Biblical Response to the Homeless

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 or a month.  These have lost jobs and fallen on hard times.  For others, they have a network of supporters sufficient enough to give them a place to crash for a period of time.  But for many, the hard times perpetuate over years, sometimes even decades. These are the chronic homeless and they stand out as the most obvious failure of our society.

James was living on the streets of Gresham.  He was an alcoholic, a violent man and a thief.  But one day, in jail, he had a vision of Jesus, praying for him, calling to him.  He knew he had to change, to live differently, but he didn’t know how.  He approached the pastor who ran a meal and a worship service he attended once a week, and the pastor prayed for him and gave him counsel.  He cut back on his drinking and stopped stealing, but he still had difficulty making the rest of the changes he needed to make.  And no one would hire him because he looked like a bum. 

How are we supposed to react to the homeless?

Many of us look at the homeless in disgust, knowing that if they would just shake their addiction and apply themselves they could get a job and get back on their feet.  Others of us look at the homeless and feel sorrow and sympathy wanting to help, but only able to throw a dollar their way. 

But as believers in Jesus Christ, how are we supposed to react?  Many believers think that if the homeless would just commit themselves to Jesus, then their lives would get straightened out and they could be normal participants in society.  What many Christians don’t know is that at least a third of those who live on the street already have committed themselves to Jesus and are doing their best to live a Christian life.  Yes, some are addicts, but not all.  Many are mentally ill, but we cannot blame homelessness exclusively on mental illness, either. 

How does Scripture tell us to react to these poor and outcast of society? 

• We are to show respect to the poor.  James 2
• We are to respond in love and compassion to everyone in need.  Luke 10
• We are to offer help, especially to believers.  Galatians 6:10
• We are to offer hospitality, clothing, shelter and food.  Matthew 25:31-46
• We are to offer fellowship and peace. Romans 12

Most of all, according to Scripture, we are to love.  This doesn’t always mean giving money or food, although we shouldn’t be closed to that.   But it does always mean being patient, being kind, not putting ourselves over the other person, but bearing other’s burdens and enduring with them.  I Corinthians 13

Bill lived in Vancouver, but worked in Gresham.  He had often seen a homeless man walking by his office as he worked on his computer.  He recalled that his church in Vancouver wanted to begin a ministry to the homeless, but didn’t know where to begin.  Bill decided that he would begin on his own.  The next time he saw the man walking down the street, he approached him and engaged him in conversation.  James was friendly and though he was different, he was pleasant to talk to.  Bill took him out to lunch and began to hear about James’ life and issues.

A New Paradigm

As the people of Jesus who reached out to the outcast, we are not to stand at a distance from the homeless.  We must not separate ourselves from the lowest in society—whoever they are.  Can we continue our practice of throwing evangelistic messages and food out our door to the cold and grief-stricken, while we stay warm, comforted and well-fed in our buildings?  Some of these outcast we need to embrace as brothers and sisters, and others we need to embrace as the poor who need our help.  As the people of the Book which teaches compassion, we must stand with those on the street.

            But how are we to do this?  Thousands of homeless are just too much for any church to bear, let alone the small percentage of the church that are stirred by the Spirit to assist the homeless.  But the Lord has not called us to help the massive crowd, only those we know.  To assist the homeless is not a matter of a huge ministry with hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Rather it is a one-on-one ministry.

James took Bill to his street church and Bill’s eyes were opened.  There were maybe a hundred homeless in Gresham, and many of them were believers who worshipped the Lord in their own worship service.  Bill then made a decision—James was a fellow believer and needed his help.  He offered James some landscaping work, which James readily accepted.  When the freezing winds kicked up one night, Bill drove over to pick up James and a couple of his friends for the night.  Bill became James’ good friend.  James learned from Bill and from his pastor ways other than violence to deal with his problems.  James ended up living with another member of the church, John, and doing labor for Bill, John and the church.  He would obtain his room and board from John, and gain a little bit of money on the side from Bill and the church.

A Personal Welcome From the Church

This story should be replicated in every church.  If every church in our urban areas had perhaps two people among their congregations who would be a friend and support for a single homeless person, then our whole society would change.  The homeless would no longer be outcast, nor strangers in our midst.  They would be members of our churches, participants in our society and our friends. 

