6 ms·

Find a church - neither too big nor too small. Introduce yourself as someone willing to do assist with the IT/ secretarial / etc. in exchange for warm food and

Find a church - neither too big nor too small. Introduce yourself as someone willing to do assist with the IT/ secretarial / etc. in exchange for warm food and a shelter bed. Churches have very large networks. When you get on your feet, and you will, remember who helped you survive.

tuckerconnelly 7y ago
This could very well be a Job situation, but I have to wonder how someone ends up like this.
marcus_holmes 7y ago
that might work in the US, but in Europe churches are poor and mostly attended by old ladies with networks of other old ladies.
- grumpy8 7y ago
  so what? Old ladies can be warm and very helpful too
  - marcus_holmes 7y ago
    this is true. And I guess it could result in couchsurfing to stay off the streets, at least.
  - larrywright 7y ago
    And old ladies have kids and grandkids who might also be in a position to be of assistance. OP should open every door he finds, one of them is going to lead to a better place.
- twoquestions 7y ago
  Be careful in the US too, churches aren't so nice here.
  - s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
    In my experience, churches are filled with the nicest people. Even though I'm not religious I go with my wife sometimes and everyone is very welcoming. Seems like you had a bad experience at a church or maybe you've never been in one and you're judging them based on the media you view. Either way, not a good reason to make wide blanket statements like that.
  - aphextim 7y ago
    Sounds like you had a bad experience with a church. Every church I've ever gone to even without me being very religious has been very accepting and nice. Making blanket statements after one or even a handful of experiences doesn't help anyone and can be said about things also not relating to churches as well.
  - magic_beans 7y ago
    This is really not true of 90% of churches. Let's distinguish between actual churches and personality cults like Westboro.
  - twoquestions 7y ago
    EDIT: Looks like I'm outside the edit window. A late family member of mine in the OP's approximate situation was taken advantage of by a local church, which gives me pause when people say going to one for help is a bulletproof-good idea. I'm sorry for not providing context right away, the original statement on it's own was too broad.
  - skrtskrt 7y ago
    As an ex-Catholic, all the churches I was a member of growing up took charity and things like this very seriously - there were many immigrant families that came to our churches and we would find them families that would let them stay with them until they got on their feet. It is, however, unfortunately not universal. I recently tried to drop off some extra Christmas toys I had mistakenly ordered on Amazon to a local Catholic church and they absolutely refused to take them and distribute to a needy family. I was floored.
    - 7y ago
- dehrmann 7y ago
  > mostly attended by old ladies with networks of other old ladies Certain flavors of US churches look like this, too.
fsloth 7y ago
Churches aren't like that in Europe. They are not communities nor are they huge. A church is an office where a priest and maybe some assisting staff work, and the priest performs weekly some ceremonies. But there is really no community as such.
- luckylion 7y ago
  This might depend heavily on the country and location, but that's not my experience. I'm not religious, but I know some people who are, and their churches are quite active in their local communities, doing charity work, helping the homeless and the poor in general. I live in an area that's heavily dominated by protestants, so my experience is mostly with them, I don't know how that's for catholic areas. The Netherlands are famously protestant as well, might be similar.
  - fsloth 7y ago
    Ok, cool, I was not aware of this. I thought they were all sadly just waiting to become obsolete. In what area are you in?
    - luckylion 7y ago
      I'm in Northern Germany. The planned/willful obsolescence here mostly applies to the "official" churches imho. The smaller, free ones tend to be a bit more radical and more grass-roots oriented, so they're more hands-on (which probably also has to do with them not having a lot of old wealth and close ties to the state).
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      The churches that are full of people who attend church because their parents did are, as you so well put it, sadly waiting to become obsolete. There are churches, however, where many of the people are there because they genuinely believe it, and they think that they have very good reason to believe it (and they aren't afraid of engaging with atheists who think otherwise), and they try to live out what they believe in real life. If you find a church like that, it feels and acts completely different.
opinionated1 7y ago
Second that. I‘m from Germany and attended a conference at a an Evangelical Church in the Netherlands (in Ede: https://www.schuilplaats.net/ https://www.schuilplaats.net/) a couple months ago without having booked a place to stay. At the end of the last evening session, I simply asked the pastor if he could help me and sure enough, one church member offered me an entire vacation apartment that he owns for one night for free. This is not a suggestion to take advantage of their hospitality but I have to say that the people at the church were very open and welcoming to new people without displaying a missional agenda.
- photonios 7y ago
  This not relevant at all to this thread but I was very pleasantly surprised to see my hometown and a church I am familiar with pop up here. OP: If you can, do go there. I am not at all religious, and you don't have to, but this is a solid place to start.
nvusuvu 7y ago
Try the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Best of luck to you.

