“The poor shall always be with you,” Jesus said, but he didn’t mean this as an excuse to ignore them. They should actually be with us! We have to admit, however, that poverty is an enormous monster and we smaller congregations only have a toothpick of resources to battle it with. What can we do? What should we do? Can we be both compassionate and wise?
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Stop Hobophobia
Prevent Prejudice and Hatred against the Homeless Countless times a day, homeless people are rejected, falsely accused, harassed, ticketed, and even beat up, all for the “crime” of not having a roof over their heads or of being dirty or of carrying all their possessions in a backpack. The homeless are treated as the outcast of society, as those at the bottom of the economic ladder. Yet the homeless are not the cause of the... -
What Does It Mean to Be Homeless?
No Place To Rest His Head While the experience of each homeless individual varies, here are some examples of what homelessness means to many of them: Homelessness means: ~Walking miles to every meal. ~Having little or no privacy. ~Regularly being asked by the police for your identification and being questioned about your activities, at least once a week. ~Needing to hide your living space. ~Moving every couple of months so you don’t get harassed by... -
What Causes Homelessness?
Why Have You Forsaken Me? Often people blame homelessness on “The Big Two”: addiction and mental illness. While these two issues are certainly factors in most homelessness, it is difficult to determine whether they are primarily the cause or the result of homelessness. Below are some issues related to homelessness that are often overlooked: Extreme personal crisis. Most folks on the street can pinpoint a certain event or experience that triggered their homelessness. It could be... -
What Should The Church To Do About Homelessness?
What is the church to do about homelessness? The homeless are both the bane and pity of our society. They stand out as the lowest, the outcast, those who perpetually don’t fit in. In 2005 there were 744,000 homeless people in the United States, yet not all of these people are homeless today. Not all of these homeless are the same. Some will only be on the streets for a night or a week... -
Why the Homeless Don’t Come to Church
Culture Shock Approximately 30 to 50 percent of the homeless are committed, baptized Christians. Yet most of us don’t see them, or even the working class, in our churches. This is not because the homeless or the lower social class don’t go to church. Rather, they have their own churches. Here in Portland, there are churches that specifically target the homeless, and many churches that specifically welcome the working class. There are missions, bible studies,... -
Prevent Schizophobia! Respect Those with Mental Illnesses
What is mental illness? For many, it is acting like a child, when one is an adult. Many mentally ill people act oddly for an adult—but the same behavior in a child would be understood. In many ways, a mentally ill person acts like a child—with tantrums, threats, inappropriate questions or comments, or in just being unaware of other’s needs or concerns. It is not being able to fulfill one’s social responsibilities for no medically... -
What Does It Mean To Be Mentally Ill?
What I Would, That Do I Not What does it mean to be mentally ill? We all have mental weaknesses. All of us have areas in our lives in which we are, admittedly, irrational and difficult to deal with. We all, at times, do things that others are uncomfortable with, or possibly even something we know to be dangerous, just because it makes sense to us. Even though it makes sense to no one else.... -
What Helps The Mentally Ill?
Transforming the Mind What helps the mentally ill? The first answer that most people usually come up with to mental illness is “medication”. Medication can help the mentally ill in many cases, even completely cure them. For others, however, medication helps only in a limited way, while inducing a number of side effects. Medication can also be an admission of one’s own mental illness and the shame they feel for taking it is often unacceptable... -
Is Your Congregation Wanting To Help The Homeless?
Here is a free manual for Christian individuals who would like to help the homeless. It answers the questions: Who are the homeless? How do I best minister to the homeless? How do I deal with difficult situations? To download a pdf of the book, click this link: Street Level-Manual for Ministers -
Life In Hell: Chronic Stress and Homelessness Pt.1
It is said that the homeless are just like “us”, by which is meant “normal, middle class people”. That is only partly true. The homeless start out just like us, but they are re-trained to live lives of perpetual chronic stress. While the stress level of the homeless should be obvious to everyone, it isn’t necessarily seriously considered. A person finds themselves homeless, a place they never thought they would be in. Perhaps, up to this point,... -
Diagnosed: Chronic Stress and the Homeless Pt. 2
The homeless person should be the poster child for a diagnosis of chronic stress. A person with the official diagnosis of chronic stress endures stressful events over a long period of time over which they have no control. Which is almost the definition of homelessness. All of our bodies are made to deal with stress. Chronic stress becomes a problem because our bodies are not made to deal with continual stress over a long period... -
A Hint of Relief: Homeless and Chronic Stress Pt. 3
Before the homeless can help themselves, they must get out of this cycle of stress. And this is where we, as representatives of Christ, can help. Probably the best way we can describe a beneficial ministry to the homeless is one in which their stress is reduced, so they can have the mental stamina necessary to use what resources are available to help themselves to get off the street. Any ministry that helps people get... -
Beggars and Sign Holders
It can be a struggle to know what to do for folks who approach us for money, or who are holding a sign asking for support. We want to help, but we often don’t know how. If we give them money, will they use it for drugs or alcohol? By giving them something, are we perpetuating their cycle of poverty? Is it better to give to an organization? As the debate rages on, and... -
Diary of a Street Minister
Kristen Everett is a street outreach worker in Cambridge, Mass for a shelter named Caspar. Perhaps you didn’t know there were homeless in the center of our prime education real estate, but no matter how cold it gets there, there are always people in need. Kristen posts snippets of her daily experience on the streets on Facebook and I thought I would share some because they offer insight on what it means to work with...