            Very few churches have the resources to have a shelter.  And it is not necessary for every church to have a food ministry.  But there is one need of the homeless that every urban church can help—their isolation.  The strength of the church is not our money, nor our political power.  Rather, the strength of Christians has always been their love, their sacrifice and their welcome.  If we take these strengths and focus them on the homeless, then the American urban landscape will change.  The church will have a new people.  And Christ will be glorified.

How Your Church Can Help the Homeless: A Practical Summary

So you are thinking about helping the homeless?  It is an undertaking, and must be done with prayer and wisdom.  Here's some tips to get you started and to keep you going for a while.

   1. Find out: What other organizations are already helping the homeless?  Look for them and find out what is already taking place in the area.  Meet with them and ask them what needs to be done.  If you can visit their program, talk with the homeless, and find out what they need in their area. 

2.      Determine what is the desire and resources of your congregation.  Perhaps your congregation wants to partner with a group that is already working with the homeless.  Perhaps they’d like to meet a need that isn’t already met.  Pray about what the Spirit is leading your congregation to do.

3.     Determine a balanced initial ministry.  Homeless ministry must be balanced between efficiently meeting a need of the community and relating in love to those coming for services.  Some good ministries a single congregations can do might be:

a.       Serving a meal once a month or once a week

b.      Opening up the church building to those in need of day shelter for five or six hours once a week

c.       c. Providing sack lunches, socks, hygiene items, hand warmers, blankets, tarps or sleeping bags to organizations that serve the homeless, or taking such items out to the homeless.

d.      d. Open up the church facility in the winter as an overnight shelter, especially on the worst nights

4.   4.   Educate your congregation about the homeless.  Ask a minister to the homeless to give a "Homeless 101" about homeless culture and ministry. 

       At some point you will have to address the issue of liability and church conflict.  Some people in the church will be nervous about having the homeless around the facility, and some might be vocally unhappy about having the homeless around at all.  Have a person who has been doing homeless ministry come in and give a “Homeless 101” about the culture and needs of the homeless.  Make some fair boundaries (and make sure that everyone sticks to them) for the ministry, such as it occurs during certain times  and no camping on church property (unless that’s one of the needs you are meeting).  At the same time, we need to remember that all real ministry involves risk.  The congregation will have to determine together what the balance of risk and boundaries they will take.

5.      Once you have had some regular contact with the homeless, ask them what their needs are, no matter how small, no matter how big.  It is important that our ministry to the homeless actually meet the needs of the homeless and not what we assume their needs are.  As much as you are able, have the homeless participate in the ministry you are providing them.  Give them volunteer opportunities, ask their opinion and give some leadership (but pick your leaders carefully). 

6.     Listen to the homeless who come to your church, and pray for their needs, both with them and away from them.  For many of these folks you may be the only one praying for them, and God will act if we pray.

7.     To meet the larger needs of the homeless, try to network with other churches in your community.  Many churches are looking for an opportunity to help the homeless, and would love to participate with others.  Come up with a plan and invite as many churches as possible to participate with you.  Some successful ministries that local churches have networked together to do are:

a.       A warehouse of food, sleeping gear, hygiene items and other items.

b.      A day shelter every day of the week in different churches.

c.       A winter overnight shelter, held in different churches, or in one location but the volunteers come from different churches.

d.      A meal for every day of the week.

     e.      A shelter specifically for women or families, providing opportunities for job searching.

8.    8.   Finally, we need to remember that all ministry is about love.  We can serve and give and even sacrifice, but if we do not actually love those we are serving, then we have done nothing.  Sacrifice your heart, as well as your time and finances and space. 

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 housing is a miracle of God in and of itself.  Any ministry that keeps the homeless alive by providing shelter is wonderful.  But a local church can provide just as important of a ministry by providing a place where the homeless can relax, be at peace and store up rest so they can face the hard work of survival.

How can we reduce the stress of the homeless?

