Church-based Work with the Homeless: A Theological Exploration of the Practices of Hospitality

This article explores the theological underpinnings of "hospitality" in one London Churches' Cold Weather Shelter [CCWS]. This ecumenical initiative consists of seven churches in a local area offering shelter to homeless people for one night a week during the winter months. Interview transcripts from seven team leaders are reflected upon using a "theology in four voices" approach. Despite different theologies of mission in operation, volunteers and guests are unified in their identification of hospitality as triggering four types of human transformation, which can be rooted in a living Christian tradition: transformation through seeing, conversing, eating together and discovering joys and abundance. This operant theology is brought in to conversation with a significant formal voice: Karl Barth's surprisingly practical "theo-anthropology." This theological methodology used with and for homeless people can benefit other Church shelters, church practitioners and theological academy.