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Jesus Among the Homeless identifies the problem of homelessness and applies strategies based on scriptural principles as a solution. It contains testimonies of seasoned teachers, psychologists, and social workers describing effective strategies for outreaching to the addicted, abused, mentally ill, and homeless. This go-to manual written in simple and clear layman's terms is an invaluable asset for anyone ministering to the homeless.

On any given night, more than half a million Americans and Canadians find themselves sleeping on the streets, in shelters, cars, and other places not meant for human habitation. Yet as this crisis continues to grow, it remains one of the least talked about—especially in churches. Even where compassion and empathy exist, the complexities around homelessness can make us feel stuck, overwhelmed, or numb to the existence of unhoused people in our cities and neighborhoods. Reporting back from his work in homeless services, minister and advocate Kevin Nye introduces readers to the Christ he's met in tents, shelters, and drop-in centers. He demystifies homelessness by journeying into complex issues like affordable housing, mental illness, addiction, and more, while reimagining our theological approach to these matters and educating us on how they intersect with homelessness. This thorough and intimate book shows us that from the margins, Jesus has something to teach us all about grace—something that could change the landscape of homelessness entirely if we're ready to hear it.

Susan J. Dunlap offers the theological fruits of time spent working as a chaplain with people without homes. After depicting the local history of her small southern city, she describes the prayer service she co-leads in a homeless shelter. Clients offer words of faith and encouragement that take the form of prayer, sayings, testimony, song, and short sermons. Dunlap describes both these forms of expression and their theological content. She asserts that these forms and beliefs are a means of survival and resistance in a hostile world. The ways they serve these purposes are further demonstrated in life stories told as testimonies, incorporating scripture, sayings, oral tradition, and popular culture. Dunlap concludes that white supremacy and neoliberalism have produced the problem of homelessness in America and are forms of idolatry. The faith and practices shared at the shelter are spiritual and theological resources for people in the grip of and seeking freedom from this idolatry. Claiming that only God can free us from bondage to idolatry and that to draw close to the poor is to draw close to God, Dunlap calls for proximity to people living without homes who are practicing their faith amid poverty.

Spanning five continents this collection seeks to deepen contemporary understandings of, and approaches to, Catholic theological ethics and the global crisis of homelessness. Topics include global strategies for combating homelessness, local ethical responses, and advocacy for special populations such as women, orphans, and veterans. Contributors include Cardinal Peter Turkson, Dame Louise Casey CBE CB, William T. Cavanaugh, María Teresa Dávila, Shaji George Kochuthara, CMI, Elias Opongo, SJ, and Mary Mee-Yin Yuen.

Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me. After leading a small nondenominational church and helping to serve the homeless community for 30 years, former pastor Kimberly Bowman set out on a social experiment that was decades in the making. A lifelong curiosity in human interaction and a passion to enact social change distilled themselves in the Undercover Bag Lady project. Carefully disguised in tattered layers of dirty rags, Kimberly Bowman assumed the life of Jean, the homeless bag lady, and approached 10 different churches from the heart of the Bible Belt. Over the course of eight weeks, Jean attended Sunday morning services and took note of the reception her indigent character received. From outright hostility to overwhelming generosity, the undercover bag lady encountered the full spectrum of humanity's potential for acceptance. In beautifully poignant prose, “Undercover Bag Lady: An Exposé of Christian Attitudes Toward the Homeless” examines the silent hypocrisy and the humbling benevolence that exist beyond the closed doors of the Christian church. In beautifully written prose, this unyielding exposé of a silent, fringe community's experiences turns the mirror on the Christian Church and compels it to examine if it is truly following Christ's message of unconditional love.

What is it about the concept of “home” that makes its loss so profound and devastating, and how should the trauma of exile and alienation be approached theologically? M. Jan Holton examines the psychological, social, and theological impact of forced displacement on communities in the Congo and South Sudan and on indigenous Batwa tribespersons in Uganda, as well as on homeless U.S. citizens and on U.S. soldiers returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She draws on ethnographic work in Africa, extensive research in practical theology, sociology, and psychology, as well as on professional work and personal experiences in America and abroad. In doing so she explores how forced displacement disrupts one's connection with the home place and the profound characteristics it fosters that can help people lean toward flourishing spiritually and psychologically throughout their lifetime. Displacement invites a social alienation that can become deeply institutionalized, threatening the moral well being of us all. Longing For Home offers a frame for understanding how communities can respond to refugees and various homeless populations by cultivating hospitality outside of their own comfort zones. This essential study addresses an urgent interreligious global concern and Holton's thoughtful and compelling work offers a constructive model for a sustained practical response.

An inspiring window into the hidden lives of the homeless--those folks on the streets that most of us seek to avoid.

