Church that feeds the hungry may have to move
July 31st, 2009
Tyler Baldwin / 3TV
PHOENIX – A Valley church that feeds the hungry may be forced to stop.
It seems the neighbors are fed up and have had enough.
azfamily.com’s Tyler Baldwin went to Crossroads Methodist Church in central Phoenix to find out more information.
Saturday morning close to 150 homeless men and women will go to eat breakfast and worship but if some of the neighbors get their way, this will be one of the last times that happens.
Crossroads United Methodist Church
A short video on the Crossroads website shows us why the church does this every weekend. Those in need get a warm meal and a consoling shoulder but it is what supposedly happens after the service that concerns Council Member Sal Diciccio. He tells 3TV, “We have had police reports indicating that there has been human feces found in certain areas, we have found people living in alleys. It has been a very significant issue for people in that neighborhood.”
His office has received a petition signed by more than 100 of his constituents complaining of the Saturday service. Diciccio admits, “It’s a complicated issue because the City of Phoenix wants people to help the homeless, but at the same time, you have to protect the neighborhoods and enforce the rules that are there.”
One of those rules is operating with the proper zoning permit. The city says the church is running a charity dining hall and violating the zoning ordinances.
Brian Schlemmer, with the church, says they are now asking for a re-interpretation of that ruling. He says, “Us having this worship service here doesn’t make homeless people materialize. They are in our communities, they are walking the bike paths and they are sitting at the bus stations. They are all around us. The question is ‘Are we doing anything to work with them?’”
3TV talked to several people in the nearby neighborhood and every single person said they did not have an issue with the Saturday service.
In 10 days the church will get its cease and decease order.
Until then Diciccio says he is working hard to find a new place where the church can feed the hungry and stay within the zoning rules. The church says that even if they are told they cannot feed the homeless, they will continue to gather there with the needy to worship.
Your headline is misleading because no one has ever suggested that the church move only that they obey the law. The video is touching, I agree, but you should also note that not one person in the video actually attends CrossRoads as a member. Prodigal’s Home is offered space at the church but is only an outreach mission not a program funded by CrossRoads. Pastor Dottie, who is trying so desperately to gain public support, does not perform the worship services at the Saturday breakfasts.
Obey the law vs allowing people to go to church. If Crossroads offers the space for worship does one have to be a member? NO The reality is that this is a time of worship with a meal for the community. There are many faiths that do the same thing, the issue is that a few people and the city only see the financial status. Crossroads serves a very rich to very poor community. The issue to me is where is it the homeless can go for church? People have been baptized, people have been married, people have come to know Christ. This is a church and after church they feed their people to build community.
The real issue is that the people want the homeless to go away. However they will not as most of the homeless live in the very area of this church. SHAME on the City of Phoenix and the protesting neighbors for denying the homeless the opportunity to go to church, the eat together as a community and to grow in their faith together.
It does not matter…………Why in the Lord’s name would you close a church that feeds the hungry once a week? It does not matter that the people in the video do not attend the church. It is Always the little guy getting pushed around.
It’s a church. The homeless people are in the area anyway, all the church is doing is giving them a meal. For some, it’s they’re only meal of the week. In all fariness, the homeless are picked up at 7th Ave and Hatcher and brought to Central and Northern, about a mile away. If the church stops feeding them, they’re still there. Although it could eventually be their dead bodies littering the alley ways.
Wow! Its amazing that helping people less fortunate than the majority of us has become such an issue. Churches are called to help all people. The attendees on Saturday are there for a meal while worshipping. In response to the fact that Dottie does not run the Saturdy service, if Pastor Dottie does not run our Sunday service on a given Sunday, should the church not serve rolls or coffee to the people worshipping? Pastor Dottie is at every Saturday service she can make and helps to serve communion and minister to those who come to this service. Please remember that the great majority of the people being served and attending the Saturday service already live in our neighborhood. Should one person who may have caused a problem for some neighbors ruin something that is worthwhile for many? Shouldn’t the neighbors and the church be able to work this out? Not serving food on Saturdays will not stop the worship services that are offered by Crossroads.