manchester, I felt stirred to listen again to John Bunjo’s prophetic word, that had started all this off in the first place. I very nearly crashed my car. Because buried in the middle of John’s prophecy to us – and I had completely missed this before – were those exact words from Isaiah 60, verse 1: ‘Arise, shine, for your light has come.’ I have never been more sure that the time we’re going to see the revival promises over this movement coming to pass is now. If we can be faithful, if we play our part in this great adventure, he will do it!

www.message.org.uk/flow

FUNDRAISING

WHAT A GIFT! Turn your Christmas gift shopping into a gift for The Message This Christmas there’s a way to make your gift-giving go further. Simply do your Christmas shopping online using Easy Fundraising and you can raise money for The Message, at no extra cost to you. You can choose from over 2,700 retailers including big names like Argos, John Lewis, M&S and Amazon. All you need to do is create a free account with Easy Fundraising and start shopping. All prices are exactly the same – you won’t notice a thing. But we will! The Message Trust gets a small percentage of every sale from our supporters – and that soon adds up! It’s really easy. Just follow these steps.

‘It’s easy to use, easy to get into the habit, and all for a good cause’ Quote from one of our supporters

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Firstly visit: www.easyfundraising.org.uk and click on the big green button:

Support

a good cause

Enter ‘The Message Trust’ in the search box and click:

When you see our logo, click:

and fill in your details (it takes less than one minute).

Start shopping!

Then when you do all of your online shopping just make sure you go to Easy Fundraising. Every time you make a purchase, The Message benefits!

Why I Support The Message Jody Wainwright

Director, Boodles the Jewellers

RECENTLY FEATURED IN CHANNEL 4’S ’THE MILLION POUND NECKLACE: INSIDE BOODLES

1. My first connection with The Message Trust was back in the late nineties.

I saw the World Wide Message Tribe at the Royal Albert Hall – imagine that, ‘Jumping in the House of God’ in the Albert Hall! It was just wild, feeling the power of God that night, realising that God was so relevant to my life. Don’t tell anybody, but that night I snuck into the Royal Box.

2. My wife Kirstie and I just love investing in frontline Christian work.

What The Message do is exceptional and at the heart of Christianity: lifting up the poor and needy in Jesus’ name. I don’t just want to be involved in putting bandages on wounds; I want to support work which gets to the heart of the matter and treats the core issues.

3. The Message is one of the most

innovative organisations I know.

I often think, ‘Wouldn’t it be a great idea if they did this…’ only to find that they did it five years ago! I once heard Andy talking about the values of The Message – passion, local church, community and innovation. He said if they’ve got the first three right, then anything goes when it comes to innovation. I couldn’t put it better myself.

4. Christians with a vision for reaching young

people with the gospel can trust The Message. It’s a great organisation to invest in. As a businessman, I’m busy doing exactly what I should be doing – running my business. The Message Trust is reaching people where I can’t, meeting the broken, bringing them into a place where their lives are transformed.

5. There’s never been a better time for

businesspeople to stand with The Message.

With the Message Enterprise Centre, business is playing a key part in helping young people rebuild their lives after prison or difficult upbringings. They believe they will see young people becoming business leaders themselves. So whether it’s sponsoring an MEC apprentice or lending expertise in a key area, business minds are welcome.

www.message.org.uk/flow

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BLAST FROM THE PAST

This golden boot was handed to Andy Hawthorne at his last ever performance in 1998. It now takes pride of place in his office at our HQ in Sharston.

To commemorate the ten year anniversary of the last ever Tribe gig we've made available the 'Message to the Masses' album as a digital download for the first time. So 'Get God', 'Take Back the Beat' and get 'Frantik' all over again on iTunes and other download stores from mid December.