Good Stuff in TEC: Georgia

Outdoor church serves homeless on their home turf

Folding chairs make do for pews, and hymns from a boom box replace the choir.

There’s no sanctuary either, unless you count the tall office buildings that shelter the 30-person congregation gathered in a downtown park: Welcome to Atlanta’s outdoor church for the homeless.

The worship services at Woodruff Park are open to all, but geared toward bringing hope to the homeless on their home turf. And for two years, the Church of the Common Ground has brought faith to Atlanta’s homeless through songs, gospel readings and weekly communion.

The church is affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, which consecrated its pastor, Bob Book, as a priest in October in a ceremony in the park.

The outdoor ceremony was a first for the diocese, and a major step in a denomination where officials have been slow to recognize nontraditional street ministries as “real church.”

http://www.dothaneagle.com/dea/news/local/article/outdoor_church_serves_homeless_on_their_home_turf/48813/

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