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The Eden Puzzle

Eden in Manchester

The Eden Project in Manchester is a curious story of an urban youth ministry involved in church planting. It is noteworthy for its effectiveness, and intriguing for the unconventional methods they use. Their story challenges many of the commonly held views of how middle class Christians effectively engage in tough urban contexts.

One key convention The Eden Project breaks is the use of large planting teams in their mission as opposed to small planting teams. Large teams are usually warned against for their tendencies to dominate, to takeover and to patronise if they are made up of middle class professionals moving down an economic or education scale. Yet Eden has encouraged large teams, made up of both full-time Christian workers and those with secular jobs, to move to and live on the estates where they work.

How and why has this approach worked? This issue, The Eden Puzzle, reflects in depth on one strand of the Eden story in the area of Swinton and notes their instincts to work with long-term timescales and partner well with local schools in connecting with the teenagers of the area and local churches to sustain the ministry begun. Deeper still, an expression of authentic Christian community has proven to be a necessary foundation for their work. Order this issue to read the story in full.

The Message Trust's website on Eden Projects: Eden projects