Helping the Poor and Homeless, and meeting the Spiritual, Social, advocacy needs of the oppressed and dispossessed. On the Street in St. Petersburg In St. Petersburg, Florida, in other cities in Florida and Tennessee, as well as Internationally in England, Sierra Leone, and Haiti, another alternachurch is struggling with a different kind of cross-cultural ministry. The Refuge is in the heart of do
wntown St. Pete, other cities in Florida, and Tennessee, as well as Internationally in England, Sierra Leone, and Haiti we are Reinventing church Domestically and Internationally street kids, Alternative Youth, the Poor and Homeless and the disenfranchised, the Refuge is known for its uncompromising commitment to social action and advocacy, as well as Spiritual Services and well as meeting peoples needs. The Refuge has become one of the country’s most innovative and provocative alterna-churches and ministries that serve based on a solidarity not charity model. Both domestically and Internationally we are committed to being informed, led, working alongside the various oppressed classes of people here in the US and abroad. We are committed to a bottom up ideal and not a top down ideal. All of the Ministries of the Refuge are autonomous, but under the umbrella and accountability of the Refuge. The Refuge is a multi-faceted experiment. Sermons are impassioned but not really preachy The Refuge lives up to its name—anyone is welcome. It has thus become an outreach to the Poor, the low wage worker, Alternative youth, and the Homeless. On out board of directors we have a wide group which includes lawyers, accountants, and pastors from the area’s evangelical, mainline and Catholic churches. We have worked with the American Indian Movement (AIM), local underground radicals (helping organize a “Keeping the Peace” festival that featured Noam Chomsky, among others), the Uhuru, Food Not Bombs, the fight for 15, and others. We are part of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (www.economichumanrights.org).This kind of bridge building is crucial to faithful, fruitful outreach. “The reputation of evangelicals on the streets of central Florida is abysmal. They perceive us as at best unconcerned with their plight, and at worst as part of the system that ignores, exploits and abuses them. They need someone to tell them that Jesus is on their side.”
We provide Counseling, support services, spiritual services, food and hygiene item assistance, Financial aid (when available) to families, speaking and consulting, a radio show (The Revolutionary Road Radio Show, like us on facebook), and occasional housing services. We have been around for more than 20 years.
