Hospitality vs. Safety

Last night I went to a meeting at Central Presbyterian Church, one of our partner churches and the home of our summer mission trip program, regarding our homeless neighbors who are living around the church. Central Presbyterian had gathered all of the ministries housed in their building as well as other neighbors around the area to “discuss and wonder” how we could live out the gospel in the midst of the realities of providing hospitality to the homeless in Atlanta. I was so proud that our ministry is partnered with such a thoughtful church who takes seriously their call as a church in the downtown area that provides hospitality to folks who are homeless. But at the same time takes seriously the safety of its staff, the children in the child development center, the youth who come to serve through DOOR, and congregation members. It is a tricky balance to find and if there were easy answers, the faithful people in this church would have answered them already. But there are no easy answers. There are certain risks and trade-offs with living out a gospel of hospitality. How do you provide a place to sleep outside the building without that area also serving as a bathroom since the public restrooms close at 7 p.m.? Do you provide a portable bathroom if that also means having inappropriate behavior happening in that same space? How can churches join together and demand enough shelter or transitional housing for everyone who needs it? Even if we get shelter for everyone who needs it how do we reach out to those who struggle with mental illness and won’t voluntarily enter into any type of housing? The questions seem to never end. And these same questions surrounding hospitality and welcome are the focus of our summer program this year. With the closing of the Peachtree and Pine shelter (to read more, check out this article http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=143774) there will probably be even more people who are homeless on the streets of Atlanta this year. And so these questions that Central Presbyterian Church is asking are timely and essential. We’ll let you know how you might be able to join in with this advocacy work as we move forward from “discussing and wondering” to action.

~Jannan Thomas, DOOR Atlanta City Director