Operation Joy

Operation Joy takes place on the streets of Manchester and Bolton, headed by Paul. We also have a drop-in hub working along side and within the Ashton Church of The Nazarene drop-in hosted by Daryl. Our team bring a message of hope through a special emphasis on friendship and trust. Through this, we can signpost rough sleepers, the street population and the vulnerable to relevant organisations to receive practical support.

Our most important aim is to see people set free by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul and Daryl have seen miraculous things happening on the streets of Greater Manchester – the first step towards freedom for the people they meet.

Project history

The name Operation Joy was given to a ministry of the London City Mission in 1997 after the death of a lady called Joyce. It was over two months before I found the Coroner dealing with the death and shortly after her funeral was arranged. I was the only one there.

1997

The beginning

I was concerned at the isolation Joy had died in and I started to encourage members of the street population to give me their family details so that I could keep a record. This could be used to inform the coroner if there was any difficulty in finding next-of-kin in the future. It was apparent that birth certificate details were also helpful for finding family.

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Everyday work

The everyday work of Operation Joy is Outreach work on the streets, whilst visiting hostels and drop-ins, and hopefully giving some useful advice for getting some normality back into life. It is good to remember birthdays and to provide help with identification where necessary. Going back to Joy, her ex-husband was traced and he told me that they had a son in Aberdeen. He was informed of his mother’s death over a year after it happened.

2013

Joining Manchester City Mission

In 2013 we moved to my wife Angie’s home town of Bolton and I was able to link up with the Manchester City Mission. The same principles of Operation Joy are being applied here amongst the street population and this helps with building relationships so that we can introduce people to our Saviour, Jesus.