Homelessness = Driving Force for Ministry

One of the great pleasures in ministry for me right now is my attempts to reach out to the homeless/inner city around 5th street in Covington.

Each week I spend about 3-5 hours hanging out at the Covington Library where the homeless, addicted and jobless often congregate. The thing that makes this attempt @ ministry different is you have to earn your way into their world. These people are often socially backward and distrusting.

So, I go where they go, dress as they dress, no matter how hungry I may get I don't eat because they don't eat and try to meet them as they are where they are. So far it's been like fishing. There's a lot of waiting and watching.

How does this translate into a driving force for ministry? I believe you have to know your culture and enter your culture to truly earn the opportunity to minister. With the inner city people you watch people eat out of garbage cans, talk to themselves and listen to language that you won't hear during Sunday School. You end up shaking hands with men who have ground in dirt in every pore on their body or talking to guys who are getting publicly intoxicated. You don't approve of the sin. You don't participate in the sin. You just can't get to the sinner unless you get around his sin.

Much of modern day culture is unable to be approved by Christians. Nevertheless, just as you cannot remove the offense of the Cross as a part of the Gospel, you can't remove the messiness of dealing with sinners when trying to reach them with the Gospel. The idea that we can dart out of 'Camp Christian' quickly do something for Jesus and dart right back in behind the walls and moats of the Christian castle is both illogical and unbiblical.

We get one life to do something exciting and daring for the Gospel. The challenge must be taken up.

Jesus, "Be in the world (culture) but not of the world (don't let the sin of the culture overcome you.)"