Room in The Inn

Sherri · #1 07-22-2010, 02:25 PM

I'm so excited!! Today I signed Love & Truth Church up for participation in Room in the Inn in our city. It's a program from the first of November through the end of April where you bring in a group of homeless men once a month into your church to spend the night and you feed them dinner. They have their own cots and linens provided by the program. Whole families can get involved in feeding and serving them, and then you have to have two men from your church who will spend the night there with them.

I think it's a wonderful way to show the love of Jesus to the poor. They work to get them into job programs and get them off the streets. One guy who was in the program last year is now in Florida working on his Master's degree. He had just lost hope.

If you're interested, Room in the Inn's headquarters is in Nashville, where they have a big group. They are also located in the following areas:

Calgary, Canada
Charlotte, NC
Chattanooga, TN
Clarksville, TN
Ft. Worth, TX
Hyannis Point, MA
Jackson, TN
Lexington, KY
Long Island, NY
Murfreesboro, TN

Margies3 · #2 07-22-2010, 02:37 PM

Sherri, that's a very interesting program! Glad you all are getting involved

You know, I spent alot of time in Apostolic churches. We were fed spiritually - in fact we FEASTED spiritually. But one thing that was always lacking (in my opinion) was a concern for people's every-day needs. We raised lots of money for reaching people spiritually. But we left them bare-foot and homeless. That always made me sad. I don't know how a person can feel the ache in their heart when their stomach is growling so loud.
I am soooooooooo encouraged to hear so many good reports from people on here who are reaching out to people - but PHYSICALLY as well as spiritually. Even Jesus took care of the people's physical needs. We should do no less.

misspresley · #3 07-22-2010, 02:43 PM

sounds like a great opportunity to minister to physical needs as well as spiritual - I think about church buildings being so much wasted space when not in use - when there are people who could use a warm or cool place to just "be" for a few hours.

Esther · #4 07-22-2010, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherri

I'm so excited!! Today I signed Love & Truth Church up for participation in Room in the Inn in our city. It's a program from the first of November through the end of April where you bring in a group of homeless men once a month into your church to spend the night and you feed them dinner. They have their own cots and linens provided by the program. Whole families can get involved in feeding and serving them, and then you have to have two men from your church who will spend the night there with them.

I think it's a wonderful way to show the love of Jesus to the poor. They work to get them into job programs and get them off the streets. One guy who was in the program last year is now in Florida working on his Master's degree. He had just lost hope.

If you're interested, Room in the Inn's headquarters is in Nashville, where they have a big group. They are also located in the following areas:

Calgary, Canada
Charlotte, NC
Chattanooga, TN
Clarksville, TN
Ft. Worth, TX
Hyannis Point, MA
Jackson, TN
Lexington, KY
Long Island, NY
Murfreesboro, TN

commonsense · #5 07-22-2010, 05:06 PM

I always heard------ it's not a social gospel.

Glad to hear that is changing.

Pro31:28 · #6 07-22-2010, 05:29 PM

We have something in our town called Safe Nights, very similar- Churches basically open their doors and the congregation donates breakfast and dinner for a week. They are fairly strict, no drugs, alcohol, etc. Each high school class in our school works 2 nights a year. Many times the kids get together and do it more often- they bring snacks and games, and just visit with the people.
One thing that we do is have the director check out the program members before we come to make sure there are no registered sex offenders staying when we plan on coming. If that is the case, we switch to a different week.

Sherri · #7 07-22-2010, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pro31:28

We have something in our town called Safe Nights, very similar- Churches basically open their doors and the congregation donates breakfast and dinner for a week. They are fairly strict, no drugs, alcohol, etc. Each high school class in our school works 2 nights a year. Many times the kids get together and do it more often- they bring snacks and games, and just visit with the people.
One thing that we do is have the director check out the program members before we come to make sure there are no registered sex offenders staying when we plan on coming. If that is the case, we switch to a different week.

Sounds very similar! These guys are really screened too, and no drugs or alcohol are allowed. They've been doing this 3 years now in our city, and so far there have been zero altercations or major problems. So I feel pretty secure in bringing them into our building. Also, that part of the building locks off completely from the rest of it, and it has an outside entrance, kitchen, bathrooms, laundry facilities and things like foosball, etc. I think it will work out well. We'll see!