For the last 7 years, our Rural and Small Town Initiative (RSTI) in Lufkin, Texas, Lufkin Street Ministries 2540, led by Jason and Sarah Hollinger, has addressed the needs of people experiencing homelessness through consistent presence, food, and basic needs. As part of the RSTI effort, we have spent nearly a year conducting community interviews, networking with church and community leaders, and doing community research on the needs of the marginalized in Lufkin. Recently, the Hollinger’s, along with Mission Alive’s Director of Operations, Steve Shaffer, hosted a community workshop. The workshop was an opportunity to share the research results, share our perspectives on ministry, and cast a vision for a major new project.
The research revealed Lufkin as a town with significant resources along with numerous non-profit organizations and churches seeking to address community needs. As we have seen in other places, the large assortment of independent efforts are addressing important needs, but struggle to effect lasting change, especially in marginalized areas. Transformative change in marginalized communities requires both an understanding of the impacts of marginalization and a commitment to long-term relationships with people as they forge new paths forward.
Our RSTI perspective is that faith communities flourish when they are focused on promoting the flourishing of their communities. Statistics show that on average, less than 3% of church budgets are focused on community needs. In addition, churches often pursue community efforts in episodic engagements in isolation from one another. The limited investments, pursued in isolation, addresses needs, but it cannot effect lasting change. The Lufkin research revealed many of these same patterns.
Our research highlighted the need for supportive housing for families experiencing homelessness. The limited number of existing shelters for people living through homelessness are focused on short-term housing and have restrictions that prevent families from staying together. These families are often the invisible homeless because the HUD homeless data only counts persons on the street or in temporary shelters. The majority of homeless families are living in their cars or “couch sharing.” The best estimate of this population comes from the school district who tracks 200-300 Lufkin students per year who experience homelessness.
Our vision is to launch a village that provides housing and journey support for families experiencing homelessness. The village would be a cooperative Lufkin community effort that involves multiple churches, non-profits, and city involvement. The transformative journey would be aided by trained journey coaches drawn from churches and the community who walk alongside these families over an extended timeframe as they pursue a stable long-term life. We believe that the increased time and resource investments from the churches will lead to increased transformation for the homeless families and increased flourishing of those churches. The cooperative pooling of resources allows for a more sustainable effort delivered through a more transformative approach.
This is a bold project, but it is the kind of project that can have a lasting impact on both churches and families experiencing homelessness. Moving forward, we plan to form a community steering committee, begin a search for land, start designing the village housing and supportive programs, launch a capital campaign for building costs, and keep taking faithful steps forward. We need your prayers, your support, and your help.
Watch here for updates as we faithfully pursue this vision.