Imagine you have no home. No bedroom to stow your favorite toys. No dinner table. No bed to curl up in. No roof to keep out wind and rain.
The Bible commands Christians to love others. Does that just mean feel nice feelings about others? It’s more than that. So now some churches are putting love into action. Congregations are building tiny houses for people without homes.
Lisa Fischbeck’s church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is one of these. Ms. Fishbeck helps run Pee Wee Homes, an affordable housing organization. She points out that tiny homes can fit nearly anywhere. And churches are a great place to build. They already have electricity and water.
One of the first residents of the church’s tiny abodes was Nathaniel “Pee Wee” Lee. He moved in three years ago. Mr. Lee used to be a mason (someone who builds with brick or stone). But poor health put Mr. Lee out of work. For a while, he lived in cardboard shelters and cars.
Ms. Fishbeck’s church isn’t alone. A church in Nashville, Tennessee, set up several mini homes on its land. A Minnesota congregation is assembling a tiny house community for homeless people. “We do not have a lot of property,” says Jeff O’Rourke, lead pastor of Mosaic Christian Community in St. Paul. But the church strives “to use every square inch . . . to be hospitable.”
Meridian Baptist Church in California built sleeping cabins on part of its property. Mothers with children can stay for 90 days while looking for other options.
“Folks have said to me that six cabins are not going to make a difference, and I wholeheartedly disagree,” Pastor Rolland Slade says. “We’ll make the difference for at least six women. If they each have a child, that’ll be six children.”
And every one of those people matters to God.
Why? The Bible commands Christians to love others. There are many ways to put love into action.