The Dwell Project

The Dwell Project is the umbrella for all of our different faith-based ministries that runs throughout Barnabus. When people come through our doors, we don’t just offer them hope of a change in their physical circumstances but we also offer them hope for their emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. We aim to teach our guests how to abide and thrive in Christ. Empowering people into a home in Christ's love.

“In your unfailing love you will lead

the people you have redeemed.

In your strength you will guide them

to your holy dwelling… You will bring them in and plant them

on the mountain of your inheritance—

the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling,

the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.”

~Exodus 15:13,17

In Exodus 15:13,17, we see God's redemptive plan is to lead His people to His dwelling place-a sanctuary established by His hands.

In a world where we barely have enough time to stop and have conversations with our closest friends, The Dwell Project exists to bridge the gap for those living on the outskirts of society and invite them into God's Kingdom.

Built on compassion, honour and respect, we encourage those often forgotten by society to embrace their identities in Christ. Our mission is to partner with Kingdom work by restoring their inherent value as God's children and empowering them to find a permanent home in the family of God. Our ultimate vision is that as we help individuals come to know Christ, that we would see their lives transformed. Through long term support and partnership with the Church in Manchester, we hope to see them progress into permanent housing, develop new skills and then be sustained by the continued support of the local Church, to live full and healthy lives as members of the community.

Our mission is simple: to reach rough sleepers, bringing the good news of Jesus to the most marginalised and vulnerable in our city.

Before lockdown, we were providing weekly opportunities for our guests to interact with the gospel. This includes our informal service called God Slot, which was a collaborative effort- between church leaders and pastors from across Greater Manchester and our incredible team of volunteers and staff. Each week, a church leader would come and give a short message or testimony. We would also have one of our worship leaders lead us in musical worship. Following the short service, we offered prayer and an opportunity for questions or discussion over teas and coffees. This year we also started our very first Alpha course which was open to everyone that came through our doors, wanting to explore faith and ask questions about Christianity. Although the lockdown cut this Alpha course short, we were able to connect with a few individuals during our time together and go deeper with them in sharing the gospel. We also offered time for prayer in our dedicated prayer space, 1-1 pastoral support and prayed regularly for both physical and inner healing. Our desire through all of our different ministries is to see people’s lives transformed through the work that we do and for their broken identities to be restored and their lives healed and forever changed by the love of Jesus.

With the ever-changing landscape of the sector due to the impact of new Covid-19 regulations and the aftermath of the lockdown, we can no longer operate as we used to. But by God’s grace, we have been able to adapt to these changes and still have been providing weekly street outreach with prayer. As well as offering prayer and worship, at a social distance, for some of our guests who are staying at a local hotel that has been set up for emergency accommodation provision. We have prayed with many, handed out bibles and other resources to introduce people to Christ and we continue to build relationships with individuals- which we believe will be a catalyst to seeing their lives transformed by the saving grace and knowledge of Jesus! We’re hoping to continue to develop this ministry and see how we can work to meet the spiritual needs of our community, including bible studies and possibly even exploring video-based and online meetings in the future.

Pray Always

There are so many needs and prayer requests and the number way that you can support us is through prayer. You can keep updated with our latest requests by subscribing to our monthly prayer update.

https://www.barnabus-manchester.org.uk/pray-with-us

Give Generously

Although unexpected, the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown has presented us with a new opportunity to change and adapt how we have done ministry in the past, to be able to continue to meet the needs of those we serve. The Dwell Project is growing and expanding into new areas and as such we also need your financial and physical support. So, whether that is through the donation of bibles that our friends can carry and read easily, or giving your time to volunteer for our outreach/ prayer teams. Or, by simply giving financially to help enable us to continue to share the gospel with those rough sleeping. There are many ways in which you can give generously and partner with us to empower people into a home in Christ’s love. Check out our Mission giving page.

To find out more about how you or your church can get involved please get in touch with Enyo our Dwell Project Leader: [email protected].

Or follow the Dwell Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/thedwellprojectmcr/?hl=en

Latest

Help lift people experiencing homelessness into new homes this Easter

With your support we can continue to lift our friends out of homelessness and into new lives away from the streets
New Hope Away From The Streets And Into A Home

Our Resettlement Tenancy Project is just one of the initiatives that we have in place when people come to us for support. Typically, when someone gets in touch or is referred to us, we’ll provide them with a resettlement worker or a case worker. Over a period of time, our case workers will aid recovery, enabling and equipping individuals so that they can thrive independently and feel secure in their home. Not to mention be connected and part of their community.
Keep active and help others

Barnabus is dedicated to offer support and help to the most vulnerable.
Helping our friend on his journey to a new life

Our support worker Jenna recently met Jim* at his emergency accommodation in a hotel in Manchester. Despite working hard to turn his life around, he had sadly become homeless. Fortunately, we were able to help him quickly get his new life away from his past back on track and in a positive direction. This is Jim’s story…

Sad news from the streets

It doesn't happen often anymore, thank goodness, but a couple of weeks ago, someone we knew died on the streets in Manchester.
End of Week Blog 27/03/2020

What a week it’s been, not just for Barnabus, but for the whole of our nation. Last week was all about shock and panic, this week was all about mobilisation when we realised we were moving to lockdown due to the corona virus.
Success finding our friend a new home during lockdown

In July, Aimee, our Resettlement Worker, was able to house someone experiencing homelessness. This is doubly impressive as she has done this despite the challenges posed by COVID19 and in her first month back from maternity leave. Our outreach team first met this man when he was rough sleeping on Market Street in May during the peak of the Lockdown. Our support team were able to house him in temporary accommodation in the city.
Our support team are still a lifeline through this lockdown

Stephen Rowley is our Head of Support; before the crisis he was supporting rough sleepers and people experiencing homelessness with one to one support at our Support Office and Drop in. During this lockdown he is now providing support on the phone to rough sleepers in hotels and tenants self isolating in our Resettlement project. He is also feeding back to the team any deliveries or practical support that may be needed.
Rachel’s Story

Rachel came to Barnabus in September 2018. She had lost her job and the property she was living in was attached to her employment which made her homeless and destitute. She was very much out of her depth and did not know where she needed to go or what to do.
End of week blog 8/05/2020

Sadly there is still a small group of people rough sleeping in Manchester, spending their days and nights on the streets. We are now doing street outreach again to feed these people and support them into accommodation
Volunteer with us

Our wonderful volunteers are the heart of what we do and without them, we couldn’t do the work we do to get people housed. We have volunteers from all over Greater Manchester, as well as Cheshire and Lancashire, all age groups and all walks of life.
Freedom from Sleeping Rough and Addiction

We’re so proud of her and we’re blessed and privileged to have been able to offer support and be on this journey of hope together.
Helping a friend out of a risky and distressing situation

John*, a man who had suffered a lifetime of abuse and been in and out of custody, left Manchester a few years ago to start afresh. But, despite his hopes, he returned to the city and found himself homeless. Read his story of hope here...
Homelessness in Manchester

If you’ve walked the streets of Manchester, you’ve almost certainly passed by a rough sleeper. In fact, you’ve probably noticed that there are more people living and sleeping out on the streets. In 2010, the official rough sleeper figure was 7. In 2018, it was 94. Unfortunately, we know that in reality, the number is much higher. Please read on to find out more about homelessness in our city.