Fancy being part of the answer?

This week you are spared from attendance of an official cell group.

In view of recent chats in group, and my own journey, I want to invite us all to attend the opposite event.

Event: Homelessness in Winchester

Date: Wednesday 28th Oct

Time: 7pm

Where: Bradbury House

Who: Local agencies, charities, the council, and the homeless

I will be leaving about 6.30 - if anyone wants a lift :-)

I had a great chat over a pasty and coffee with a couple of guys today. According to the advice of Stu and Steve, there are some definite opportunities for us to fill some gaps in how the homeless community are served in Winchester.

Please have a read of the below and let me know if you would be interested in helping in any ...

Starters for 7:

1. Volunteering for an established charity.

Get involved in the Trinity Centre so it can open more days. After a £2 million refit they can't get volunteers to open on some days - at least it wasn't the 3+ million we spent to have a building closed quite so often ;-)

2. Another Emmaus.

A huge undertaking, but for these guys Emmaus seems to be 'Mecca' (excuse the religious iconic reference). Guys 'that go in there get sorted'. How might we drive this forwards? It might not be Emmaus, but it needs to be as good.

3. The direct approach - 'Hello'

Food, drink and conversation - just chatting to guys on the street is a great move. You learn a lot about the lives behind the reddened faces, their preferred drinks, and local homeless communities here -apparently around 30 permanent homeless people for whom Winchester is home.

4. Supplies.

Collect and offer the simple things in life - shoes, socks, and blankets.

If I were to send out an occasional Facebook/Email/Tweet with needed items, would you be up for replying and dropping stuff by our house to then distribute? (simply drop a yes/no comment at the bottom of this blog :-)

Some of this could be given directly to the guys I've met, else we could give through one of the local charities.

6. Run a service out the MBC.

Did you know that the Iceland carpark is the main residence for the homeless not getting into the Nightshelter, and Emmaus? Our building is opposite this place. I wonder if we might run a soup service from within the foyer at the MBC. I will speak with Mark about this, and also try to find out about any policing issues which I suspect there might be. The aim would be do offer a service on a night or time when other services weren't available.

6. Read your bible.

Spend some time each day for a week reading your bible and thinking about God's love for the poor and the mandate over his church to go to them. As you reflect and begin to feel overwhelmed by the size of the challenge, read the above 5points and remember, we are asked to do what he has given us, not what he has given others.

7. We are each others neighbours too!

By the way we love oneanother will they know we belong to Jesus. Let's keep loving oneanother, looking out for each other, giving to oneanother, praying for oneanother, thinking the best of oneanother, and texting/calling/tweeting/talking-face-to-face with oneanother