Apparel That Preaches. Profits That Rescue.
With 30% of every sales profits going to our mission, your purchase doesn't just help you to display your faith—it actively takes the gospel to the broken, the hurting, and the forgotten.
Our Origin Story:
Homeless at the age of 27, I became aware of a stark reality. Most homeless people don’t know the Lord. Some of them may have grown up in the faith, but at some point, they fell away. They stopped believing in God for whatever reason.
Not every homeless person had the experience I had. Though it was extremely hard, it was a time of continued reassurance and urging from God for me to trust in His plan. Had I not had the relationship I have with God, I would not have survived. Cold nights on staircases and sleeping on overnight trains can really take the hope out of you.
Unlike my experience, however hard it was, some homeless people going through this right now don’t even realise that God loves them. This experience birthed what became Shomri.
This isn’t just an e-commerce website; it’s a way for the body of Christ to open up their arms to the most secluded group of people in the UK. 70% of homeless people in the UK commit suicide without ever knowing the Lord or the love of Christ. While we cannot force anyone to come to Christ, we can definitely do everything we can to show them the love of Christ. In hopes that in doing so, we can win souls for the Kingdom and snatch away souls from the fire.
We aim to change the statistics mentioned regarding homelessness and suicide in this country, not through the conventional methods, but through the one that will always work: showing love. And not just any type of love, the love of God.
This, of course, is not an easy task. It requires us to be on the streets, to fight for souls one interaction at a time. Your support helps with that. With every purchase you make, you make a difference.
The Word tells us in the book of Zechariah that we ought not to despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. With every jumper or painting that you buy from us, you not only get an item we are sure you will love, but you contribute to the saving of souls one at a time. With your purchase, you are becoming part of something that God will use to save thousands and thousands of lives. When you support our cause, you are actively making a difference.
Our Mission & Values:
Jude provides three main points (Jude 1:22-23) for how we can contend for the faith in the end times and how to deal with people as we do so.
- Be merciful to those who doubt: For us this means understanding that most homeless people have developed a fear of ridicule and an outcast ideology. Having been homeless, I know most homeless people even avoid one another, they develop a fear of opening up to others as a result of trauma experienced whilst on the streets. So, they may struggle to interact with us or to accept help at times. Also, being in the situation they are in, they may also doubt the truth we bring to them of God's love for them because they are in a situation of utter peril where they don’t feel loved by anything or anyone.
- Save others by snatching them from the fire: Every person we interact with, we are actively doing this. We are dealing with people that could potentially be a bad day or two from ending their lives and finding themselves in the very fire Jude speaks about.
- Show mercy mixed with fear: We take this to mean we should be merciful to sinners, but also that we must show fear of sin and the consequences of sin in the process of doing this. Many homeless people struggle with addiction issues and other habitual cycles of sin in their lives. Mercy is understanding that in these circumstances, most of us would turn to sinful coping mechanisms too. In fact, if it wasn’t for the love of God, I would have resorted to sinful methods of coping, I’m sure. When you don’t know the command of the Lord to stay sober or vigilant, or the reason for said command, it is understandable that you would run to anything that helps you to escape the pain of your situation, especially when you are not covered by the Lord because you have not yet come to know the Lord. It’s important we understand this reality. But nonetheless, we need to be willing to help these individuals we come across confront their addictions so they can be free from them. We help them not only with prayer but also with the giving of knowledge, so that they too can come to hate their sins and the chains that sin puts upon them just as we all do in our own lives. So they can call on the only person who can give freedom: Christ. But this can often take weeks or even months of support. Conversations in person and over the phone, prayer, and even support through rehab. Although we don’t facilitate rehab, we can encourage these individuals to take the free rehab therapy offered by the NHS, which many won’t attend without external support. We offer that support as many homeless people do not have support systems to rely on for encouragement for things of this nature.
How can you get involved?
We offer a weekly devotional, posted here every Sunday. We also send out a monthly email newsletter to everyone who provides their email upon purchase. This newsletter details exactly what we have achieved each month to move toward our goals, keeping you fully updated on the mission. Lastly, we provide volunteering opportunities for those who would like to join us on the streets. These sessions include prayer, evangelism, and fellowship with both the homeless community and many other communities. We also participate in direct acts of service, such as cleaning the streets and other communal areas. To get involved, simply fill out our contact form or email us at shomriadmin@gmail.com, and we will let you know what upcoming opportunities are available for you to come along and help.
Where possible, we would like to share real success stories from within the homeless community. However, this will only be done when the recipients have given full consent. These stories can also be viewed directly on our weekly updates page when available or in the newsletters that we release monthly.