I need some advice on starting a ministry!

[Revgill87123]

I wasn't really sure where this should go so I am putting it here. As a few of you know I have been a church minister for around 10yrs. I have since felt led and I mean LED to start a homeless ministry as well as street ministry. The thing is there is a BIG difference between running a church and doing a street ministry! I honestly have no idea what I am doing. At first every thing was looking hopeful (We were able to help a lot of people with food and clothing as well as hotel vouchers that were donated). Now how ever we have hit a very dry spell. The money is gone but the people needing help has trippled. More so with needing food than any thing. So I sat down the other night and put a list together of maybe what we need to get started.
1) a building (maybe some thing small at first just basically to store donations, also so people know where to donate also for church services)
2) volunteers
3) Maybe some kind of fund raisers (Just not really sure what)

Can any one give me some advice please on how to accomplish the above as well as any advice you may have. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[lutherangirl]

There is an organization here called Christnet were I live that helps the homeless in our downriver area. Several churches host the homeless for one week at their church. Then after that week there is a rotation to another church. During the day there is the main church that helps the people find jobs provides a lunch. Then at night they are brought back to the host church for dinner and a place to sleep. By rotating the churches one church doesn't have to carry the workload of volunteers alone. Most churches have the space to provide this service if they have basements or gyms. If someone organizes it and runs the program, they usually don't have a problem accommodating the use of their space.

As far as collecting items, I asked friends of mine to bring a box to work for a coat donation our church just had in November. There was a flyer attached to the box explaining our goals for our economy center (were people can shop for clothing no prices just donations or free) and any profits the money is sent to missions. You can also get help from rotary clubs. Check your local newspaper to run free ads. If you aren't collecting money, many papers will advertise free for community outreach events. Check to see if there are organizations affiliated with certain church groups that match funds when you provide services like this for the community. The Lutheran Church works with a agency called Thrivent Financial For Lutherans. If you are enrolled and have advocates, this company can help get you matching funds.

A good fund raiser is a chili cook-off. It serves the purpose of feeding people, time for fellowship, and ways to raise funds.