What a Night!

Update from Terry Young:

220 people gathered together on Wednesday night at the Oakwood Centre for a night of thanksgiving, as we celebrated all that has happened in the last 3 years for the Message in the NE. Matt Horner and the team opened the night in Worship and then the stories began. Martin Dunkley and & Neil Strike shared how the partnership with the Message has been so impactful for their churches. Wonderful testimonies of lives transformed by the gospel through Eden’s and Community Grocery shops across the region filled the air. 

We reflected on how in November 2019 we had two eden teams and now we have 6 teams across the Northeast, the newest one being in Byker, Newcastle. Stacie Chapman captivated the room with her story of gospel transformation then Paul Connor filled the stage with all the NE eden team members as we prayed for this beautiful collection on urban missionaries.

Videos and stories followed from Sean Pickering and Joe Winterschladen. They shared about the amazing opportunities of gospel mission with young people through the No More Knives tours. This saw 15,000 students engaging with our mission band for an hour with a celebration gig at the end where the gospel was preached. Over these three tours we saw 1400 young people attend a gig and 250 plus respond in some measure to the gospel.

It was wonderful to see the stage filled with our Community Grocery team and an army of volunteers as we celebrated the establishment of 5 shops and a warehouse in the NE. As a story driven movement, we loved listening to Chris Caygill’s story. He started volunteering in our Ragworth shop and through the combination of the shop and the Eden team on site he discovered the joy of following Jesus.

What next?

There was a buzz around the place as we spoke about our new addition to our ministry portfolio – The Message Bus. Our bus evangelist, Paul Jackson, was swamped at the end of the night, as people excitedly explored the bus with its internal climbing wall, huge TV screen and game stations. We are sure that we are going to see many young people impacted by the gospel through this.

What a night!

What a God we serve!!

Thank you for all who serve with us in this mission through volunteering, praying and financially giving. If you would like to give financially to this gospel adventure with the mission, click on the button below. Any given via this link will automatically be assigned to the work in the NE.

God Bless

Terry on behalf of The Message NE team