An Update on the BSBC Ministry to the Homeless
Your Social Action Team are grateful to Sergiy Polyachenko for providing this overview of ministry to our city’s homeless population, started by Pastor Steve Patterson, and continuing in partnership with him today.
Commonly known as “The Street Ministry” is a community outreach mission initiated by Pastor Steve Patterson in early 2021 to extend the love of Christ to those who are often forgotten about and to bring light to the darkest corners of our neighborhood. In the early going, Pastor Steve joined others in the faith community to split up the nights of the week. Currently we continue to go out Sunday and Monday evenings from the Barnabas Centre. Other faith groups cover the other five nights of the week. Today the ministry unites several individuals of the faith community who go out and serve food and water to those living on the streets of Fredericton.
Giving consistent care to those in need
The Ministry serves several goals. The first and foremost goal is to give consistent care to those in need by serving them a meal, snack, and water where they are. Another important aspect is simple wellness checks. There have been nights when it was necessary to call an ambulance for emergency care. There have also been times when we realized someone had serious enough infection that we strongly encouraged them to visit the Downtown Community Health Clinic and were able to follow up to ensure they received the care needed.
Visiting consistently also allows us to continually have our finger on the pulse of the community. Whenever there are community members admitted to the hospital, we hear about it, and Pastor Steve can make a visit when Covid protocol allows. We recently learned that one young lady is pregnant and living in a tent. So through getting signed consent, Pastor Steve was able to work with Social Development to ensure housing arrangement became a priority for the young lady.
Serving people with food has two important functions. First, it provides a temporary relief to those experiencing hunger. It is not uncommon to hear, (especially on the Sunday night, when bus is not in service), that the sandwich, muffins and other baked goods we deliver is the first meal they had throughout the day. Second, by allowing us in their living space, they are also allowing the hands and feet of Christ to enter their space as the Spirit moves with us. By receiving bread from our hands, they are receiving the Goodness of God, and are grateful, often saying “God Bless you” as we part ways. This brings us to the second goal of the Ministry.
Showing the love of Jesus
The second goal of the ministry is rather not just talk about Jesus, but to show them Jesus. Coming to their homes with humble gifts of food and water significantly reduces the social barriers and help them to drop their defenses and see us more as friends rather than supervising authorities.
When we are out there on the mission, we are doing our best to leave all our judgements at home and to go there with open minds and open hearts. That results in more and more people willing to open and share their stories, problems, and fears. Such an approach allows us to build relationship based on trust and mutual respect. It often allows our friends to share their individual circumstance that led them to the streets, that they may not be willing to share with people in the position of authority. This in turn, allows us to better understand and relay, whenever possible, their challenges and needs to city officials or to the groups working together to alleviate hardships of homeless living.
Sharing our faith
Finally, the ministry allows us to talk about Jesus whenever the Holy Spirit leads us in such conversation. The most common questions we hear is people asking who we are and what we are doing. And that is the moment that usually allows us to share about our faith and whom it is we serve. The outcome of such conversations varies significantly from people being dismissive to two cases where our female friends accepted Jesus and started their journeys through Christian addiction rehab programs.
Without question, such service does not solve the chronic problem of homelessness, but it does provide friendship in the Name of Christ, and temporary relief to help get them through to the next morning and simply provides a little hope and encouragement.
Respectfully yours,
Sergiy Polyachenko
