Routes To Roots Statement of Faith
"
...for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stanger and you took Me in; I was naked and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?' Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
" Matthew 25:35-40
We are a Christian charity which seeks to serve the needs of homeless people of all faiths and none. Our faith and inspiration come from Jesus Christ as in scripture, His story and His acts have a special relevance for homeless people.
When His mother gave birth to Him, the holy family had to move in with the animals where Jesus had a feeding trough for a bed because of overcrowded housing.
At two years of age Jesus' parents smuggled Him out of Israel into Egypt seeking asylum from King Herod.
Jesus, amongst other things, was labelled as mad, demon possessed, and knew rejection from His home town and even for a time from His own family.
Through much of His life Jesus was a son of man with nowhere to lay His head.
Jesus supported the socially excluded people of His day, not by giving alms but by walking alongside them and by empowering them.
Jesus claimed that the kingdom of God belongs to the poor.
In the Bible the Hebrew word for poor, anawim, means literally to be bent down - it implies that to be poor is to be treated as less than fully human, without dignity and respect. Jesus preached the good news for the anawim of His day.
Jesus cared for individuals - offering forgiveness to them, but He also challenged systems which were prejudiced.
On the basis of this faith our approach in caring for the homeless is:
To encourage participation and engagement rather than dependency.
To stand with the poor and not above them.
To hear and help to disseminate the views of homeless people in the town and not to presumptuously tell them what they should do and think.
To respect difference and not expect or demand conformity.