That the church building is used for all kinds of practical things, they are used to that at Hoop voor Noord in Amsterdam. Usually the activities are during the day or in the evening. However, when last winter the question came up whether the church would take care of homeless people during the cold nights, pastor Theodoor Meedendorp did not hesitate for a moment: ’this is totally part of the core of being a church.“ And so the church hall turns into a dormitory for several nights.
Food, talk and games
Salvation Army staff will provide the official reception. Volunteers then receive the men in the coffee room. There, there is food for the guests and they can have a conversation, play a game or charge their phones. Where some quickly seek bed, others linger a little longer.
The whole neighbourhood participates
Although the situation is dire, the volunteers of Hoop voor Noord are delighted by the chance to be meaningful. The enthusiasm even proves contagious. Theodore: “The people from the neighbourhood where our church building is, and whom we had informed about what was happening, also offered their services. A local resident also came to serve coffee and have a chat. Food was brought. And the school next to the church building made the showers at the gym available in the evening, so the homeless could also take a few showers.”
From person to person
Apart from the neighbourhood, the volunteers also build relationships with the homeless. Setting up and dismantling the ‘dormitory’ becomes more and more a collaboration. This creates “people-to-people encounters”, says Theodoor. One of the guests will even return regularly: he turns out to be a gifted musician and Christian. When volunteers ask him to join the musicians on Sundays, he readily agrees. Now he is part of one of the music teams.
The core of being church
Hope for North gratefully looks back on the shelter as an opportunity to be even more defined by the core of being church. According to Theodore, that is: “not so much a building where there are some meetings every Sunday and some rituals are performed. But a living community, which is the hands and feet of Jesus, and at the same time in the other - in this case the homeless - receives Jesus himself under its roof.”
Learn more or support
News channel AT5 made about the homeless shelter this report.
For more information on Hope for North, visit the project page. Here you will also find the opportunity to support the missionary congregation financially.