• Provide a place for the homeless to relax during the day, if only for a couple hours without people rushing them or telling them to “move on”
• Relate to the homeless in a peaceable way
• Assist the homeless in dealing with conflict by counseling them how to deal with conflict in their lives
• Know the local services that help the homeless and provide knowledge to those in need
• In our ministries, have a simple, short list of rules that make sense to those coming in
• Listen to the stories and issues of the homeless, if only to be a listening ear
• Provide opportunities to work whether paid or voluntary so they can feel they are participating in the community, and earning their own keep
• Provide movies to watch so they can take their minds off of their stresses, if only for a couple hours
• Be a faithful, helpful friend who won’t break promises or run out on them  (See the next chapter for help in that)
• Remaining calm and peaceful despite the stress that others bring.
• Giving the homeless help for their animals, which provide stability, unconditional friendship and stress relief

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 of time.  Rather, they are made to deal with a certain amount of stress and then to have periods of rest in which the body can recuperate.  If one’s body isn’t allowed a period of rest from stress, then it creates abnormal ways of dealing with that unending stress.

The symptoms of chronic stress can include:

Inability to concentrate

Insomnia

Aggression

Rashes

Anxiety

Intense mood swings

Depression, including fits of anger, lack of energy and suicidal thoughts

High blood pressure

For this reason, many of the homeless have difficulty filling out forms or getting to meetings on time because of their inability to concentrate.  Many of the homeless will irrationally strike out against others, even those who have helped them, because of the inability to deal with stress.  For this reason, many of them have persistent hopelessness, because of their depression.  Many of the homeless also are so anxious that they are unable to sleep, which causes other mental disorders.  Some have undiagnosable pains in their back, stomach or skin.  All of this makes it difficult, if not for some impossible, to get a job, to restore broken relationships or even to apply for disability.  

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, they have even looked down on homeless people, seeing them as those who failed.  Now they are there themselves, and they do not need anyone to tell them that they need to immediately get off the streets.  So they call their family, call their friends, they contact the government, they go to shelters—and they find that there isn’t any help for them.   Now they are the ones who have failed, they are failures in the society they grew up in.  For some, this feeling of social inadequacy is overcome, but for many it continues for the rest of the time they are on the street.

Sleep is almost impossible, especially at first.  Sleeping outside is strange, even if it is warm, but often it is not warm.  The wind on one’s face, the stirring of anything—person, animal, branch blown by the wind—keeps you awake, or wakes you many times in the night.  Later on, sleep is also difficult, perhaps because one’s camp isn’t adequate for the rain, or because of fear of the many other people you share a single room with in the shelter.

Once a person is homeless for a while, they realize just how vulnerable they are.  They hear stories about people who are attacked in the middle of the night, or about police disturbing you or telling you to move early in the morning, often with their dogs and Taser guns.   The fact that you can be stopped and often are by the police just for “looking” homeless, or ticketed if you are found in a camp is enough to make you nervous.   The strange looks people give you, the complaints of shoppers if you stop in front of a store to rest, managers or church workers who yell at you for just trying to survive.

And the walking!  Some cities have all the services in one location, which means you have to deal with all the crazy people in one place.  But in most cities, many churches or agencies offer different services in different places.  This means miles of walking just to get from one meal to another.  Clothes are in one place, food in another, shelter in another. 

After a person has been homeless for a while, the amount of alcohol they drink increases.  It helps reduce the stress temporarily, and a lot of alcohol means that the stress just disappears after a while, leaving one in a blissful state.  Of course, in the end it doesn’t reduce stress.  First of all, alcohol is a depressant, so after the bliss is over, it leaves one morose, or perhaps irrationally angry.  This not only causes stress for the individual, but for all those around them.  But being without the alcohol doesn’t help either, because withdrawals makes one irritable and if one has had a lot of alcohol over a long period of time, withdrawals can even kill you.

The other homeless can also be a source of stress.  They are just as stressed, just as desperate as you are yourself.  But you can’t leave them, because you all use the same services, the same resources.  The homeless are stuck with each other.  But they can’t trust each other, not really.  There may be individuals who can be trusted, but as a group they must be seen as potential thieves, potential violent criminals.  Few of them actually are—fewer than in the housed population—but because you are so vulnerable, and the few items you carry with you are all necessary, you have to ward against them all.

Some of the homeless tell themselves that all the homeless aren’t to be trusted as a group.  But since the one speaking is part of that group, that increases one’s anxiety about oneself.  If I am a part of an untrustworthy group, what does that make me?

