Barnabus began in August 1991, when Peter Green went and sat in Piccadilly Gardens with a bag of sandwiches and a thermos flask, waiting for the homeless and hungry to pay him a visit.

From those roots we opened The Beacon, our drop in centre, in 2000, which has continued to grow over the years.  We now provide full breakfasts, free of charge, two mornings a week for anywhere up to sixty people a day.  Toilets, showers and laundry facilities are also available.  The Beacon is undergoing refurbishment at the moment, and we hope to reopen our doors to our friends at the beginning of September (2007).

As well as these facilities, we run literacy and numeracy classes, an over 40's session, ladies day, and our very own Barnabus football team, which acts as a wonderful outreach to young men with very little direction in their lives.

Our evening outreach remains central to our ministry.  We have a dedicated team of volunteers who work from our kitchen-trailer unit three nights a week, delivering hot drinks and sandwiches to our friends, and providing support and a listening ear.  There is also a small team of nurses who work on one evening a week, providing basic medical care to those who need it among the one hundred to one hundred and fifty people who can come along on any one night.

We also have Men's and Women's Support Workers, who make regular visits to local prisons, providing support to people at their most vulnerable, whether that is when they first arrive on conviction, or helping them reorganise their lives upon release.  Our women's outreach also involves work in Manchester's Red Light District where we work amongst the women involved in prostitution, who can come along for a cup of tea and a bit of TLC, as well as general medical advice.

We are very grateful for the links with churches and our many friends across our city, who uphold us in prayer, and whose generous donations and gifts such as toiletries and food, as well as sandwiches for our evening ministry, are central to our continuation of the work our Lord has placed upon our hearts.