“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor... and you will be blessed.”
We develop relationships with the addicted and displaced residents of downtown Saint Louis, Missouri. We get to know them and they get to know us. If you visit our service, you may have trouble discerning who is helping and who is getting the help. We are a family in that we all laugh, eat and pray together. We are one of the few church services where a few in the congregation might be drunk and or smoking during the service, because we serve the section of this community that is yet to turn away from the life on the street. We have worship, usually a person from the street singing, then a gospel message from someone who's been delivered from the street. We gather together breaking bread in remembrance of Jesus Christ. We provide clothes and hygiene essentials. There are no salaries or money made by anyone involved. We come from many churches...just a handful of folks obeying Christ. We have people that used to attend when they were homeless, now living on their own, come down to hang out and help–it's beautiful to see.
Matthew 25:35-40 (NIV)
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.