Briva wrote:
Our church in Austin regularly had panhandlers drop by, even found them sleeping in the courtyard. Weekdays. On weekends we would get aggressive gypsies. Luckily they only hit once, then move on to another church.
There was one outside where I went to church here. He had a stroller and a four year old and a big sign. When the usher could not get him to wait at the office, the pastor came out and told him he would help him at the office, not there as people were leaving. The guy just ignored the pastor and stayed right there on the curb, right in front of the door.
Is this a problem at your church? How do you deal with it?
I have only seen this situation one time at our church. Our service had just let out, and there was a homeless family, kids and all, asking for money. You feel foolish and un-Christian not giving them money, but at the same time, begging right at the church's front door is not the way to go, either. One of our associate pastors asked them to move away from the doors. Later on, I heard our church put them in a hotel and was going to help the dad find a job. I'm not sure what happened after that.