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.