Acts 2 mission: a place to call home
ELLICOTT CITY - Bethany UMC is among the 50 congregations of many kinds in Anne Arundel and Howard counties that respond to homeless people?s need for shelter. In January, the church bedded down 22 homeless men, women and children, including a family of six, in Sunday school rooms.
'If we don?t get this part right, Sunday morning doesn?t mean much,' said the Rev. David Simpson, as he welcomed the guests.
A 2005 Brookings Institution study indicates that the suburban poor now outnumber their city counterparts.
Churches often face resistance from their members. Not so in Bethany?s case. When parishioner Wendel Thompson heard that Howard churches were banding together to help the homeless, he immediately involved the congregation.
'The facility should be used for God?s work, and what better way than giving people a place to call home, if only for two weeks?' he said.
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