DRAWING THE HOMELESS INTO CHURCH

DRAWING HOMELESS INTO THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH TAKES TIME
Milind Sojwal says it also takes a firm belief in the church’s calling to exist among the poor
By George R. Pasley

A few weeks ago I Googled our friend Milind Sojwal and discovered his congregation, All Angels Church in Manhattan, was the centerpiece of an article on dissent (with reference to homosexuality) in the Episcopal Church. The story had a picture of Milind leading worship in his bare feet, something which may help build connections with the homeless, artists and yuppies which make up his congregation.

The story was not about homeless ministries, but it mentioned enough about them to make me curious. So I called Milind. He was eager to talk, and this is what I learned.

All Angels was started as a mission VBS in an area north of the city in 1850, in what is now Central Park. So the church had its origins as a ministry to the poor.

In the 1870s, it was decided to build a park and the easiest place to put it was where the people could easily be evicted. The poor were kicked out and the church moved, but only about three blocks. It began to be a church of the rich. Eventually a huge edifice, holding 1300 people was built. But when Park Avenue was built, the rich began to move away form the All Angels neighborhood and by the 1979 the building was sold and the congregation moved into a four-story parish house, expecting to die soon and hoping to die with dignity. Instead, they rediscovered their mission to the poor.

From the beginning there was outreach to the poor and homeless, but Milind repeatedly emphasized that drawing them into the life of the church took time- and lots of it. Meals were served on a regular basis, and there was a drop-in shelter offered one night a week. Sometime during the 19802, there was a soup supper downstairs and a Taize service upstairs, with whites going up and blacks going down, and the rector at the time saw the incongruity and decided to do something different. He invited the homeless to church.

They were rather reluctant to come, but there was one homeless woman who was pregnant, and she asked the rector if he would baptize her baby. He said yes, and church legend says the baptism occurred on a dark rainy night in New York, when the homeless were looking for shelter. They came to church, and they became a more regular part of the church life after that.

Milind said there are a huge variety of services to the poor and homeless in NYC. “It’s impossible to die of hunger here.” But the church plays it s part in making food, shelter and services available to the homeless. But that’s not what brings them to worship. Instead, it’s the desire for dignity, acceptance and welcome. They find that at All Angels, especially the evening service.

“Make no mistake,” said Milind. “It’s a big challenge to sit in a pew next to someone who smells of urine and unwashed clothes.”

It may be a challenge, but the church seems to have accepted it. Milind says the church is about one-third homeless, one-third artists, and one-third yuppies. Most of the white members believe the Christian Church is called to reach out to the poor and powerless, and it shows. The congregation holds three services on Sunday- an early, traditional service; a mixed service at 11:30 which Milind describes as contemporary and loud and very accessible to generation X, and an evening service aimed at the homeless.

“My sermons are not dumbed-down, because most of the people are very smart, but they are accessible,” said Milind.

Milind said about one-third of the worshippers at the evening service are white traditional church members. Two-thirds are homeless, and they are made to feel welcome, including the complete lack of emphasis on attire. But something else is just as important.

Most of the homeless are black, but they do not feel welcome in the black churches, primarily do to unofficial dress codes in nearby black congregations. Even so, their roots are in black music. All Angels has a brilliant music leader. He happens to be white, but he taught himself black music and has built an unusual choir of an assortment of folks, homeless included, who lead the congregation in lively and soulful song every Sunday night.

“I wish I could tell you great success stories, but I can’t,” said Milind. “People get healed, and the next week they are back on the streets, back on crack or whatever they were doing before. Some of the homeless have been members here for 20 years.”