A Raging Debate...Which Side Are You On?

Lately I’ve come under fire for my stance in helping panhandlers.

Some think I’m wrong for not carte blanche helping those in need. Others have accused me of not being a true Christian.

I generally let those remarks glide by, knowing that serving God is enmity with the world.

But I am human and I occasionally let the flesh get in the way. I’m also a woman, and we tend to seek validation from others.

Ultimately, though, my ministry is about Christ so I soldier on.

However, when a questionable comment came from a dear sister of faith, it gave me pause.

Was I wrong?

Her comment was that we should help those in need and let God judge their intent.

For the most part I agree.

If I had a homeless ministry that only helped the homeless who were doing well, it wouldn’t be much of a ministry. In fact, it would probably cease to exist.

The men and women out there that I see on a regular basis are angry, addicted, hurt, abusive, and/or drunk. That isn’t the core of who they are; it certainly isn’t how God made them. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. My job is to help them see the person God intended for them to be. To believe in His promises. To strive for a life pleasing to Him.

And I have the tools to help them obtain that life.

Some aren’t ready. For them, I just maintain a relationship of trust, so that when they are ready they know where to turn.

These are the homeless you DON’T see.

They are the ones in the woods, in shelters, in abandoned houses, in soup kitchens, and behind stores.

They are in need, lost and hurting, and the reason the Lord allowed my ministry to grow.

Occasionally they panhandle.

But to assume all homeless people panhandle is faulty reasoning.

So is assuming all panhandlers are homeless.

Below are snippets from a few conversations I’ve had regarding panhandling:

“It’s my turn to go panhandle tonight to make enough money for dinner for everyone [in Tent City}.”

“I’m going to go fly a sign so I can get a new radio and batteries.”

“I’m going to stay out there {panhandling} until I get enough for a 12-pack.”

“I’ve got to make $200 today before I go back to court or they’ll lock me up.”

These people were all actually homeless.  And while some people would’ve been bothered by how the money was spent, others wouldn’t. These were still needs, at least for them.

Then there were those who weren’t homeless but truly in need:

“I can make more holding a sign for an hour than working for 8 hours at McDonald’s. This way I don’t have to pay for child care.”

“My husband spent every dime he made on drugs so I had to go stand on the corner with a sign just to have money for groceries for the kids.”

Sad, but this happens often.  These people have homes but they are included in my homeless ministry because they are just as much in need.

And then there are the others.

These are the ones I warn against.

It is tough when you are at a red light or driving by at 50 mph to assess a panhandling situation. Even without a sign, if someone has put themselves in a high-traffic, high-visibility area, they are “panhandling.”

You have a split second to make a decision. Help or not?

Some say don’t help at all. One of the most beloved mission directors on the Coast has a rule: “If they are panhandling, I won’t feed them.” Her theory is that if they are able to panhandle, they are able to work.

Before you assume she isn’t a good Christian, let me tell you a little more about her. She feeds 200 people three times a week, conducts church services, English classes, and job training. She refers people for jobs, arranges transportation, and calls local neighbors when she receives more donated food than she can use. I’ve seen her offer to watch a woman’s six kids while she went on a job interview and fix bicycle tires and chains.

This woman is a force of nature and I feel blessed to know her.

That doesn’t mean that I automatically agreed with her stance. Because I didn’t.

Until now.

Maybe it takes being out on the streets, or being in this field of ministry, to get a true picture of what really goes on. To see the ramifications of helping someone you shouldn’t.

Some will say, “Well I gave this person $20. That’s between her and God what she does with it.”

The problem is, it’s not just between her and God.

Sometimes it affects an entire family.

Take Tamera, for instance.

Tamera has two kids. The children’s father isn’t in their lives but he pays monthly child support.

She spends every penny of it on drugs. Along with their food stamp card which is traded for cash each month.

The kids have never lived with her, though according to the court she is the primary custodial parent. Her mom has been raising them since birth, with Tamera in and out of their lives. They are on a fixed income and while these grandparents love their grandchildren, they are old and tired and utterly brokenhearted.

When Tamera runs out of drug money, she sits on the interstate off-ramp with a HOMELESS NEED FOOD sign.

She doesn’t need a home, or food, or cash.

She needs to go home, sober up, and be a mother.

When the kids were younger, she’d bring them along to panhandle. NO-ONE can resist a mom on the streets with kids. The truth is, very few shelters  turn away a mom with kids so to see one on the streets is suspect to begin with.

Her oldest daughter, now a teen, is starting to rebel. She’s following in her mother’s footsteps and has already been picked up by the police once.

The youngest daughter is in counseling after several suicidal comments.

This whole story came out after I visited her in the hospital, two days after she nearly died on a bad batch of drugs.

It’s been three months and I saw her just yesterday, strung out and weaving down the street with her latest boyfriend.

Every twenty-dollar bill pressed into her hand is one more needle in her arm and one more nail in her family’s coffin.

As horrible as this is, I witnessed something even worse this week.

The effects on a church.

Last week we helped a pair of sisters move from one hotel to another, even paying for one night’s stay. Later we found out that they were professional panhandlers and had fabricated their entire story.

For us, we just moved on. My husband and I were in agreement and we knew we’d done all the Lord wanted us to do.

For another local church, it wasn’t so clear.

Some members had helped them move TO the hotel we’d moved them out of, doing the same thing we had just two days earlier. They’d become suspicious when the girls told them they’d gotten a job at a nearby restaurant because the manager was a friend and he wasn’t hiring.

When their pastor encountered the girls, he also wanted to help.

He told the church he wanted to pay for two weeks in the hotel for the girls and rent an apartment for them out of the church’s benevolence fund.

Some church members protested.

This is a pretty small community and many people had already encountered the girls. Knowing their stories weren’t consistent, they had reservations.

They also had needs within their own church.

A debate ensued over helping church members who were in need of groceries and utility assistance over the girls who were clearly not telling the truth.

Those opposed to helping the girls weren’t opposed to helping the homeless or those truly in need. They were just opposed to giving money to these girls.

The pastor did it anyway. He didn’t care what their intent was; he just wanted to help.

Five families have left the church over this.

What people fail to realize is that Satan is EVERYWHERE. Including behind some of the homeless faces on the streets. 

Yes, we may be entertaining angels unaware. We may also be entertaining fallen angels.

The devil destroyed that church through these girls.

Do I think they were aware of the spiritual havoc they caused? Probably not.

But they weren’t totally innocent. They were running a scam and opened the doors to let Satan use them.

In this church both sides were seeking to serve God.

One by helping anyway, even if the motives weren’t pure, to minister to a lost and dying world.

The other sought to be wise and to abstain from all evil.

There were no winners.

Unless you count the devil.

I bet they didn’t even realize when they drew up sides that HE was the real opposition.

And they both lost.

So I guess it doesn’t matter which side of this debate you’re on, after all.

As long as you recognize the true enemy.