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Thread: What does your church do....?

  1. #1

    What does your church do....?

    Our small church (under 50 right now) has a building with three entrances, all of which are covered. We have a problem with the homeless camping out on our entrance ways. We have installed security cameras, we have put up no trespassing signs, but nothing seems to work. We have compassion and wouldn't even mind them staying there overnight except that they pee and poop on our property. Once even smeared poop on our doors. Last week a rock was thrown through a window. We're now talking about giving out bags with bottles of water, granola bars, and a gospel of John as we ask them to move on, but one deacon said we'll be "marked" in the homeless community as a place to get free goodies. We have a GREAT rescue mission in our town but it's on the other side of the city and some homeless don't want to go there anyway. The police won't do anything.

    Has your church found a way to help the homeless without making the problem worse?

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  3. #2
    I have no advice to offer you. My quadrant of the city is home to several homeless camps both occupied and abandoned. One church was left with a huge mess on their land and costly citations from the city for clean up. Our mobile home park is pretty nice but we have had a couple of empty homes broken into I guess used by squatters. Currently, we have several culverts occupied in bar ditches about 1.5 miles down the street. You can recognize them by the shopping carts parked up top at night. There used to be a large camp nearby at the river but the city ran them off.

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  5. #3
    Senior Member Smitty's Avatar
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    There is a church in Oakland that opens its doors to the homeless during the Christmas season.
    I don't know if your church is able to do this, but showing homeless people a gesture
    of Christ's love such as this church did / does may turn the heart of vandals away from damaging church property.

    If you put God First, you have Him at Last.

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  7. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Smitty View Post
    There is a church in Oakland that opens its doors to the homeless during the Christmas season.
    I don't know if your church is able to do this, but showing homeless people a gesture
    of Christ's love such as this church did / does may turn the heart of vandals away from damaging church property.

    Several churches in town are "warming centers" on cold nights, but they're manned by volunteers and there are rules, some of which the homeless don't want to obey. We're too small to do much manning of overnight guests. But I'm afraid even then there would be vandalism. I hate to say it, but many of the ones I'm talking about don't give a rip about being responsible or grateful. I will say when one of the cameras showed someone there, one of our deacons went down to the church to talk to him. He was young and this was his first homeless night. Our deacon prayed with him and did what he could to help him. We'd do more to help if they really wanted help, but that's rarely the case. When I volunteered briefly at the rescue mission we were told that if a homeless person can be reached, it will likely be very soon after he becomes homeless. If they're homeless for more than a couple of months, it's almost impossible to reach them as their mind has become fixated on being homeless. Such a tragedy!

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  9. #5
    So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John's Avatar
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    I worked with a street ministry who fed the homeless once or twice a week and recruited the salvageable from the crowd for longer term assistance/ministry. It's true Bookie, a lot of them want to be there but if they are treated respectfully, they will typically return it (respect). The meals that were brought to the street were fantastic, served cafeteria style after preaching and admonition.

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    Senior Member Valiant Woman's Avatar
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    Well, I won't offer my suggestion.
    When your praise match your prayers, the answer will come.
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  13. #7
    The sad thing is that we'd help them, but so many of them don't want help. They want us to enable them. If they're serious about changing their circumstances, the mission is a huge help and we avidly support the mission.

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  15. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Bookman View Post
    The sad thing is that we'd help them, but so many of them don't want help. They want us to enable them. If they're serious about changing their circumstances, the mission is a huge help and we avidly support the mission.
    So many do not realize this. Many are in need of adult foster care but would rather have freedom to live the way they want. What your church struggles with in strategy to help these, it is a noble struggle.
    Last edited by FireBrand; 12-15-2020 at 10:40 AM.

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  17. #9
    So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bookman View Post
    The sad thing is that we'd help them, but so many of them don't want help. They want us to enable them. If they're serious about changing their circumstances, the mission is a huge help and we avidly support the mission.
    It can take years of rehabilitation even for the ones who want to get off the streets. The ministry I worked with was called "Streets of Love" and for those who were willing, they would be given a room in a home, immersion in the Word, meals, rules and fellowship with the aim to renew their minds. The layers of issues some of these men had were incredible and the lure of the street was always there. Some would come, abide for awhile, gain some normalcy and then head back out to the streets only to try again a year or two later, a revolving door. In spite of what might be called "failure" or backsliding I believe those men were touched and knew the love of Christ. Many also succeeded.

    There are many fallacies about the homeless and most of the common sense rules don't apply. Even the requirement of being employed is problematic unless ones mind is renewed as the pay check went straight to drugs. So renewal of the mind is really the foundation for success.

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  19. #10
    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bookman View Post
    Our small church (under 50 right now) has a building with three entrances, all of which are covered. We have a problem with the homeless camping out on our entrance ways. We have installed security cameras, we have put up no trespassing signs, but nothing seems to work. We have compassion and wouldn't even mind them staying there overnight except that they pee and poop on our property. Once even smeared poop on our doors. Last week a rock was thrown through a window. We're now talking about giving out bags with bottles of water, granola bars, and a gospel of John as we ask them to move on, but one deacon said we'll be "marked" in the homeless community as a place to get free goodies. We have a GREAT rescue mission in our town but it's on the other side of the city and some homeless don't want to go there anyway. The police won't do anything.

    Has your church found a way to help the homeless without making the problem worse?
    You could install devices like the RING doorbell around the building, which will alert you when someone is in the vicinity of the device and enables you to talk to them from wherever you are at. They probably wouldn't like that. Another option would be motion activated alarms with loud alarm sounds and floodlights that come on. That would probably move them along. Not trying to sound mean or uncaring, but if what you are saying is that they don't want help, but to be enabled, then I would take these measures to move them away from the church property.

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