Barnabas Fund
Barnabas Fund provides practical aid for persecuted Christians, operating in the same way that Barnabas and the apostle Paul did when they took gifts from the church in Antioch to the church in Judea at a time of famine (Acts 11:27-30).
Barnabas stands alongside our Christian brothers and sisters where they suffer discrimination and persecution by providing aid through partners on the ground, encouraging prayer, telling their untold story, and speaking out on their behalf.
Barnabas works by directing aid only to Christians, although its benefits may not be exclusive to them ("As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." Galatians 6:10). Money is channelled from Christians through Christians to Christians (local churches or Christian organisations already established in the places of pressure, harassment, and persecution).
Barnabas acts on behalf of the persecuted Church, to be their voice – making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies.
Barnabas seeks to meet both spiritual and practical needs, to encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local church and Christian communities so that they can maintain their presence and witness. Barnabas do not set up its own structures or send out missionaries but rather acts as equal partners with the persecuted church, whose local leaders often help shape the overall direction of aid.
Barnabas encourages prayer and facilitates prayer by providing prayer information, prayer requests and resources in many different forms and formats.
Barnabas receives donations. For every £1 donated, more than 88p is used for charitable work globally. Charitable work refers to the projects developed by the persecuted Christians Barnabas are supporting. This does not include work in Western countries to raise awareness, encourage prayer and provide advocacy for persecuted Christians; all these activities, as well as general administration costs, are included in Barnabas's 12% global overhead costs.
When a donation is allocated to a specific need or project, 100% of the donation is used for that project and its costs. Nothing is deducted for Barnabas Fund's overheads. The costs of overheads are taken from donations to the general fund. In the last year (May 2020 to April 2021) Barnabas Fund made 447 payments to 344 projects in 57 countries. These included:
Over 31,000 items, including 3,000 New Testaments and 28,000 Christian books, in 12 countries.
36,000 individuals assisted in 13 countries. 900 converts helped in 6 countries.
Regular feeding programmes assisted 29,000 individuals in 8 countries.
19,000 individuals helped with small business livelihood projects in 8 countries.
9 medical projects to help at least 13,000 individuals in 6 countries.
59 full-time Christian workers (5 pastors and 54 evangelists) helped in 8 countries.
Theological and other leadership training: 9,700 individuals trained in 26 countries.
Education of 13,900 children supported in 137 schools/institutes in 8 countries.
Support for more than 495,000 disaster victims in 40 countries.
From the additional funds raised from the weekly giving in "Mission Envelopes" to May 2022. £200 was donated to alleviate the suffering of Christians due to the current emergency in Sri Lanka and £200 towards the Madagascar feeding (epap) programme.
