As many of you know our long time home on Connecticut Avenue was damaged by a fire in July of 2005. Since that time we have continued our Night Hospitality ministry at Epworth United Methodist Church in Candler Park. Their support, hospitality and love has been over whelming during the past 15 months. Construction at our church home has been completed and we have been working to re-equip our facility for most of October.
The end, or should I say the beginning, is now in sight. Furniture, appliances, dishes and all of the itemas and services required to support the ministry are coming together. Many of these items have been delivered and are being installed. Some details will take longer than others to re-connect but it won't be long before we can return to our home.
I will share more on the move as the pieces fall into place. If you are one of our many volunteers please call the office to see where we are on the day you are coming to serve. We expect to move any day now. We hope to see you soon at the Clifton Church on Connecticut Avenue.
Sharing the love of God, we are a Sanctuary to men seeking to overcome homelessness. For more than 25 years the doors of Clifton Sanctuary have offered a place of physical and spiritual rest, shelter, healing and support to men who are homeless in Atlanta. Open 365 days a year, Night Hospitality is the oldest shelter in Atlanta operating in a house of worship.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Introducing Clifton Sanctuary Ministries
Brief History of Clifton
In the fall of 1979, the members of Clifton were horrified by the death of a homeless man on the streets of Atlanta on a bitterly cold night. They decided to open their sanctuary to anyone sleeping on the streets and promised to also provide a hot meal, showers and clean clothes. The first few nights that church members went downtown in their cars to bring homeless people back to the church, their intended beneficiaries were skeptical.
Yet within a few weeks, the sanctuary had exceeded its capacity, and the church decided to limit its care to thirty men. That was the beginning of the first church-based homeless shelter in metro Atlanta. Volunteers from other churches soon pitched in to help. Many returned to their own churches to start shelters or other ministries to homeless people, including Central and North Druid Hills Presbyterian Churches and Oakhurst Baptist Church.
Twenty years later, concerned by the lack of support for men returning to the streets from the shelter, Clifton joined with other churches to open Joe’s Place, a transition house for men leaving the shelter. Through intensive counseling and a mandatory savings program, Joe’s Place participants gain the skills and resources they will need to be functional on their own.
Today
During this past year our ministry has been blessed in more ways than we can begin to count. Special thanks must be extended to Epworth United Methodist Church, its ministers, trustees and the congregation for opening their church home to our ministry for the last year and three months. We thank each member of the volunteer teams for the extra time and effort you have brought to ministry and our guests during the past year. We have also been blessed financially during this past year. Late last year we received a bequest from Mr. James Gingles. Then this spring we received a similar gift from the trustees of Candler Park Baptist church after the church closed. We have also received grants form the Imlay Foundation and the Second Mile of John Wieland Homes.
Finally we find ourselves at a new beginning. Work on our church at 369 Connecticut Avenue has been completed. We are in the process of getting things ready for our return. Offices, the kitchen, the laundry and everything else needs to be reequipped and restocked before we can move back in. Through it all we have been blessed by your support and continued prayer.
Tomorrow
The challenges of tomorrow are many. Meals to serve, clothes to wash, floors to mop, and through it all a friendly smile and a kind word to each person whose life we touch. We were not promised a life of leisure but rather salvation through grace and faith. It is up to each of us to share the love of God with each guest at our sanctuary.
In the fall of 1979, the members of Clifton were horrified by the death of a homeless man on the streets of Atlanta on a bitterly cold night. They decided to open their sanctuary to anyone sleeping on the streets and promised to also provide a hot meal, showers and clean clothes. The first few nights that church members went downtown in their cars to bring homeless people back to the church, their intended beneficiaries were skeptical.
Yet within a few weeks, the sanctuary had exceeded its capacity, and the church decided to limit its care to thirty men. That was the beginning of the first church-based homeless shelter in metro Atlanta. Volunteers from other churches soon pitched in to help. Many returned to their own churches to start shelters or other ministries to homeless people, including Central and North Druid Hills Presbyterian Churches and Oakhurst Baptist Church.
Twenty years later, concerned by the lack of support for men returning to the streets from the shelter, Clifton joined with other churches to open Joe’s Place, a transition house for men leaving the shelter. Through intensive counseling and a mandatory savings program, Joe’s Place participants gain the skills and resources they will need to be functional on their own.
Today
During this past year our ministry has been blessed in more ways than we can begin to count. Special thanks must be extended to Epworth United Methodist Church, its ministers, trustees and the congregation for opening their church home to our ministry for the last year and three months. We thank each member of the volunteer teams for the extra time and effort you have brought to ministry and our guests during the past year. We have also been blessed financially during this past year. Late last year we received a bequest from Mr. James Gingles. Then this spring we received a similar gift from the trustees of Candler Park Baptist church after the church closed. We have also received grants form the Imlay Foundation and the Second Mile of John Wieland Homes.
Finally we find ourselves at a new beginning. Work on our church at 369 Connecticut Avenue has been completed. We are in the process of getting things ready for our return. Offices, the kitchen, the laundry and everything else needs to be reequipped and restocked before we can move back in. Through it all we have been blessed by your support and continued prayer.
Tomorrow
The challenges of tomorrow are many. Meals to serve, clothes to wash, floors to mop, and through it all a friendly smile and a kind word to each person whose life we touch. We were not promised a life of leisure but rather salvation through grace and faith. It is up to each of us to share the love of God with each guest at our sanctuary.
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