From "Kossack" Steeler Grrl at Daily Kos:
www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/30/1442492/-NC-church-caught-practicing-Christianity-Neighbors-complain
A church in Concord, NC, called Showers Of Blessings has become the target of complaints from its neighbors for following the teachings of the Bible.
Residents living next to a Concord church are frustrated because they said no one told them a program that houses homeless people opened up inside the church. That program has been operating for one-and-a-half years.
For a year and a half, nobody noticed the homeless people were there. What tipped the neighbors off? Construction. Nothing perks up Southerners' noses like construction vehicles in the neighborhood. The facility is called My Father's House. There's even a sign out front. Run by Concord-based Cooperative Christian Ministry, it currently has housing for four families and has been approved to build four additional units in the church sanctuary.
Cooperative Christian Ministry (CCM) began in 1981 when seven Concord (NC) churches decided that by combining their efforts they could reach more people in need and provide greater assistance to the community as a whole. Today churches, businesses and other organizations work in conjunction with many, many individuals to actively support the ministry.
CCM has the support of Concord city government and city leaders have confirmed that the ministry is operating within the law. Nonetheless, at least two neighbors are angry they weren't notified Christianity is being practiced inside God's house.
Jeffrey Collins: "We just don't want them walking around, this neighborhood has been quiet."
Lindsay Coronis: "We weren't notified about it and I don't think that's fair for any of the neighbors…. I just don't think its good for my kids to be around it."
The CCM executive director, Ed Hosack, points out "These are families from our communities that may have experienced job loss. There may have been medical bills, the break up or loss of a family member. All of the residents remain engaged in purposeful, intentional activities and most of them go to work each day. Residents are screened and drug tested and the facility has 24-hour management."
You can see all that in the video, which is difficult to embed, but can be viewed here: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/neighbors-upset-over-churchs-homeless-family-progr/npBz8/
CCM is holding (by today, has held, but I have no update yet) a community meeting in the church fellowship hall on Sunday to address neighbors' concerns. When the legal practice of religious freedom puts Jesus' teaching into action and is met with hostility in a red Southern city, the demonization of poverty must be nearly complete.
8 Responses to “North Carolina church caught practicing Christianity. Neighbors complain.”
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Screw the south. No it's not nice but the place is full of dumb fucks who are proud of it. The people interviewed exemplify that.
And the fact the church has been keeping homeless there for a year and a half and now all of a sudden it's an issue.
I will never go to the south nor will I spend any money that ends up there but that is nothing new.
In this area, churches started doing this without remodels and that ran into some ordinances neighbors could use…solution? A bunch of churches with it being a nomadic shelter changing which church each night so no one location violates an ordinance–some have buses moving people between day and night places throughout the colder months….
One Fly, I am sorry you feel such hatred for the south, not everyone in the south is like these people. These are the same people who probably go to church every Sunday and proclaim themselves to be Christians without ever understanding what that means. Those people are everywhere.
Edie, for one, lives in the south and is not like that. My state, Colorado, is not in the south, but can easily come up with that much ignorance and bigotry. For whatever it's worth, people are people everywhere.
Thanks, joanne.
Excellent post, Joanne. I read this article yesterday, but I couldn't get the video, just the sound of it, and I was wondering if color had anything to do with it in this NC Carolina community, which is apparently considerably more conservative than neighboring city Charlotte. The video you linked showed some white neighbors complaining about some made-up possible problem behavior like loitering and crime, behavior they had not noticed in the previous 18 months it operated. Apparently these nice neighbors had nothing to complain about when there were four homeless families being given shelter there. they weren't even aware they were there. So much for the loitering and the crime then.
These nice Christian neighbors left the impression with me that they were afraid that these homeless families wouldn't be white like they were, but I have to be honest, I can't substantiate that feeling. The video didn't show any of the homeless of course and it wasn't mentioned in the video either, so I'll leave it at thanking them for showing us what real Southern, Republican Christianity is all about.
Careful "christians", your bigotry is showing. WWJD?
"If Jesus was alive today, the one thing that he would not be is a Christian." – Mark Twain
"I like your Christ, but I do not like you Christians. You are so unlike your Christ." – Mohandas Gandhi