Worthy Christian News > Christian > US: Churches Open Doors To Homeless In Extreme Cold, Run Afoul Of Local Authorities

US: Churches Open Doors To Homeless In Extreme Cold, Run Afoul Of Local Authorities

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – With over 120 million Americans under wind chill alerts this month, churches across the nation have been stepping up to provide warm shelters for the unhoused around them. However, a significant number of churches have had to fight their local authorities for the right to do so.

In one example cited by The Roys Report (TRR), First Baptist Church in Edwardsville, Illinois was facing fines of $750 a day for operating a warm shelter for the unhoused. Explaining the need for such shelters, local church leader Michelle Babb told First Alert 4: “Being out in cold weather is really dangerous. [The unhoused] need to stay here. They are rooted here. They are our neighbors even though they don’t have addresses, so we need to provide shelter for them.”

In another example cited by TTR, Woyatan Lutheran Church in Rapid City, South Dakota was ordered to remove an arctic weather tent it had put up on its property for the homeless: city officials said the tent violated building codes and represented a fire hazard.

“Special use permits and various zoning laws also proved difficult for other churches across the country as they sought to operate homeless ministries and warming shelters,” TRR noted.

Meanwhile, in Bryan, Ohio, Pastor Chris Avell of Dad’s House church has actually been criminally charged for sheltering homeless people in his church without a permit, TRR reported. Avell has been arraigned and has pleaded not guilty to 18 charges of zoning violations; he has vowed to keep his church open to the homeless until ordered to do otherwise.