It is estimated that skid row in downtown L.A. has “between 9,000 and 15,000 homeless living in the area.” Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that a group of formerly homeless people received a standing ovation recently after their America’s Got Talent audition.
There are at least three different ways to respond to homelessness, ranging from the good, the bad, and the ugly.
1. Ignorance
It is easy to ignore the problem, especially if we live in nicer suburbs. But even for those who live in city centers, it is possible to choose routes that are less likely to go through areas where there is homelessness.
After all, we are not always sure exactly how to respond when someone asks us for money. Even if we are not actively or actually ignorant of the problem, we tend to push the issue to the back of our minds. We have our own set of things to think about, our own problems to solve.
We are probably aware of various purported surveys that seem to suggest that homelessness is caused by larger social forces for which we as individuals feel that we have very little power to alter. What are we really meant to do about it?
Giving a bit of money here or there perhaps can help — but then the money can be used for drugs. Or it can be part of an elaborate scam. I remember one homeless person in Cambridge, England, asking me to take him to hospital, which I did.
When we arrived at A&E (ER in American terms), the attendant immediately recognized the homeless person, called them by name, and said, “Oh, you’re here again!”
Apparently, they made every effort to get to the hospital, not really because they needed help but because they needed attention. I felt duped, even if trying to help was still the right thing to do.
It’s better to be duped than to be callous, but at the same time, we don’t want to make individual problems work — isn’t it true that unthought-through helping can actually end up hurting? Sometimes carrying on with our lives and not getting involved seems like the more reliable option.
2. Action
There are different kinds of action, of course. Sometimes the advice given is when asked for money to offer to buy food so that we know where the money is going.
Other times it can be helpful to support ministries or services that are experts in this area so that the resources go towards solving long-term problems and society-wide issues.
I volunteered for a while for a homeless organization and was able to help a little bit within a structure that had been put together by people who had given their lives to figuring out how to help.
My little bit of volunteering hours were part of a larger structure of care that appeared as if it was actually making a difference. This sort of informed action can be good: another time, I remember asking a homeless person back to sleep in the house that I was sharing with some college student friends.
They were understandably concerned the next morning when they discovered that I had asked a homeless person back to their home without asking their permission first. I felt that we would be completely safe, and we were, but I got what their concerns were.
Taking action as part of a group that knows what they are doing, knows how to spot scams from the real thing, and can orientate resources where it is best needed, can be the best approach.
3. Community
All of this, of course, has an implicit “us-them” barrier. But what about community? A homeless person is no less of a person. I served a church for a while that had a very active homeless ministry that it partnered with.
Each Sunday morning, as I was preaching, there would be homeless people in the congregation. It’s not that there were never any issues, though the challenges were remarkably few and far between.
Mainly it made a real difference to the whole church and gave us a sense of compassion and care. I think it made a difference to those who came too. One woman, who had been a drug dealer in New York City and then also in New Haven, and had latterly become homeless, was converted.
As a Christian, she was baptized. Sometime later, she died, and because of her history of drug dealing, we had to work hard with the city to find a place where the city communities were willing to have her buried.
She was certainly a rough diamond. I remember her coming up to me after one service, aglow with new Christian enthusiasm and admiration for “her pastor.”
She told me that if I ever had any problems with anyone, I was just to let her know, and she knew people who would take care of it if I knew what she meant.
I think I did know what she meant, and I remain slightly astonished that a new Christian, in essence, offered to take a hit out on anyone who attacked me as a preacher.
But I just smiled and said I don’t think that will be necessary and assumed that as she grew in the Lord, she would get a better sense of how to express her conviction of the truth of God and the Bible, which she did.
Community is important: for us all. Having a homeless ministry in a local church takes some thinking through. It isn’t for every church, I suppose.
But a deeper response than even volunteering or activism is doing evangelism and discipleship and being one body with our brothers and sisters on the streets.
Related:
For further reading:
What Does the Bible Say about the Homeless?
Homelessness in America: Why Many Solutions Fail
Are We to Speak for Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves?
How Did Jesus View Wealth and Poverty?
What Does the Bible Say about the Poor?
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Josh Moody (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the Senior Pastor of College Church in Wheaton and the President of God Centered Life Ministries. He is the author of many books, including the forthcoming Joy of Jesus: 25 Devotional Readings for Christmas (Christian Focus 2024); Authentic Spirituality (CLC Publications 2022); and Everyday Holiness: Becoming Who You Were Made to Be (Christian Focus 2022).