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Imagine being part of restoring the lives of people who are facing homelessness. Green Pastures has been working for 25 years to provide a home and support to the homeless across the UK, working to house those in need in partnership with local charities and ministries in 150+ towns and cities.
If you want to make a difference to the devastating record high numbers of people experiencing homelessness, but don’t know where to begin, Green Pastures might be the place for you: funded by everyday people investing, the Christian social enterprise helps people like Iain on a journey out of homelessness:
Iain has experienced dramatic change.
“From a young age I didn’t have an easy upbringing and my dad wasn’t around a lot, so I had nobody to look up to or give me advice. From the age of 5 to 8 I was sexually abused off a man in the family and I couldn’t tell anyone. It was torturing my mind. By the time I was 15, I was going around with the wrong crowd, and I got introduced to heroin. My life got out of control. I started using and selling a lot of drugs and did a lot of prison sentences.
When I was 23 my dad was shot and killed because of drugs. I had no hope in my life with nothing to look forward to. I just felt like an existence and there were times where I just didn’t want to be alive.
I got to 38 years old, and my partner died through drugs. My little boy was only 6 at the time. I cried out to God, “If you’re real God, put someone on my path.” The next morning, I walked out in the street and a man walked up to me and said, “You need help.” And I was I was shocked! I really believe now that God sent this man. He told me about a place called Teen Challenge in Scotland, so I went. It was so difficult to start with. I knew who Jesus was, but I didn’t understand, I just knew the stories. I did 12 months in the Teen Challenge program.
By the end of it, it changed my life. This was the first time in my life that I’d been sober and off drugs. I got more in my Word. I started to get a relationship with Jesus, which, I think, was key. It’s key for anyone. I moved to Manchester doing a lot of street and evangelism work. I’m a chef to trade and I was cooking breakfast and lunch for the homeless community there and I built up a lot of good relationships with them. Then I felt another call in my life. I wanted to get more of God’s Word. I wanted to get a closer relationship with God, and someone mentioned Mattersey Hall to me. I thought this is exactly the place where I want to be.
I’m so thankful for Green Pastures because it’s a unique place. It’s amazing because I’d say 90% of the students are ex-addicts. It’s just such a powerful place to be with 90% ex addicts who love Jesus. In the world, we don’t get opportunities like that, so Mattersey is a great place to equip us. People can find out where their skills are, find out what their character really is and it’s such a blessed place. I’m so thankful for that. Now I’ve found my Father in heaven and I’m not searching for that father figure because He’s there with me all the time.”
Green Pastures helps house and support 1540 people, but with plans to do even more to help those in need, they are looking for more investors to lend some of their money to house the homeless and earn a return. How does it work? You can invest from £1,000 for a set time that you choose, and your money helps provide a home and compassionate support for someone like Iain. You can choose to earn a return on your investment, and at the end of your term your money is repayable - having been used to help change someone’s life.
Find out more at greenpastures.co.uk/invest
