I hate August. I do. It drives me absolutely crazy.

Why? Because it’s right before September.

I love September. September is wonderful.

August is all about waiting. Waiting for September. That’s because in September CCM goes into overdrive.

CCM:City is a Manchester church, and it exists right in the heart of Manchester’s student population. This means that sometime in mid-September, tens of thousands of freshers pour into the city. They are noisy, messy, obnoxious and I love them. The constant injection of fresh blood into a city keeps it from going stale. New people mean new ideas, new creativity and new opportunities.

We planted CCM:City five years ago because we wanted to reach into the heart of Manchester. We wanted to capture something of Manchester’s youthful energy in a church. We had a sneaky feeling that we could plant dozens and dozens of churches across Manchester with the help of students.

So that means we go freshers crazy.

So in August I sit in front of my computer emailing, blogging, and hammering social media all in the hope that there’s an 18 year old out there who fancies changing Manchester forever.

August drives me crazy.