As the nights get colder and Christmas draws closer, Christians face again the question of how to care for the homeless. Some assume that with charities and city shelters giving food, clothes and beds, the homeless choose to be homeless, hungry, and cold. But some homeless advocates told WoW the reality is more complicated.

Mark Swanson, director of community ministries at All Angels’ Church in New York City, said some homeless avoid shelters because some of the larger, public shelters are violent and unsafe. Tom Basile, director of the Bowery Mission, told WoW that other homeless prefer the freedom of the streets to the shelter’s rules. Basile once offered an empty bed to a homeless man who refused it, saying he didn’t want to follows the rules that went with it. Basile said homeless individuals merely mirror the values of the culture at large: suspicion of authority, stubborn individualism, and “an unrealistic view of what it means to be free.”

Swanson asks a key question: “If you’re walking down the streets … and you run across some homeless guy, what do you do?”

First, Christians should treat homeless individuals with humanity. Prentiss Allen, a formerly homeless man now at the Bowery Mission, told WoW, “People see us in the state that we’re in and they have the tendency to shy away from us. … I talk to them as a person. I don’t talk to them as an object or a thing.”

Second, Christians should give a dollar or a sandwich. Some analysts contend that most money given goes for alcohol or drugs, but Ed Morgan, president of the Bowery Mission, said, “Earn the right to be in someone’s life by friendship and by giving a cup of cold water in the Lord’s name.”

Third, Christians should accompany the gift with a suggestion about the need for long-term help. Organizations like the Bowery Mission and All Angels’ Church offer not just food but housing, education, and spiritual guidance. Many organizations have cards that Christians can give to the homeless people they meet.

Finally, Christians should understand that a real solution demands community effort. Throwing money at the homeless “eases our conscience, but it doesn’t deal with the issue,” Swanson said, contending that the evangelical church has neglected social justice issues. He tells Christians, “You give, period. But then you’ve got to do more than that. You need to go back to your church and say, ‘We have a problem.’”

Basile said the needs of the homeless are inescapable, but he gives a warning: “If you don’t figure out a response, your consciousness will be eventually deadened.”

The National Retail Federation predicts consumers will spend $74.5 billion in the 2007 holiday season. Has Christmas become little more than a national excuse to indulge our collective spending compulsion?

Imago Dei, a Portland church, began the Advent Conspiracy to restore the meaning of Christmas “by worshipping Jesus through compassion, not consumption.” It has four goals: worship more, spend less, give more, and love all. Last year, 5 churches participated and raised $100,000 by making gifts instead of buying them. This year, 600 churches have already signed up to participate and an additional 500 churches are participating through the World Relief Organization, which is using the Conspiracy for its Christmas campaign.

In the spirit of the Advent Conspiracy, here is a diverse (but not exhaustive) list of organizations that give life and hope to people who need it most.

1. Angel Tree is an affiliate ministry of Prison Fellowship that provides Christmas gifts to children whose parents are in prison. Donate money online or organize a program at your church.

2. World Vision, a humanitarian organization, has an online Christmas Gift Catalogue. (Last year, my sister bought me a portion of an “easy-care” alpaca for a Peruvian family, and this year, I’ve been eyeing a share of a camel for my grandma.)

3. Restoration of Israel is a Messianic Jewish organization that provides material support for Jewish people making Aliyah (traveling) to Israel. You can donate cash, goods, services, or…trees.

4. Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry is a domestic Christian ministry of farmers and hunters who are “transforming a renewable, God-given resource into food for the hungry.” The ministry pays meat processors to butcher donated deer and elk to feed the hungry. You can make financial donations or you can donate a deer yourself!

5. If you do purchase gifts, buy from organizations that put 100% of the profits into the people and communities they support. Cultural Designs by Kate is a Lebanon-based organization that teaches women the skill of jewelry fabrication and then employs them. Select from over 200 one-of-a-kind designs online. Rahab Ministries supports Thai women who leave the sex-trade. The women make the greeting cards and jewelry that you can buy through the online bazaar.