Think about this lifestyle, think about this mindset.  How long could you stand it?  Certainly you would try to get out, but what if you can’t?  How long could you endure before you started cracking?  A month?  Six?  What about people who have had to endure this living for years?  Some aspects of their lives they would have gotten used to.  But the stress is always there.   Always.  No matter what you do to try to deal with it, it is always an issue.

All Homeless Are Criminals

If you are homeless and you live in an urban area in the United States, you are a criminal.  It doesn't matter whether you have ever stolen anything, whether you have hurt or threatened anyone, whether you have vandalized anything or not, you are a criminal.  Because simply living in any city without a roof over your head makes you a criminal.  By living, you are against the law.

The reason for this is a policy that has been adopted by almost every city in the United States-- an anti-camping ordinance. This is a policy designed to keep people from camping within an urban area. (Here is a sample of one from Portland, Oregon)  However, in practice, it is simply a way for a city to tell their police to harass their homeless as they determine it is necessary.  Such an ordinance is not enforced on children who sleep in their backyard, although they are technically in violation of it. Nor was it enforced against many of the Occupy groups that sprouted around the nation, until they were determined to be a nuisance.  But it is enforced against the homeless whenever it is necessary.

To break such an ordinance is to be a criminal.  Thus, to participate in sleep-- a necessary human activity-- within an urban area, without a roof, is criminal.  To fall asleep on a bench while looking homeless is enough to be treated as a criminal by any officer who determines that it is his duty to do so.  Many officers do not.  Many treat the homeless with respect.  But enough do not, and actually use the ordinance as an opportunity to let the homeless know they are not wanted.

And this is because the homeless are criminals.  If they are breaking the law, they deserve to be treated as law-breakers.  Not only so, but any implements that they use in breaking the law are no longer theirs, but can be confiscated immediately by police officers. This means any sleeping bags, tents, blankets, tarps-- often generously given by hard working non-criminal types-- can be taken from these individuals, ripped up and thrown away.

It is also assumed by many (especially some of the police) that if a person is breaking one law, then they are breaking others.  Many homeless are accused of stealing, selling drugs, violence, without sufficient evidence. Some have been arrested and even sent to prison for criminal acts that there was not sufficient evidence to convict them of.

Many of the homeless then do participate in criminal activity-- after the accusations and harassment, not before.  After all, why not?  If a person is treated like a criminal, then they have gained some credit that they could use up.  They don't want to actually harm anyone.  But since they are being punished and harassed and even arrested as criminals, if there are some large corporations they can gain benefit or survival from, then why not?

And then we do have a criminal element.  Not  because the homeless are naturally criminals, but because they are assumed to be criminals.

All the  more reason why Marlin Anderson, Mary Bailey, Jack Golden and Matthew Chase are so bold and important.  They are challenging Portland's anti-camping ordinance in federal court.  It has moved to be settled, but part of that settlement is the changing of the anti-camping ordinance of Portland.  Such changes will not be known until the end of February, but we assume the change will reduce the prejudice and irrational harassment against homeless families, women, men and teens.

I applaud you and thank you for your diligence.  Don't give up on the rest of us.

"In the absence of proper shelter, it is the right of any individual to construct one"- Homeless man in Nicklesville, Seattle

Why The Homeless Should Have A Voice in Your Church

From a paper by Alex Cole, "Church On the Streets", a student at Ambrose University College

  

          In the Bible, the descriptions of the homeless indicate that they are generally there to be helped, and that helping them brings blessing.  Isaiah 58:7 “Give shelter to the homeless.”  Matthew 25:35: “I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.”[1]  There are few passages that speak directly of the homeless having leadership roles.  However, although many Biblical leaders were rich or powerful,[2] many of God’s leaders are taken from those who are poor.  The Israelites were slaves and then refugees in the desert.  Gideon was the least important member of the weakest clan in his tribe when he was called (Judges 6:13-15)[3] and Jephthah was the son of a prostitute and his half brothers’ chased him off his land to deny him his inheritance.[4]  David started life as a shepherd, and Amos was a shepherd.  Jeremiah found himself in destitute circumstances.   Peter, Andrew, James and John were all fishermen.  John the Baptist adopted a life of poverty in the desert, and shepherds were chosen to witness the news of Jesus’ birth.  Jesus himself came from a poor family.[5]  This indicates that poverty and even lack of a stable home (the Israelites were refugees in the desert) are no barriers to leadership.

