March 2, 2009 issue
Spiritual homelessness leads to work with homeless
By Laurie Oswald Robinson For Mennonite Church USANEWTON, Kan. — Lee Penner felt like a man without a spiritual home.
Lee Penner, right, sits on the steps of the Harvey County Homeless Shelter with residents Daniel and Mary in October. — Photo by Laurie Oswald Robinson/MC USA
Though his former church focused on sharing how Jesus saves hearts, there seemed less interest in sharing how Jesus’ way of life calls believers to meet the social needs of their neighbors.
Because Penner ached to have a more hands-on kind of Christianity, he searched for how to better integrate his faith. Eventually, his search led to his volunteer work with homeless people in Harvey County.
It’s a ministry supported and encouraged by his current congregation, First Mennonite Church in Newton.
“I wanted something beyond the idea of sharing Jesus with people by handing out spiritual tracts at Wal-Mart or on street corners,” said Penner, now First Mennonite’s representative to the Harvey County Homeless Shelter.
“For me to continue to be spiritually healthy, I needed to better connect Sunday worship with real needs of real people. I needed to integrate my heart with my hands.”
Penner’s call to work with the homeless began when he went on a mission trip to Denver as a sponsor with his former congregation’s youth, including his daughter, Ariel, one of his three children.
“We took our youth to the DOOR program in the city, where the participants volunteered with community gardens, a preschool and day care for single moms, soup kitchens and homeless shelters,” he said.
“I came back to Newton and said to myself, Why are we always sending our young people to other countries or other communities to do missions?”
That question led Penner to realize he must practice his faith locally if he expected the wider church to do the same. So he began volunteering with the homeless shelter a couple blocks from his own home.
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