Displaying items by tag: Homeless

A viral video shows a pastor, Ed Newton, pausing mid-sermon to engage with Anthony, a homeless man who interrupted with expletives to compliment Newton's shoes. Surprised, Newton gently addressed him, emphasising the need for respect due to the children present. Anthony then revealed he had been suicidal that morning before Michael, a church attendee, brought him to the service, saving his life. Deeply moved, the congregation raised $5,000 for Anthony. This remarkable act of kindness resulted in 35 people deciding to accept Christ that day. Newton and the church continue to support Anthony, including arranging medical help; they hope this incident will inspire believers to remember God's love for everyone. The interaction demonstrates how one act of kindness can change lives and inspire a community.

On 31 August a building being used as ‘informal’ housing for some 200 homeless people caught fire with at least 73 people dying. They lived in a maze of shacks and makeshift structures inside the five-storey building. Seven victims were children, 52 are injured, and the death toll is expected to rise. Johannesburg has widespread poverty and joblessness, and 15,000 homeless people. The head of Human Settlements said some of the victims may have been renting from criminal gangs illegally collecting fees. Johannesburg’s mayor said that the city administration is aware that many such ‘hijacked’ buildings exist and are rented out by cartels preying on the vulnerable. Because most of them are in the hands of cartels and the city suffers from chronic power shortages, residents resort to candles for light and wood fires for heat. This fire demonstrates a chronic criminalised housing problem.

Sixty members of a Chinese church have submitted applications for asylum in Bangkok, after being denied refuge in South Korea. They had fled the communist regime to escape religious persecution. Pastor Pan’s church has been on the run for years. He said the persecution is growing worse. The group remains stateless, jobless, and homeless, but not without faith. ‘We're thinking of our children's future. We refuse to put their education in the hands of the Communist Party, to give them an atheist education, and to turn their backs on God. So we are willing to pay this price to flee China to allow them to keep going to church school and to know God. Although we don't know what we will encounter in the future, what our God gives us is the best. He will lead us through these issues; God always has the best plan and arrangement.’

Thirteen homelessness charities and housing groups made an unprecedented plea to ministers to reconsider the police and crime bill that passed through the Commons this week. It will now go to the House of Lords. They said the bill needs urgent changes to avoid people being arrested and imprisoned for sleeping rough. Traditional Gypsy events like the annual Appleby horse fair face being criminalised, threatening the Gypsy way of life and culture. People will risk fines, imprisonment or confiscation of vehicles, which for Travellers are also their homes. The charities and housing groups said the bill should be scrapped, or amended if it goes ahead. Many people experiencing homelessness sleep in cars; they would be arrested and jailed. An 1824 Vagrancy Act that targeted rough sleeping and begging was abolished, but this new legislation 200 years later would again criminalise them.

Authorities arrested 36-year-old Aditya Singh after he had spent three months living in the secure side of Chicago's O'Hare international airport, relying on the kindness of strangers for food, sleeping in terminals and using the bathroom facilities. He was caught by an airport employee asking for his ID. Singh is one of many individuals residing in terminals for weeks, months or years. Since 2018 there has been a rise in the number of homeless people in large airports. Officials try to provide aid and crisis intervention teams to connect homeless people to housing and other services. But most would prefer a solution where airports no longer operated as homeless shelters.

The UK has experienced a week of dangerous snow and ice culminating in below -20C temperatures. Local councils are warning residents to take extra care while the cold snap lasts, as the weekend weather will turn ‘quite hazardous’. The Centrepoint charity for homeless young people is urging the public to contact them if they see people living out in the cold. Charities are also advised to offer anyone seen to be sleeping rough a hot drink, meal, blankets or clothing. Over 100 street cleaning and waste collection teams have been diverted from regular duties to clear snow from footpaths and routes to medical centres to enable COVID immunisation to continue. On 11 February nine flood warnings indicated flooding is very likely; a further 88 flood alerts indicate that flooding is possible as the snow melts and further freezing rain continues.

This year has been tough for us all, but for millions of the poorest in our country life is now desperate. They don’t know where their next meal is coming from and are facing a Christmas of hunger and hardship. Centrepoint say this could be the worst homelessness crisis in their fifty-year history, with 23,000 young lives at risk. They are not just a Christmas statistic, they need a safe warm room to live in. They need to be able to turn their lives around (see) The Salvation Army said that after a difficult year they want to reach out to those who are suffering the most and bring joy and hope into their lives this Christmas. In over 650 communities across the UK they will be rolling up their sleeves and doing all they can for them.

You may be apart but you can sleep out together. London City Mission are inviting people to spend the night of Saturday 21 November sleeping outside to raise money and awareness of those in London facing this winter without a home. The 2020 Sleepout event is in support of the Webber Street Homeless Day Centre, which offers practical help and the hope of Christ to the homeless. This year it will be a virtual, fun activity with online talks from those working at Webber Street with other people joining you from all over the country live via Zoom. The organisers say, ‘There’s loads of exciting ways to jump into a sleeping bag and make heaps of difference. It’s an exciting and challenging way to get others to support you and raise money together for people living on the streets in London. For more information go to

London City Mission cares for sick and marginalised Londoners. Pray for churches in lockdown as they adapt to share the gospel of light in the darkness of this crisis. May Christians be beacons of light so that God’s grace is apparent in London and the nation. Pray for people like Kris, homeless and a Big Issue vendor, who can’t sell his magazines and relies on one meal a day. Pray for provisions to be made for the homeless in lockdown A Glasgow homeless shelter had to close when a staff member and a service user caught coronavirus. They tried to prevent people from being left without shelter, but those with insecure immigration status or complex background issues are sleeping on the streets after the council said they did not have a statutory duty to accommodate them. Pray for councils and police to care for self-isolating homeless. See

The seventh and youngest child of Lezia Nakayiza, a widow, didn’t know that his family was keeping their Christianity a secret. The 8-year-old boy didn’t realise that telling his Muslim relatives how much he enjoyed a church choir would cause them to attack his family. ‘I could not share my faith with the brothers of my husband as well as the relatives who are radical Muslims’, said Nakayiza. ‘In June my son told one of the relatives of the wonderful choir at church, and that we have been attending the church since March. This was the beginning of our persecution.’ A Christian neighbour told her that the relatives were planning to punish her for leaving Islam, so when she saw many people approaching her house with weapons and shouts of ‘Away with this infidel’, she and her children escaped through the back door. The family is now living at an undisclosed location that is not sustainable.