            Some biblical passages validate a homeless person assuming a leadership role.  Jesus was homeless for periods of time,[6] as was Paul.[7]  God chooses those who are powerless and despised and uses them to shame the powerless and to bring to nothing what the world considers important.[8]   James 2:5 says that God has chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and it is good to have someone who is rich in faith in church leadership.  Jesus spent a lot of time with the poor[9] and he even says that when people shelter those with no homes, then they are sheltering him.[10]  Therefore the poor are close to, or even identified with Jesus – and closeness to Jesus is also an admirable quality for those in leadership.  The kingdom of heaven will be inherited by the poor[11] and so presumably they will have a leadership or at least stewardship role there.   Jesus encourages not just the rich young ruler but all Christians to “sell your possessions and give to those in need”[12] and he himself “became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”[13]  In fact, some parts of the Bible almost militate against having rich people in leadership, because they foresee those who are rich “fading away”, and thus would foresee those in leadership naturally becoming poor. [14]  For all these reasons, it seems that the Bible would not be, as such, against having a homeless person in the leadership of a church.  

            In fact, in some ways, there are advantages to having homeless people being involved in the leadership of a church.  As part of the leadership, they would be responsible for teaching and preaching, and might have a significantly different perspective on Scripture from that of other populations.  In this way, another voice will be powerfully released in the church, speaking the gospel back to the rich so that the rich might hear the gospel anew.[15]  For example, the ‘gospel according to the homeless’ is more multi-faceted than many gospel presentations I have heard, may contain a clearer recognition of the reality of evil than other presentations of Christianity,[16] and may expose the nature of the spiritual “powers” described in Ephesians 6:12 more clearly.[17]   Homeless peoples’ analyses may elucidate the contents of biblical books more clearly.[18]  Justo and Catherine Gonzales paint a picture of the writers of the Bible being amongst those who are weak and powerless, and therefore “a more accurate interpretation of the biblical word can be gained by those who currently stand in a parallel place in our own societies [to the original biblical writers.”[19]  For example, whereas sin has become seen as sexual sin by some churches, they argue that the poor see social injustice as more blatant sin.[20]  Finally, some have even cast the entire bible in the framework of homelessness.  They describe God as creating a home (Eden) which the home-breakers (humanity) then wrecked and were cast out of (to become homeless).  Jesus then creates the possibility for God to be at home in our hearts, and God creates a renewed home for us after his second coming.[21]  In this way the voice of homelessness adds another perspective to read the Bible from.  To sum up, the Bible being taught by homeless people in the leadership of a church could encourage a voice that would help other churches to see the Bible and the gospel more clearly. 

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[1] Other scriptures that relate to the poor are that God protects the poor (Ps 12:5), provides a refuge for them (Ps 14:6), saves them when they pray (Ps 34:6), rescues them from those who rob them (Ps 35:10), helps them, thinks of them (Ps 40:17), provides for them (Ps 68:10), helps them to see him and hears them, (Ps 69:32-33), satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things (Ps 107:9), raises them from the dust and from the ash heap (Ps 113:7), secures justice for them and upholds their cause (Ps 140:12), watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and widow (Ps 146:9), provides a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat (Is 25:4), and re-creates the environment so they can find water and food, planting trees, turning desert into pools of water, making rivers flow, (Is 41:17 – 20).  The Bible also speaks of those who help the poor being blessed, for example: “If you … spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide always, he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.  Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the gage-old foundations.  You will be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings” (Is 58:9-12).)

[2] , For example Moses, Saul, Solomon and all the Judahite and Israelite kings, Nehemiah, Ezra, Isaiah, Matthew, and Paul.

[3]  When he was called he was threshing wheat in the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites, indicating a poor situation.

[4] Judges 11:1-2. 

[5] His parents brought two turtledoves or 2 young pigeons to sacrifice in the temple (Luke 2:24), which Lev 12:8 indicates were for those who “cannot afford to bring a lamb.”

[6] “The son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20).

[7] “We have been homeless.” (1 Co 4:11).

[8] 1 Corinthians 1:27-28.

[9] For example, lepers, poor women (Mark 12:42), prostitutes, women with immoral marital pasts, the blind, and the sick.

[10] Matthew 25:36,40.

