Homelessness and outreach...in steps by Ian Ebright

This article is written by quester, Ian Ebright.  Ian volunteers with To the Streets ministry monthly and in this article shares his hands-on experience with the homeless community of our neighborhood.  Ian and his wife, Lauren attend the 11 am service and have an adorable daughter, Eden.  On the side, Ian is a blogger and expresses himself through his blog called: The Broken Telegraph.  Please visit his website for more of his insights and thoughts.   

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I am not an expert on homelessness by any stretch of the imagination. I first lowered one hesitant toe into these waters a few years back while working to serve the poor and homeless at a once-a-week community dinner at a nearby church. My friend joined me after a few times and we both developed a modest sense of satisfaction by directly serving those in a season of struggle. But it wasn't too long before my patience began to wear out, and I became frustrated by the familiar faces because I thought these people weren't making progress as fast as they should. I wondered if I was just enabling a bunch of freeloaders and addicts. My friend and I convinced each other that we were doing exactly that, and so we broke free of what started to feel like an obligation, and filled the rest of our summer with beers and boating.

A few months back, I wandered into the To The Streets outreach and met pastor DeAnza and a few other Questers. My intentions were better this time, though far from perfect: I was curious, I had an urge to serve the church and community because I was tired of being just a critic and consumer of church, and I hoped to make a few friends since my wife and I were pretty new to the congregation. What I didn't expect was that on this very first outing, my sheltered and warped views about homelessness would begin to crumble and change. The people that I interacted with that day on the streets were polite, intelligent, grateful, and most shocking of all- some were dressed and groomed like they just came from working at the office.

I am really starting to believe that this is how ministry is born. People like my new friend Dustin Cross who leads a worship service at Nicklesville, or Pastor DeAnza, or Rev. Rick Reynolds of Operation Nightwatch- they aren't passionate about helping the homeless because they were born as humanitarian giants. Instead, and in their own unique ways, they have developed a heart and an understanding because they have taken a series of steps close, and closer again, towards our brothers and sisters on the street. They are effective because they chose to act; they didn't choose to act because they were first effective. But there is an idea floating around in our shallow American culture; a vision of an humanitarian savant- someone who sits across from Oprah on that plush couch, and in a way that's both hip and casual, reveals that he or she just had a knack for doing the good work. As a result, this enigma of a person now has hundreds of shiny outreach centers built all over the world, and participates in photo ops with enviable people at every turn. Unfortunately, our idea of this humanitarian guru is not helpful because I believe God wants us to first get our hands a bit dirty in serving rather than waiting to cultivate a brilliant outreach plan or polished persona.

It is tempting but unfortunate to wait around for the thing that we are perfect at. I want to encourage you instead to start down the surprising and often uncomfortable road of service for God's glory if you feel that you have not begun that journey already. Or if you feel compelled to learn more about this issue of homelessness, please do so. I'm not saying that you should chase every opportunity; clearly your ministry should resonate with your conviction and your talents and be the result of discernment. The point is, God wants you and me to enter the work of the Lord AS WE ARE, which means that we bring our phobias, our misconceptions, our lack of enthusiasm, and even our dwarfed sense of compassion to the starting line. God can change and grow those things in us, which is great news because it saves us from having to take the time to fake it.

It can be so easy to feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the issue that a person might ignore the matter because it simply numbs them out. Even worse, a person might invent lies and nasty generalizations about the homeless- just like I did- as a way of insulating from the pulse of conscience or the nudge of the Holy Spirit. Don't be frustrated at yourself if you are not radicalized against the injustice of homelessness yet; take steps to engage and support the homeless and the radicalization will follow.

As you step closer, even with questionable intentions, the homeless will change in your experience from an undefined group to people with names and stories just like the rest of us. The main reason we care about a friend's unemployment is because they are a friend. Otherwise, they're just part of a statistic on the nightly news. It's the same with the homeless. Struggle begins to really matter when we allow ourselves to see those struggling as individuals.

To discuss the complications and causes of homelessness would require far more space than we have here. But I have found it helpful to think of this important issue in the way explained by my tour guide at a recent Nicklesville visit: the reasons why people are homeless are as varied and innumerable as the individuals themselves.  There are addiction and mental illness issues at times, but these things are not exclusive to the homeless, just as vanity is not exclusive to celebrities.  Homelessness, like our response to it, can happen in steps. At times, people find themselves without shelter after a cascading series of setbacks, piled one on top of another until the options run out. Poverty is not reserved for the lazy. That is one of the more dangerous myths about homelessness because it allows us to not only ignore the problem but to pass judgement on those who are caught in it.

At the most recent To The Streets, a woman who I've become familiar with shared that she was leaving the streets; her pneumonia was improving and she had found work and shelter caring for her mom. Next in line was her daughter, who is getting help from her mom; and along with her husband will soon be leaving the van they've been staying in, for better conditions. It's a reminder that the homeless also make progress in steps; something I had never considered for some odd reason. Their lives, like ours, have ups and downs. It was an honor to share in the joy of these women's progress.

There's no perfect way to learn about this issue, or perfect way to lend a hand. There is no perfect thing to say to these men and women and children. There is no perfect item that makes the harsh reality of their situation vanish. That's okay. Just put one foot in front of the other.