Discussion cards
The following pages contain one-page discussion cards on topics to do with homeless ministry / outdoor churches. These cards are only to be used as a spur to discussion, to make one think. They are not definitive answers. Other excellent material is in the Street Church Manual by Debbie Little (http://www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org/streetchurchmanual.htm) or Come by Here by Judith Lee.
Feel free to use these to train volunteers: print out the titles (next page) and get volunteers to choose the topic they’re interested in. Then hand out copies of the discussion cards to the volunteers, get them to take them away and come back next week ready to discuss them.
We have poured my heart and soul into them. Please enjoy, correct, and add to them – send me any you do yourself!
God bless, Alex Cole and Bleddwyn Evans
The discussion cards are on these topics:
1. When should I start? or “I'm not ready!” vs. “Get on with it!”
2. Why church outdoors? How exactly do you run an outdoor church service for homeless people?
3. “Am I doing this for the right reason? I question my integrity and motivation? How can I empathise with people who are poorer than me?”
4. “Should we serve food or not?”
5. Should I give homeless people money?
6. Using music as part of outdoor ministry
7. Using drama as part of outdoor ministry
8. Preaching on the streets
9. Evangelism
10. Can unhoused people take leadership roles?
11. Low numbers – how can we get more people?
12. We’re not having any effect
13. Am I a friend, companion, counsellor, chaplain or a pastor?
14. Burn-out – how do I avoid it? How do I keep myself healthy?
15. How can the church support you? What part do you play in the wider church?
With many thanks to Bleddwyn Evans for editing and suggestions, God's House of Many Faces, Vancouver; Boston's Common Cathedral; Joan Murray and Chaplains on the Way; Worcester Fellowship; Debbie Little's DMin “The Church under the Tree”; The Outdoor Church of Cambridge, Plain Church (Salisbury) and Forest Church.
Choose which discussion topic you are interested in:
1. When should I start? “I'm not ready!” vs. “Get on with it!” / 2. Why have church outdoors? How do you run it? / 3. “Am I doing this for the right reason? I question my own motivation and integrity. How can I really empathise with someone poorer than me?”4. “Should we serve food or not?” / 5. Should I give homeless people money? / 6. Music and outdoor ministry
7. Using drama in outdoor ministry / 8. Preaching outside: how should it happen? / 9. Evangelism
10. Can homeless people be in leadership? / 11. Low numbers – how can we get more people? / 12. We’re not having any effect! Or are we?
13. What’s my role? Friend? Companion? Counsellor? Pastor? Chaplain? / 14. “I’m very very tired” - Burn-out – how do I avoid it? / 15. How can the church support you? Where do you fit in?
1. When should I start? “I'm not ready!” vs. “Get on with it!”
When should you start? You want to do something: set up an outdoors church or chaplaincy, start working with homeless people, etc. You might be feeling scared, under-equipped, alone. But at some point you have to start: "You can only walk on water if you get out of the boat". If it's any consolation I know how you feel. It might help you to read this email that I sent when struggling with this issue:
“Just right now I feel that some of the time in my past, some of my motives for doing stuff have not stemmed from love for God - they've come from striving / trying to achieve / trying to get a good reputation, etc - other motives. And I'd rather start off this ministry – this church - out of purer motives. I'd like to put God first – make sure I love him – make sure that everything I do stems from his love – only THEN am I going to be ready to do something as amazing as starting a church! I mean starting a church is really important, so I'd really like to start REALLY well. Foundations are so important – if a building has problems in the foundations you might as well knock it all down later. When we start ministries or churches, if mistakes get introduced right at the foundations, then they cause big problems later on. So I was thinking about just making sure my life is right first - with God firmly at the centre and all my actions coming out of love - before starting.
On the other hand, if I want to plant a church for homeless people, it's going to get very messy. There's really not very much I can do right now to prevent appalling things / totally unexpected / totally incredible things happening further down the line. The completely unexpected could happen – you can't predict anything in this line of work. And really, at some point I have to start - I have to get out of the boat. And if it all starts going pear-shaped (horribly wrong) then Jesus can rescue it all as long as I look at him – just like he reached down to get Peter up out of the water when he started sinking (Matthew 14:22-23). Furthermore, having this idea that a church is somehow going to get "birthed" from me just loving other people could be a bit unrealistic. Like I'm living in fairy land – “la di da I'll just walk along scattering flowers of love and kissing steet guys and the flowers will just blossom into love” – it probably won't work like that. I probably need plans / some sort of practical ideas - rather than just "love people". Even Jesus knew where he was going, and set out on a journey to get there, following a specific plan (get baptised, fast, resist temptation, choose 12 apostles, travel to Jerusalem, etc). And I have got some specific ideas: so maybe I should just get on with it and do them.
I just feel so fragile right now. Like I have faith the size of a mustard seed. Like I want to protect my vision and not let it out into the world in case it gets spoilt when things go badly. But Jesus said "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Mt 17:20). So I can get going: get on with it. And it's not MY vision to hang onto - it's just part of God's eternal plan that he is shaping – I have to let it go, even if it dies, like a seed, like Jesus did. So even if I feel vulnerable, I can still get out of the boat and start somewhere...
So I am – I'm going to start volunteering at a local mission that works with homeless people. Get out of the boat ...”
Of course, sometimes we really aren't ready. If we're on our own, we're probably not ready – we need a team. If we lack vital skills ... then we're probably not ready – ask God what skills you need. If we don't have any plan at all ... we're probably not ready: talk to others to get a plan. If we think we're ready, then we're probably not ready ... but we may need to start anyway!
