Homelessness

Hunger and Homelessness Sunday – November 12, 2023

Many Presbyterian congregations run homelessness ministries or provide volunteers and funding for nearby shelters. Spurred by the biblical call to house people experiencing homelessness and the church’s strong social witness policy on the issue, PC(USA) has worked to address homelessness through support for shelters, transitional housing, social service programs and the provision of – and advocacy around – affordable housing.

Hunger and Homelessness Sunday is part of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, recognized in November by PC(USA) and others across the United States. During this season of gratitude, we challenge you to raise up the crisis of homelessness during worship.

Resources and Links

Learn more using these resources, or incorporate pieces into your bulletin or liturgy/worship outline for Hunger and Homelessness Sunday.

• New article by Jennifer Evans, “We Keep Us Safe”
• Minute for Mission: Hunger and Homelessness Sunday (2023)
• PHP Post article: How Congregations Are Increasing Affordable Housing and Addressing Unhoused Populations
• Mission Minute: Hunger and Homelessness Sunday (2022 Mission Yearbook entry)
• Bulletin Insert—What is the house that you would build for me?
• Video – Worship service at Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian Church, focused on hunger and homelessness. Scripture reading begins at minute 26, sermon by PHP Coordinator Rebecca Barnes at 32:30 (from August 1, 2021)
• Video—Living out Matthew 25: CBCOs and Affordable Housing (8-minute segment with PHP| full webinar recording)
• Talking With Children about Homelessness
• Hunger and Homelessness flier—many are homeless and millions hungry, but there are some things you can do to help.
• From Homelessness to Hope: Constructing Just, Sustainable Communities for All God’s People—report reaffirms the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s historical witness on access to housing.

Affordable Housing Grantee Partners

Photo of the Community of the Beloved, by Andrew Kang Bartlett, PHP

Learn more about the work of our partners; incorporate success stories in your church newsletter or bulletin as a way to inspire your community’s efforts.

The National Coalition for the Homeless is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to a single mission: To prevent and end homelessness while ensuring the immediate needs of those experiencing homelessness are met and their civil rights protected.

Missoula Interfaith Collaborative (Montana)—The Housing Advocate Network (HAN) and Welcome Back, are two programs of the Missouri Interfaith Collaborative. HAN advocates walk alongside people experiencing homelessness by providing support, mentorship, and information about available resources. Welcome Back provides mentorship, training, and resources to formerly incarcerated people who are attempting to find employment and housing.  Members of the Collaborative are trained in the skills and practices of community organizing, so they can walk with community members seeking solutions to the issues they are facing.

Beloved Asheville’s mission is to be a center that “creates community focused on loving God, our neighbors, and ourselves. We believe that love acts. So for us love is a gathering space where people grow and heal while discovering and sharing their gifts and where people help and empower each other in a safe environment.”

Washington Interfaith Network is a Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO) whose work has resulted in the rehabbing and protection of over 500 affordable apartments from being torn down or converted to condos, and over 2000 other affordable rentals have been constructed. WIN also helped win the fight for DC’s Housing Production Trust Fund with $452 million allocated over the past two decades for affordable housing.

Further Actions

• Pray that the Christ who once was homeless will motivate us to action in ways that share God’s love and belonging with those in need in our communities.
• Learn about Congregation Based Community Organizing (CBCO), a response your congregation could take to end hunger and homelessness through efforts to gain affordable housing in your community.
• Learn about homelessness in your area, and advocate for fairer wages so people can afford decent housing. 
• Connect with the Presbyterian Network to End Homelessness (PNTEH), a national organization of Presbyterians focusing on how they can alleviate homelessness.

Stories

• Texas church fights homelessness with permanent supportive housing
• A roof over everyone’s head: congregations address the housing crisis
• Presbyterian churches promise to help families experiencing homelessness. 
  Note: Several PHP Hunger Action Congregations are involved with Family Promise.
• Articles on homelessness from Unbound, PC(USA)’s Interactive Journal on Christian Social Justice.
• Finding Homes for the Homeless—Churches tire of quick fixes and seek solutions
• Homelessness, the Fault in ‘American Greatness’
• Presbyterian Church Reaches LGBTQ Youth in Chicago