Hi Everyone,
It’s been a busy and exciting month here at the Eden Network.
Many of you have been watching our
Being Extra Ordinary films and there are now 4, filmed all over the country. We were very excited this month when they won an award at the Christian Broadcasting Council Media Awards 2011. Matt Wilson collected the award on behalf of our Message Creative team who have done an amazing job capturing the real-life stories of our team members and their neighbours and hopefully breaking down the assumption that you need to be a superhero to be involved in this kind of ministry. You can watch and comment on the films here
www.eden-network.org
A week ago another three applicants for Eden came to visit teams here in Manchester and we had a great day chatting with them about their heart for urban communities and our experiences of reaching out to young people and their families. Please pray for these people as they continue to discern God’s call on their lives and for another four applicants who are coming to visit on 4th June.
This week we hosted our Eden Partners Day here in Manchester where 50 of our Eden Church leaders and Eden Team Leaders gathered to inspire, encourage and share together. It was a day of real vision with Billy Kennedy of the Pioneer Network speaking on Partnership and Matt Wilson sharing on ‘Being & Doing’. These talks are being uploaded onto our website and will be available to download next week so do check them out, I know you will be encouraged and inspired.
Please pray for us this weekend as we will have an Eden exhibition at Big Church Day Out in West Sussex. Matt Wilson will be speaking on main stage each day and LZ7 and hip hop artist and Eden Team Leader Jahaziel Elliot will be performing. This is a great opportunity to reach a massive audience with the challenge of Eden, to live ‘Christianly’, following Jesus in transforming a community from the inside out. Please pray for us to meet the people God has already been at work in and that we might see more volunteers joining our Eden teams as a result of this weekend.
Eden Network is an initiative of The Message Trust and our parent charity is an amazing and creative place with bands, prison's workers and a theatre company all reaching out to young people across Greater Manchester. If you would like to find out more about The Message you can come and visit us at our
Open Day on 2nd July. I will be there representing Eden with some of our Eden team leaders and there'll also be games for the kids and a free barbeque so come and join us! You can find out more at
www.message.org.uk Thanks you so much for your prayers and support for Eden, I’m increasingly aware of the amazing potential of Eden to be a simple provocation to so many Christians to challenge their culture and serve the poor around them. Our desire as a Network is to see God’s Kingdom come more fully in our urban communities and in your prayers, encouragements and finance you are supporting the volunteers who make this a reality. It’s not about us it’s all about Him and we’re privileged to serve Him in this way.
Blessings,
Anna
National Development Coordinator
