“How do you approach a homeless person in the street?” Michael Jackson (not the superstar) asked a group of attendees at the “Loving Your Neighbor” symposium in Washington, DC, two weeks ago. “You don’t. You don’t have to, ‘cause I’ll approach you and give you every scheme or every scam you’ve ever heard of.”

Drug addiction and jail time filled Jackson’s early life. At 24, he moved out of his parents’ house and into the streets, where a cousin taught him “all about being homeless”—the blankets, sleeping on grates, and panhandling.

In an attempt to redirect her son’s life, Jackson’s mother sent him to live with an uncle in Nebraska, where he met a pastor who saw potential in him and later guided him into a pastoral position. But when Jackson’s addiction resurfaced, he returned to DC, and to the streets.

That’s when Emily Guthrie, director of Capitol Hill Group Ministry, an interfaith organization that fights homelessness, found Michael sleeping on a grate outside of her building. Although Guthrie admits that Jackson initially scared her, she decided to help him get back on his feet by plugging him into substance abuse training, assisting him in the job search, and helping him secure affordable housing—the single most important issue in combating homelessness, she said, particularly in DC, where more than 9,000 homeless roam the streets every night. Other significant issues, she said, are mental health, physical health, and domestic violence.

Jackson, who now works as a supervisor for the Department of Public Works, doesn’t encourage well-meaning passersby to drop coins in a cup. Instead, he said, focus on the homeless as real people. Find out their names. Don’t just ask, “What can I do?” Ask, “Who can I be?”

In over 24 communities nationwide, the Burrito Project is sending a new message: All you need to help the poor are tortillas and beans, friends on bikes and about an hour of your time.

Burrito Project’s MySpace page says the project is “an idea, a tool for groups of friends to become active participants in their communities.” Started in Los Angeles in January 2006, the Burrito Project’s only “basic guidelines” is that groups must remain “non religious, non political and non fame.” The project received the first of MySpace’s Impact Awards for Povery Relief last year.

Because the project emphasizes anonymous service, Los Angeles member Will C. asked to be identified by his first name only. He said the group typically gathers at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Beans and rice are on the stove; as they finish cooking, a couple members quickly assemble about 30 burritos. They all take off on bikes to “places that the more seasoned Burrito Project folk (know are) places where the homeless could be found: the parking lot of a Big Lots discount store . . . under freeway overpasses” to hand out the burritos on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Will said the group, though diverse in age, race and occupation, is united by the members’ “desire and willingness to help,” as well as their enjoyment of bike riding. He got involved through another social bike event, and now he hopes to start his own project in his area of LA.

Will acknowledged that the impact of handing out a few burritos may not mean much “in the big scheme of things,” but “in regards to reaching out on an individual level the difference is huge.” While some people refused the free food, most accepted it gratefully, “more than just for the nourishment but also for the realization that there are people in this city that haven’t forgotten them — and don’t have an agenda in helping them.”

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.”

In New Orleans, 250 homeless people are trying to get Mayor Ray Nagin’s attention. They have set up 40 tents in Duncan Plaza, a park across from Nagin’s City Hall office, and they are chanting, “Hey Ray! How about a house today?”

After Hurricane Katrina, the city’s homeless population climbed from 6,300 to 12,000, according to UNITY of Greater New Orleans. Kevin Brown, executive director of Trinity Christian Community Network, told WoW that Nagin has earned a reputation of being “almost an absentee mayor.” Many people believe he is burnt out and say his administration has made little progress since Katrina.

Trinity Christian Community Network helps New Orleans families rebuild homes. “The challenge we’re facing is that people are between FEMA trailors and getting their houses done. Public housing hasn’t opened up,” Brown said. People look to the government in this situation because the city failed to maintain the levees that were supposed to protect the city.

The number of tents in Duncan Plaza has increased from around six a couple months ago to over 40 today. With these kinds of numbers, Brown said Nagin will have to respond, and he thinks this is probably a good way to get his attention.

City officials began efforts to move people out of the park this week, which Brown said is causing controversy since residents have become “somewhat entrenched” and have few places to go. Churches and other groups are helping the homeless and supporting the protest by bringing meals, opening up facilities for showers and laundry, and buying tents and sleeping bags.

What do you do when you come upon a homeless person in need of a few bucks? When Tony Woodlief faced this dilemma recently, he came to realize that he almost missed an encounter with Christ:

I asked if I could pray for him. It wasn’t my idea; it just overtook me, the way God sometimes does. He seized my hand, and I prayed that he would be released from his addictions. My neck burned as passersby stared. When I finished he gripped my arm, and he prayed that God would bless me. He cried harder, and tried to give back my money. I smelled wine on his breath, and marveled at how well Christ can disguise Himself.

Read all about Tony’s encounter in this week’s WORLD.