Help the Homeless? Why?

It is easy to think that no one needs to be homeless and if they do not help themselves why should we help them?

Helping with Winter Shelter has taught me that ‘they’ are real people and that often the problems that make them live on the streets would be too much for many of us to cope with.

Manna House works with many other local agencies to try to find permanent accommodation but this takes time.

Thanks to several local churches we can offer shelter every winter night while they wait to be housed and thanks to our volunteers we can offer a good meal and company.

As a result these people in need do not freeze in doorways but enjoy something approaching home comforts. No, they don’t leave their problems at the door but when they go back out in the morning they will have felt some of the love that Jesus urges us to show to everyone we meet.

As a Christian it is my responsibility to help others. I can do this by giving to those in need in the Third World but the Homeless in Kendal are in need here.

In the Bible we read ‘do not judge, or you too will be judged’ and at Winter Shelter we welcome every guest as we would like to be welcomed if we were homeless.

Although I started helping out of a sense of Christian duty I was soon surprised to discover....it is fun!

Serving God can be hard but doing what He wants you to do will always be rewarding.

Ian Maynard

Parr Street Evangelical Church