tuckerconnelly 7y ago

This could very well be a Job situation, but I have to wonder how someone ends up like this.

marcus_holmes 7y ago

that might work in the US, but in Europe churches are poor and mostly attended by old ladies with networks of other old ladies.

grumpy8 7y ago
so what? Old ladies can be warm and very helpful too
- marcus_holmes 7y ago
  this is true. And I guess it could result in couchsurfing to stay off the streets, at least.
- larrywright 7y ago
  And old ladies have kids and grandkids who might also be in a position to be of assistance. OP should open every door he finds, one of them is going to lead to a better place.
twoquestions 7y ago
Be careful in the US too, churches aren't so nice here.
- s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
  In my experience, churches are filled with the nicest people. Even though I'm not religious I go with my wife sometimes and everyone is very welcoming. Seems like you had a bad experience at a church or maybe you've never been in one and you're judging them based on the media you view. Either way, not a good reason to make wide blanket statements like that.
- aphextim 7y ago
  Sounds like you had a bad experience with a church. Every church I've ever gone to even without me being very religious has been very accepting and nice. Making blanket statements after one or even a handful of experiences doesn't help anyone and can be said about things also not relating to churches as well.
- magic_beans 7y ago
  This is really not true of 90% of churches. Let's distinguish between actual churches and personality cults like Westboro.
- twoquestions 7y ago
  EDIT: Looks like I'm outside the edit window. A late family member of mine in the OP's approximate situation was taken advantage of by a local church, which gives me pause when people say going to one for help is a bulletproof-good idea. I'm sorry for not providing context right away, the original statement on it's own was too broad.
- skrtskrt 7y ago
  As an ex-Catholic, all the churches I was a member of growing up took charity and things like this very seriously - there were many immigrant families that came to our churches and we would find them families that would let them stay with them until they got on their feet. It is, however, unfortunately not universal. I recently tried to drop off some extra Christmas toys I had mistakenly ordered on Amazon to a local Catholic church and they absolutely refused to take them and distribute to a needy family. I was floored.
  - 7y ago
dehrmann 7y ago
> mostly attended by old ladies with networks of other old ladies Certain flavors of US churches look like this, too.

fsloth 7y ago

Churches aren't like that in Europe. They are not communities nor are they huge. A church is an office where a priest and maybe some assisting staff work, and the priest performs weekly some ceremonies. But there is really no community as such.

luckylion 7y ago
This might depend heavily on the country and location, but that's not my experience. I'm not religious, but I know some people who are, and their churches are quite active in their local communities, doing charity work, helping the homeless and the poor in general. I live in an area that's heavily dominated by protestants, so my experience is mostly with them, I don't know how that's for catholic areas. The Netherlands are famously protestant as well, might be similar.
- fsloth 7y ago
  Ok, cool, I was not aware of this. I thought they were all sadly just waiting to become obsolete. In what area are you in?
  - luckylion 7y ago
    I'm in Northern Germany. The planned/willful obsolescence here mostly applies to the "official" churches imho. The smaller, free ones tend to be a bit more radical and more grass-roots oriented, so they're more hands-on (which probably also has to do with them not having a lot of old wealth and close ties to the state).
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    The churches that are full of people who attend church because their parents did are, as you so well put it, sadly waiting to become obsolete. There are churches, however, where many of the people are there because they genuinely believe it, and they think that they have very good reason to believe it (and they aren't afraid of engaging with atheists who think otherwise), and they try to live out what they believe in real life. If you find a church like that, it feels and acts completely different.

opinionated1 7y ago

Second that. I‘m from Germany and attended a conference at a an Evangelical Church in the Netherlands (in Ede: https://www.schuilplaats.net/ https://www.schuilplaats.net/) a couple months ago without having booked a place to stay. At the end of the last evening session, I simply asked the pastor if he could help me and sure enough, one church member offered me an entire vacation apartment that he owns for one night for free. This is not a suggestion to take advantage of their hospitality but I have to say that the people at the church were very open and welcoming to new people without displaying a missional agenda.

photonios 7y ago
This not relevant at all to this thread but I was very pleasantly surprised to see my hometown and a church I am familiar with pop up here. OP: If you can, do go there. I am not at all religious, and you don't have to, but this is a solid place to start.

nvusuvu 7y ago

Try the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Best of luck to you.