A church about nine blocks from where I live—and which I sometimes attend—and which I support with a regular monthly contribution—has joined forces with four other churches in this area, and they run a "feeding program." Each day of the week, one of the five churches offers a free meal (food purchased by the churches and cooked and served in the parish hall). The result is that the homeless and down-and-out in the area know that, within easy walking distance, there is a church where they can get a good, nutritious meal at no cost to them—not even having to listen to a sermon!   The church is also involved in finding or building inexpensive housing through an organization called LATCH (Lutheran Alliance to Create Housing). The national offices of the Lutheran Peace Fellowship are in the parish hall. The church also offers facilities—free—to various organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and a couple of other support groups, and through an organization called "Peace Between People," it conducts Alternatives to Violence workshops in nearby prisons and reformatories.

One of the church's pastors (now retired) spent a fair amount of time in jail for participating in protests, such as peace marches and picketing low-rent buildings that were slated to be torn down (evicting the tenants) and replaced with million-dollar condominiums. Many members of the congregation joined him in the protests, and sometimes in jail.

Interesting to note that, although this is a small inner-city church, it's membership has been steadily increasing—mostly young urban professionals (with children) who were looking for a church that is active in the community—and they've found one. If the more liberal or progressive churches (and Lutherans are not especially famous for this) want to increase their memberships, it appears that that's the way to do it.

By the way, Central Lutheran Church does not receive any aid from Bush's "faith-based initiative," nor has it asked for any. All support comes from members of the congregation.

Don Firth

P. S. Also, as pastor Verlon Brown said once, "Where else are you going to find a church where the pastors are a young woman and a very large black man who wears an earring?" Stuffy Lutheran church? Nope.