Can we end homelessness in Bellflower?

Have you ever seen a homeless neighbor on the side of the road and given a buck or two?  Or maybe you've gone so far as giving them some food but were left wondering if it really did any good? 

I have been working with our homeless neighbors for over a decade and I have had some of that same feeling.  I feel good about doing something, but I also feel a bit like the little good I've done is a "drop in the bucket", or worse that my well-intentioned help in someway contributed to the difficulties for these neighbors by enabling someone to stay in their current condition.

I have learned that any effort to end homelessness in Bellflower is going to be complex and must involve change and shalom at personal, legislative and systemic levels. 


That's why I am so excited about what God has been doing in our little corner of creation lately with regard to our homeless neighbors.  This month KCB is leading Bellflower Counts, a united effort involving the City, County, State and even National groups to end homelessness.  

This month we're working to organize over 50 volunteers to identify Bellflower’s most vulnerable chronic homeless individuals over the course of 3 days using something called the Vulnerability Index.  After we complete the surveys, we'll work hard to find supportive housing for the 12 neighbors we identify as most vulnerable, and most likely to die on the streets if not housed.


Our hope is that over the next year, we will be able to pair these 12 neighbors with local small groups or churches who will lovingly support them as they transition to being housed.  Some of the support could be helping to furnish their new places, including them in group outings or events, and generally praying for and checking in on these newly housed neighbors.

This effort fits with our ongoing goal of mobilizing the church to love our homeless neighbors together.  It's a part of a complex solution to complexities that homelessness brings in the lives of Bellflower neighbors living on the streets.  Contact Kim at kimb@kingdomcauses.org to find out how you can get involved!

"I just do what God tells me to do." --Timothy the street evangelist

When a couple of our case managers came in this morning and told me there was a "young guy on the corner with a sign" I immediately thought that he might be someone in need of housing or some sort of help.  So I headed out the door and casually approached the young man I assumed was in need of a good samaritan.  

As I approached I could see his sign wasn't an appeal for charity, but a hand written note on a piece of scratch paper encouraging people to seek Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I found out that his name was Timothy and that he has some variety of intellectual disability.  He was standing there on the corner while his mom worked out at Curves, telling people that Jesus loved them.

I asked him why he decided to do this and he responded simply, "I just do what God tells me to do."

What a beautiful thing.  What a challenge to me. What is God telling me to do today?  Where and with whom does God want me to share the good news of Jesus today?  Oh that you and I would be more like Timothy today, and do what God tells us to do.

"As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”  Luke 6