Southampton Churches Winter Shelter
A way to obey God’s Word
We’ve been challenged by the book of James in the last few weeks. James won’t let us just ‘believe’ the right things, but insists that actions are needed to prove that we really mean it. ‘If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about it what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’
Churches in Southampton want to obey this word and in January offer food, warmth and somewhere safe to sleep to homeless people on the streets in our city this Winter. On a different night each week one of the churches will turn part of their building into somewhere people can stay. But it will be more than that, as a team of volunteers will help in welcoming, cooking, watching over and getting breakfast for those who come. It’s a complex operation and needs a team of around 100 volunteers.
The idea is that volunteers offer to help on one night of the week for the four week period. There are three shifts covering welcoming and serving food in the evenings, making sure people are okay through the night, and helping with breakfast in the morning.
Although Portswood’s building is not suitable for accommodation it would be great if some of us were able to join a team to help out with this. More information can be found here, https://streetsupport.net/give-help/help/?postcode=SO14%207LY&type=Time including online application forms and details of what’s involved. There will be training in a couple of weekend’s time so it’s important to register your interest in the next two weeks. Find out more at the link, or better still have a chat to Peter Bray, or Peter Lambros who know all about the project .
If you’re looking for a way to put the Word into action, supported with good training and fellowship with others for just a limited period of time then get involved in this. Last month the Echo reported that 41 homeless people are likely to have died in Southampton since 2013, let’s do something about this.
John Ayrton
