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BY ANN S. HARDEN

As District Superintendent Evan Young left a downtown DC congregation recently on a cold winter night, four homeless individuals were making camp on the church's steps. "Our local congregations have long been involved in the ministry of caring for the homeless," reflected Young, "We are known for our ministries that meet the daily needs of these vulnerable people as we fulfill our call to act justly and love mercy."

The leadership of the Baltimore-Washington Conference has recently formed a new ministry, Be The Change Development Corporation, that engages these same issues with a bold mission: to end homelessness in the Washington region. Be The Change seeks to leverage the resources of the Conference – not just the property resources but also the collective will of the Conference to see homelessness ended.

As the work of Be The Change (BTC) gets underway, the homeless ministries of the Conference and local congregations will be growing in the capacity of BTC as a housing developer. Yet, as Bishop Schol, president of the Board of BTC, describes, "Be The Change is more than a development entity, we are being the church in new ways as we meet the needs of our communities."

The work of Be The Change seeks to engage the work of the entire Conference. The work is getting underway in Washington, DC, as well as in Baltimore and beyond. Local congregations can engage Be The Change by learning more about its work and model of permanent supportive housing, as well as engaging with the housing developments through service and support as they move towards ground breaking and construction.

"Metropolitan UMC has a long history of engaging homelessness in DC through acts of mercy and advocacy with our sheltering ministries and involvements in the Washington Interfaith Network," said Ann Michel, a member of Metropolitan Memorial UMC, "And the vision of Be The Change engages us on these same issues with a bold step of ministry and justice."

Be The Change has partnered with a national development partner, Community Solutions, that has a track record in developing permanent supportive housing and cost-effective, system-changing innovations that prevent and end homelessness.

To find out more about Be The Change and how to involve your congregation in this work, contact . Speakers and materials from Be The Change are available.