Stories from the Street is a theological exploration of interviews with men and women who had experienced homelessness at some stage in their lives. Framed within a theology of story and a theology of liberation, Nixon suggests that story is not only a vehicle for creating human transformation but it is one of God's chosen means of effecting change. Short biographies of twelve characters are examined under themes including: crises in health and relationships, self-harm and suicide, anger and pain, God and the Bible. Expanding the existing literature of contextual theology, this book provides an alternative focus to a church-shaped mission by advocating with, and for, a very marginal group; suggesting that their experiences have much to teach the church. Churches are perceived as being active in terms of pastoral work, but reluctant to ask more profound questions about why homelessness exists at all. A theology of homelessness suggests not just a God of the homeless, but a homeless God, who shares stories and provides hope. Engaging with contemporary political and cultural debates about poverty, housing and public spending, Nixon presents a unique theological exploration of homeless people, suffering, hope and the human condition.

So wird Diakonie (be-)greifbar: praktisch einsetzbares Unterrichtsmaterial (Kopiervorlagen) zu einem aktuellen Thema der Religions- und Gemeindepädagogik.Das Projekt für den Konfirmandenunterricht sowie den gemeindlichen und schulischen Unterricht mit Jugendlichen ermöglicht konkrete Erfahrungen mit Wohnungslosen – und verknüpft diese mit biblischen Themen: den Einsprüchen der Propheten, den Klage- und Vertrauensworten der Psalmen und der Hoffnung Jesu auf das Reich Gottes.Dem ökumenischen Dreischritt »sehen – urteilen – handeln« folgend, wird in sieben Bausteinen ein mit einer siebten Klasse erprobtes Konzept vorgestellt. Inhaltlich und methodisch vielfältig werden die Jugendlichen auf den Weg gebracht, Armut in ihrer eigenen Stadt wahrzunehmen, Begegnungen zu wagen und Handlungsmöglichkeiten zu erproben. Konkrete methodische Vorschläge werden ergänzt durch Einblicke, die Nachdenkliches und Eindrückliches aus der konkreten Arbeit der Jugendlichen wiedergeben.

What does it mean to be church? Is it spending an hour on Sunday with people who look, think, and act much as we do? Or is it something more incarnational that seeks out those who are different, the ones living on the margins? For centuries Christians have presumed that we are to take the gospel to the poor. Instead, Wendy McCaig invites us to receive the gospel from the poor. Through a series of encounters with incarcerated, homeless, and impoverished individuals, Wendy McCaig experienced the mysterious power of Christian hospitality that turns strangers into family. Her gift for storytelling brings this mysterious transformation to life. Inspired by the dreams of a homeless mother who wanted to help her neighbors, McCaig started a ministry that empowers formerly homeless individuals to live out their dreams. Together these dreamers are transforming their city one person, one community, and one church at a time. Her true stories of the least, the lost, and the forgotten in her community will show you the Good News becoming reality in the midst of injustice in ways that will inspire you and deepen your faith. These twenty stories-within-a-story about what ordinary people can do when they come together across racial, economic, and geographic divides to fight poverty will expand your vision of what it means to be the church. With your eyes opened to the needs and gifts of your neighbors, you too can begin to dream God-sized dreams for a hurting world. And as you pray'thy kingdom come on earth,'you will be inspired to live in such a way as to make it happen in your own community.

What does it mean to live out the theology presented in the Great Commandment to “love God above all and to love your neighbor as yourself”? In Blood and Fire, Poloma and Hood explore how understandings of godly love function to empower believers. Though godly love may begin as a perceived relationship between God and a person, it is made manifest as social behavior among people.Blood and Fire offers a deep ethnographic portrait of a charismatic church and its faith-based ministry, illuminating how religiously motivated social service makes use of beliefs about the nature of God's love. It traces the triumphs and travails associated with living a set of rigorous religious ideals, providing a richly textured analysis of a faith community affiliated with the “emerging church” movement in Pentecostalism, one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic religious movements of our day.Based on more than four years of interviews and surveys with people from all levels of the organization, from the leader to core and marginal members to the poor and addicts they are seeking to serve, Blood and Fire sheds light on the differing worldviews and religious perceptions between those who served in as well as those who were served by this ministry.Blood and Fire argues that godly love— the relationship between perceived divine love and human response— is at the heart of the vision of emerging churches, and that it is essential to understand this dynamic if one is to understand the ongoing reinvention of American Protestantism in the twenty-first century.

This book introduces readers to twelve homeless women in a way that will change our perception of the poor on our streets. Here, we encounter them in their own voices. We discover their pain while we realize their beauty and strength. Their stories are not intended to elicit guilt or pity, but to evoke compassionate understanding and a concrete response. These stories help us to identify more closely with the homeless and forgotten people who are not far from any of us. As we fall in love with them (and one another) we realize that, above all, where there's hope, there's life. Goodwill alone is never quite enough. Thus in the second part of the book, the author provides us with a theological framework that will free us from our fear and prejudice and allow us to share more fully in the hope which is offered to all people.