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

World Homelessness Week Challenge

In the month leading up to World Homelessness Week (5th-9th Oct) You can do something amazing and raise vital funds to support our work helping people experiencing homelessness into new lives away from the streets.
Barnabus Urban Harvest

Autumn and Winter can be a particularly life threatening and challenging time of year for anyone sleeping rough in our City. It’s also sadly, our busiest time; our priorities are keeping people fed, warm, dry and as safe as possible at our Support Centre.
Hopeful Future For Our Friend

We are so happy to share with you that a friend of ours is doing really well at a project where they are off the streets and can get help with their alcoholism.
Helping our friends to get off the streets in our first month back open

On the 5th August our new look Beacon support Centre opened for the first time since lockdown began in March. Our outreach team have been telling everyone they meet about the beacon re-opening and word is spreading around the city among the rough sleeper community.

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.
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.
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.
40,000 meals delivered to rough sleepers during Lockdown

The Beacon Team, our volunteers, Feed my City, the Rev Ellie and Alan and Darren (our delivery team) have now cooked and delivered over 40,000 meals to people experiencing homelessness in Manchester. As we prepare to hand over the food provision to the hotels which are housing people experiencing homelessness we are taking the opportunity to reflect on the last three months and everyone that has made it possible.
Donate Items

During this Covid 19 crisis we've cooked and delivered 40,000 meals to rough sleepers in emergency accommodation so that they could self isolate and keep safe, while ensuring they have essential supplies and food. We are also out on early morning outreach to support rough sleepers who may be new due to this crisis or mentally unable to cope with being indoors.
End of week blog 15/05/2020

Last week we reached a milestone. Since the start of lockdown we have prepared, cooked and delivered over fifteen thousand meals to vulnerable people and people experiencing homelessness in Manchester. We spoke to some of our staff and volunteers to hear what their thoughts are on reaching this milestone.