Outdoor Churches for the Homeless Growing
from staff reportsA public park can become a sanctuary.
Since many homeless people don't feel at home in a church building, an increasing number of ministries are taking their services to the streets.
Kathy McAdams, minister of church relations for Ecclesia Ministries in Boston, said the group has helped start about 30 outdoor churches nationwide.
It's the kind of ministry that Jesus did," she told Family News in Focus. "He spent a lot of His time with people who were outcast and people who were downtrodden and people who needed healing. So that's what we feel called to do.
One man who lives on the streets of San Francisco said he didn't feel welcomed when he attended Sunday services.
I would go into church and people would look, because sometimes I hadn't bathed in a couple days. I wasn't smelling too good," he said. "People were kind of judgmental.
But when he ran across a church for the homeless meeting in a park, he felt welcome. Now he's reaching out to others like him:
These ministries come out and let you feel like you belong."