THE HOMELESSNESS CRISIS AND THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH

by WILLIAM B. BOWES in Vol. 7 No. 1 / Apr 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35285/ucc7.1.2021.art2



Homelessness is perhaps the most visible form of poverty in the United States. It is nearly impossible to walk through any major city and not pass by a homeless person. Particularly
hard-hit areas are seeing the phenomenon of “tent cities,” where large groups of homeless people gather publicly in makeshift shelters. Due to significant increases in the number of people facing homelessness in recent decades and the insufficiency of many efforts to combat it, the issue is commonly referred to as a crisis. In fact, one writer recently suggested that if the opioid crisis was the problem of the last five years, homelessness is the problem of the next five years.While many interventions have been implemented to ameliorate the crisis, the majority of people believe that America is doing a poor job addressing the problem. And, as one author puts it, “homelessness is not a new social problem. It represents the culmination of many social problems which have not been adequately dealt with over the years by federal, state, local housing and social welfare policies.”

Keywords
Homelessness, Homelessness Crisis, Ecclesiology, Biblical Theology, Poverty, Church Action
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Other Articles in
Vol. 7 No. 1 / Apr 2021

Editorial: Hope against Hope by PAUL WELLS
Matthew Henry’s Preaching and Pastoral Ministry at Hackney, 1712–1714 by ALLAN M. HARMAN
The Homelessness Crisis and the Role of the Church by WILLIAM B. BOWES
On Christian Engagement with Digital Technologies: A Reformed Perspective by JEAN FRANCESCO A. L. GOMES
Criticism and Legitimacy of “Cultural Marxism”: Implications for Christian Witness in the Postmodern World by YANNICK IMBERT
Redeeming Redemption: Violence, Desecration, and Atonement by CHRISTOPHER D. STEED
Yasukuni Shrine, Japanese Christian Responses, and a Kuyperian Ecclesiological Perspective by SURYA HAREFA
Personal Evangelism or Social Reform? The Challenge to Brazilian Presbyterianism in the Nineteenth Century by BRUNO GONÇALVES ROSI
Reflections on COVID-19: From Psalm 80 by WILLIAM EDGAR
The Response of Christians and Churches in India to COVID-19 by MATTHEW EBENEZER
Plague and Sanctification: Indonesian Reflections by BILLY KRISTANTO and AUDY SANTOSO
The Pandemic and the Roman Catholic Church, Especially in Italy by LEONARDO DE CHIRICO
The Churches in The Netherlands and the Pandemic by HERMAN J. SELDERHUIS
The COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria by PHILIP TACHIN
The Church in the Midst of the Enduring Pandemic by PIERRE BERTHOUD
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