Who We Are

The Homeless Church is an Assemblies of God Church in San Francisco California.  Early in 1994, Evan Prosser felt the Lord wanted him to resign the House of Prayer in Orland California where he was Pastor and move to San Francisco to begin a church of homeless people to be called The Homeless Church.  He and his wife April began to go to the city on weekends meeting homeless people and pastors who worked with them there.  The people living in vans and busses were receptive and the Prossers held Bible studies where they were living.  About this time, it became clear that a "commuter ministry", ministering to the homeless by day and returning to a comfortable apartment by night, was not going to work.  Besides, they couldn't afford an apartment!  A street lady sold them her bus which they lived and ministered in for seven years.  They also received a "church bus" from Twin View Assembly in Redding, in which were Bible studies and services on the street for 12 years.. 

Meanwhile, houses became available very cheaply through a wonderful sister of the Lord, Phyllis Edwinson, used  for Christians who need healing and want a home with four walls.   14 people live in Grace Healing Home now, and one mother and three children, after a year of living together for the first time in years, has moved from Morning Star home to a larger place on Treasure Island.

THE PARKS

Around 2005, the city began a campaign against homeless people living on the street and in vehicles.  As a result, ministry from busses was no longer practical, since homeless people no longer lived in large camps, but scattered throughout the city.  We therefore changed our emphasis to places where homeless people gathered--that is, the parks.  We began at La Raza Park, and have begun Sunday services at Ferry Park and 16th and Mission.

HEALING

Not everyone wants to stay on the street - it is pretty rough out there and most street people are addicted to drugs and alcohol.  We have a house for men, Grace Healing Home, where people come to find health and shelter in Jesus Christ.

MORNING COFFEE

 Three mornings a week, church members go out in the early morning to serve coffee and pastries to people just stirring from their doorways.  It's welcome on cold mornings and a good way to get to know each other. 

EMBARCADERO

Sunday morning at 10:30, in the park opposite the Ferry Building, we have a service for the homeless people living in or near the park.  Besides singing, preaching, and praying for people, there is a full breakfast served afterward.

NIGHT STRIKES

Every Thursday night, between nine and midnight, a caravan of cars winds its way through the city.  Near the Embarcadero and Market, in parks and on porches, are little bundles of blankets that on closer examination prove to be people.   Lugging a big cooler full of hot soup, members of the Homeless Church go from person to person, giving out food, praying, talking with our friends.  All in the Name of Jesus.

16TH AND MISSION

 We have moved our Sunday afternoon service again--from La Raza Park  to 16th and Mission, where Agustin oversees a service outdoors on a plaza next to one of the City's busiest intersections, a place where homeless people, people buying and selling drugs and their bodies, people looking for something to steal, and . . . many people hungry for God . . . congregate.  James, who used to sell drugs in that very spot, and Agustin, whose home was on the sidewalk a block away, invite the people who pass by, and the people who have been coming for the past several weeks and now qualify as "regulars", to get to know Jesus.  Afterwards a huge crowd (145 last week) gathers for one of Nick's famous meals.