2. Why church outdoors? How exactly do you run an outdoor church service for homeless people?
Why run a church service outdoors for homeless people? Many people are scared to go into church buildings. Jesus often taught outside, referring to birds etc: things that are visible if you worship outdoors. Outdoors, people can define how close they get to the church. Outdoor churches cost less money. Being exposed to the weather actually brings people closer to creation and each other as they huddle. Passersby can easily access outdoor services, and worshipping outdoors means you must be more transparent. If homeless people are outside, then an outside church makes sense.
How exactly do you run an outdoor church for the homeless? People, homeless, housed, many on the margins of society, gather in a park, car park, common or other public space, with permission from local government. The church might seek shelter in rough weather in a station, bandstand or under canopies or a bridge. Many outdoor churches start or end with a shared meal. For the service, people form a rough circle, or sit on folding chairs all in one direction, or lounge on picnic chairs in a circle, or face a temporary altar or cross. The service may start with a welcome, a confession, a symbolic action that reflects local culture and spirituality: anything to welcome people to Jesus. Songs, possibly accompanied by drums, accordion, banjo or guitar, help people worship God from their hearts, remember songs of their childhood, express their faith, and link the different sections of the service. The Bible, often a gospel passage, is read by someone from the streets, following a lectionary or picking up on relevant themes. A short sermon is preached, showing people the God who came down from heaven to become a homeless wanderer. People respond, showing how the story of God is relevant to their stories. The practical relevance of the passage is brainstormed. After the service, the text might be discussed more in a leadership group meeting or focussed bible study.
Hearing the Word of God moves the congregation to respond to Jesus, the Word. There might be a linking song into a time of sharing the peace of Christ, or prayer. People may pray spontaneously. Or mention particular needs, followed by “Lord, in your mercy ... hear our prayer”. Or hands are laid on every member of the congregation. Or people are asked for particular prayer needs (e.g. healing) and then prayed for. Or there are set liturgical prayers (e.g. Lord's Prayer). There might be announcements, for example celebrating birthdays or giving out information that affects homeless people. A collection could be taken to support a missionary or for particular community needs. Then communion or the eucharist might be taken: normally bread and juice, and offered to all, even those outside the circle: “You are welcome!” For many this is the most meaningful part of the service, as Christ's body and blood, that he gave for us freely, are shared freely.
Churches employ various methods of maintaining order and peace (see 1 Co 14:26,33): banning violence, or naming names, or drinking/using during the service. If there is a particularly chaotic day, the leader may pause to invite whatever is happening into the presence of God: all that is present can contain the life of God, so is invited in. To provide structure, it can help to follow the lectionary or church calendar (or another culturally relevant calendar).
To start an outdoor church and continue well is extraordinarily difficult. Any outdoor church needs to be well-prepared, have well-thought-out leadership (see 1 and 2 Tim and Titus) and oversight structures, and be well-connected to the rest of the body. The leaders need excellent self-care and perseverance to overcome obstacles e.g. getting permission to hold the church outdoors. But Christ is with the poor (Mt 26; James 2:5; Lk 6:20) and so Christ will overcome all the obstacles: the powers that set themselves up against God and God's people (Eph 1:21), the conflict that comes with trying to organise a church especially such a messy one as an outdoor church with street people, local church opposition and burn-out. If you want to try to start an outdoor church, Ecclesia's “Street Church Manual” (Google it) or Judith Lee's “Come by Here” (PublishAmerica, Baltimore, 2010) will help. Whether you succeed or fail I salute you – you are walking a very hard road. May God be with you.
3. “Am I doing this for the right reasons? I question my own motivation or integrity. How can I relate to homeless people when I’m richer than them?”
Our hearts are complex. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We kid ourselves that we're completely selfless, but actually our motives are mixed. We might work with homeless people because we love to help others. Or we're trying to look good by “saving” them. Or because we feel comfortable in the presence of homeless people because we ourselves have experienced rejection and rootlessness: and we just want some friends. At some level, our own emotional needs are being met by what we're doing. And maybe we struggle with that.
To struggle with this is acceptable: “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose” (Phil 2:13). We all start with impure motives. God uses these to propel us towards what he wants us to do - but he will work on us to purify our motives. It doesn't matter how impure our motives are to start off with as long as we are slowly increasing in godliness (2 Pe 1:8). “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31), and we love ourselves by recognizing that we have mixed motives, and accepting that. We accept that when we go out on the streets, we are partly doing it for ourselves. But God loves us despite this. We have grace. Go easy on yourself.
Another way in which we question ourselves is to think “I can’t relate to homeless people, I’m richer than them!” Maybe you've experienced homelessness and so it's very easy for you to relate to people on the streets, and you can even say: “I know what it's like to be in your position”. But I struggled for years with the fact that I'm middle-class, have a house, very supportive parents, never seemed to lack for money, etc. etc. I thought to myself: “Who am I to minister to homeless people when I'm not like them?” So here's my journey of thinking about that issue:
For years, I thought I should become homeless: that only by becoming like the people I was ministering to, would I have be able to speak to them. Like Jesus – he came down to be like us. If Viv Gregg (“Companion to the Poor” (Authentic Media, 2005)) could live in a slum, why couldn’t I? I did sleep out one night which helped me understand more (a taster experience, done with others, safely can help.