[11] In the Greek: πτωχός (Luke 6:20) – although notice that Matthew 5:3 says the “poor in spirit” so Luke 6:20 can’t definitely be used as a proof text that this verse is referring to the materially poor.

[12] Luke 12:33.

[13] 2 Co 8:9.

[14]             Part of the Bible’s teaching on money indicates that “the rich will fade away.” (James 1:11).  Paul started with status as a Pharisee but lost everything for Christ.  Barnabus laid the profits from his field at the disciples’ feet.  Many lost everything for the sake of the gospel, for example those mentioned in Hebrews 11:37 who became “destitute”.

                Many of the early church fathers also spoke against private property and condemned the rich.[14]  Ignatius and Hermas instructed Christians to care for the widow and respond to those in need.   Ambrose wrote “Why do the rich claim for yourselves the right to own the land …  When you give to the poor what is theirs you return it, not give it.”   He condemned the few rich people who claimed everything for themselves “not only the land, but the sky, the air, the sea …. every day are the needy murdered.”  Basil the Great wrote that the bread that we hoard belongs to the hungry.    “Those who attain a certain level of power use those whom they have already enslaved in order to gain more strength to commit every greater iniquities, and by using them they enslave those who were still free.  Then their greater power becomes a new weapon for evil.  And as a result those whom they just injured now have no other option but to help them, and thus collaborate in the evil and iniquity committed against the others.”  Augustine, Cyril and Gregory the Great didn’t believe in private property.  John Chrysostom wrote that “the earth is the Lord’s: … nothing is to be held by any as privately owned.  The rich are not really such, for what they have belongs to others.  Anything that one might have, even though legitimately earned in truth belongs to the poor.” These quotes are taken from Justo Gonzalez and Catherine Gonzalez, Liberation Preaching, The Pulpit and the Oppressed (Nashville: Abingdon, 1980), 55-57.  Basil the Great said that if I have a chest full of shoes that I cannot use, while the poor walking in front of my house are unshod, I am committing theft just as much as if I had actually taken their shoes off their feet. Chrysostom went further, declaring that allowing someone to die of famine is committing murder.  Information taken from Justo González, "Faith and Wealth : The Early Church and Ours," Living Pulpit 6, 3 (1997): 12. 

[15] An idea put forward in Lesslie Newbigen, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 196.  “The only way in which the gospel can challenge our culturally conditioned interpretation of it is through the witness of those who read the Bible with minds shaped by other cultures. We have to listen to others. This mutual correction is sometimes unwelcome, but is necessary and it is fruitful.”

[16] I conducted interviews with four different homeless people at the Mustard Seed in Fall 2011, simply asking them “Who is God to you? And “How do you understand the gospel / how are we saved?”  Their explanation of the gospel drew on the classic Christus Victor approach, and the substitutionary atonement perspective.  The real presence of evil was a strong theme that came through, because many of them had directly experienced the effects of evil on their own life.

[17] William Stringfellow, a lawyer who practiced street law in East Harlem for seven years, realized from those he spoke to that these “powers” are often, to the destitute,  the economic powers of those in charge of labor pools, landlords, police agencies, the city administration, and so on.  In this way these powers seemed more recognizable and insidious, in their effects on human lives.  This description is taken from Stanley Saunders and Charles Campbell, The Word on the Street, (Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans, 2000), 62-81.  

[18]  Saunders and Campbell (2000: 52-3) argue that Revelation can only be understood properly by the poor, because Revelation describes the overthrowing of earthly political rulers, who are happy to keep the world poor.  The powers described in Revelation are those economic powers that have crushed the faces of the world’s poor in the dust.  So, for example, Revelation 7:16 says “they will never again be hungry” in reference to those who die in the great tribulation.  In other words, God’s redemption of his people shows that his persecuted saints are the poor, who will be cared for.

[19] Their arguments are that Israel was a weak and generally powerless nation, sandwiched between other, more powerful nations, and because they were at one point slaves and refugees, and later they were exiles.  It could also be pointed out that the early church was often, though not exclusively poor (1 Co 1:26: “few of you were wealthy”)  (Gonzalez, Liberation, 16).

[20] Gonzalez, Liberation, 23.

[21] This description is taken from Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J. Walsh, Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2008).  This is an outstanding Biblical look at homelessness throughout the Bible.