Open Your Heart

 

Good morning !!

 

As a church in downtown Wichita, we are not like many other churches which are located in residential areas.  We don’t have the neighborhood community that some of the other congregations have.  We are in the middle of Wichita, just a couple of blocks from the center of the city.  Yes, there have been a few apartments built in the area, but by and large those apartment dwellers do not consider themselves to be our neighbors.  Younger people mostly, they tend to stay to themselves when it comes to being neighborly with a church.

And I get that.  Church nowadays, it seems, has very little relevance to the younger crowd.  Establishing careers, working on couple relationships, navigating COVID, inflation, and the other ills of society, and living in an urban building with 200 other people can make a person see things in ways that some of us have difficulty understanding.

We do have a community of neighbors, however.  By far most of them are either homeless or near homeless.  Some live under the First Street bridge just a few feet from our property.  Others camp out in the nearby park or find shelter in neighboring alleys.  Many have mental health issues.  Many are addicts of some kind.

Some have difficulty getting around due to injury or some kind of handicap.  Others are distrustful of anyone else, having been robbed, beaten, or sexually assaulted in the past.  Some, due to their mental health situation, are not welcome in shelters, food pantries, or other inside places.

Most don’t have a legal form of identification.  Either what they had has been stolen or they just never have had one.  They don’t have the money needed to gather the forms they need and go to the DMV to get an ID.  And without an ID, it’s nearly impossible to access needed services, medication, and other means of help, let alone apply for a job.

We have struggled over the years as a church to serve the community that surrounds us.  How do we best serve those without a home—without enabling the kind of behavior that keeps them on the streets and away from the services that ARE available to them?

We’ve tried several ways of serving the population over the years.  And while a few have made substantial progress in life and living, by far most continue to walk the streets looking for the next meal, the next fix, or the next shelter.

We’ve partnered with non-profits that serve the homeless.  We’re on a first-name basis with the members of the Wichita Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team.  Some of our members volunteer for non-profit organizations that serve the homeless in some way.  As a smaller church, we don’t have the financial means to operate our own shelter, medical service, or other similar programs.

And yet we desire to serve in some tangible, face-to-face way that will demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ to these who find themselves in a situation that many times feels like being chained with no way of escape.

Government has not found the magic solution to homelessness.  Non profits haven’t either.  Churches and religious institutions struggle just as we do to serve in some meaningful way.

So, where do we go from here?  We’ve just recently pulled back from one form of service that ended up being more enabling than anything else.  We’re groping for yet another way to serve…one that will, in some small way, help rather than enable and hinder.

Jesus said that we will always have the poor with us.  But He didn’t say that because of that truth, we can just ignore them and go our merry way.  In fact, quite the opposite.  As God’s people, we are to serve the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe those without garments to wear.

What does that look like in 2022 in downtown Wichita?  We still don’t know with certainty.  What we do know is that we are called to serve…called to disciple…called to help right the wrongs that are endemic in the world we live in.

We will continue to pray, consider, and move in ways that we believe Jesus would have us go.  Pray with us.  Find ways to serve.  Be salt and light in a dark and troubled world.  You may not have the homeless in your neighborhood.  But there is someone within your circle of influence that you can serve in some way.  Find that person.  Find that situation.  Open your heart.

 

Blessings,