'Worship Wagon' brings Gospel to the streets

'No walls and no pews...bringing church to the streets.'

One group of nondenominational Christians decided God doesn't just live in the church.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to CBN, the state of Kansas enjoys the beautiful sound of worship from beneath bridges and overpasses as a Christian group brings their "Worship Wagon" to spread the gospel to the homeless.

The Worship Wagon was created by Bruce McGregor and Joe Ratterman when they realized how difficult it is for the homeless to enter a church.

McGregor described the Worship Wagon's use of music to draw in an audience when they set up in the evenings. Along the Missouri River, about 100 homeless people reside in the woods but when the music starts they slowly leave the safety of the trees to worship in the safety of the Lord's love.

Reaching out to the homeless is close to home for Ratterman, who has worked to reach the homeless with his wife for the past 12 years. What the couple struggled with was figuring out how to take "people out of the street" and into a more comfortable environment.

When getting the homeless into church seats failed, they began to think outside the box.

Worship Wagon's website explains: "The Worship Wagon is a mobile church service offered to the poor and homeless population in the downtown Kansas City, Missouri area. Our program provides a unique opportunity for those living on the streets to participate in a weekly, non-denominational church service each Monday night.  All are welcome, and everyone is encouraged to come as they are."

The emphasis on "come as you are" is a popular theme in Christian churches. The idea is there is no dress code. A man in a suit can worship God as easily as a woman in rags, so the open invitation encourages the homeless population to join in learning about God's Word without fear of judgement.

The Worship Wagon's mission statement explains: "There are existing churches and faith communities all around Kansas City today - in the downtown area, in the urban core, and in the suburbs. Some of them undoubtedly try to reach outside their typical demographic and offer an open door to the poor and homeless as well.

"Some church groups even send out vans and busses [sic] in an effort to bring the poor and homeless off the streets and into their location each Sunday morning. We support and applaud those efforts, but homeless individuals are not flooding into those churches.

"Why is that? Because a church building creates a sense of reverence, and an expectation of how a person should look and how they should act. People who have a place to live don't have any problems cleaning up, putting on presentable clothes, and driving themselves to these churches.

"When you are homeless, however, you don't always feel presentable. You rarely have access to bathroom and shower facilities. You could go to those churches, but you would likely feel out of place and self conscience. From the perspective of the homeless person, people in those church buildings, however good their intentions, are from another world.

"The Worship Wagon's simple mission, then, is to bring church to the streets. We'll set up faith communities in the environment where the homeless feel comfortable . at home, on the streets, and in their world."

Ratterman and McGregor conceived of the Worship Wagon, which is filled with equipment each week by volunteers.

"We just have a simple, single axle trailer but in that trailer we have packed it out," McGregor described. "We have a really professional grade sound system that's very compact and we can wheel it out and get it set up very quickly. We have a quiet generator, you can't even hear it, powers the whole sound system, so we can have a complete band here, playing worship music with just that system."

McGregor continued, describing the numerous chairs, commercial grade heater that runs on diesel electricity and a satellite instillation in the trailer to make winters more comfortable, particularly beneath bridges.

Since the Worship Wagon first rolled out, it has delivered the Gospel to homeless populations around Kansas through rain or shine, missing only a single service due to extremely bad weather.

"We've been down here when it was in the teens, howling north winds and we're all shivering in our caps and gloves," Ratterman explained. "And we've been out here (when) it's been a hundred degrees and there's been thunderstorms rolling around as well, rain.

"We've been blessed by the amazing location that covers us and so as long as there's not a tornado right on top of us or ice on the street I think we have license to come down here and set up shop."

Beverly Cole, a volunteer with Worship Wagon, said the outreach program has transformed her life.

"I was a drug addict for many, many years you know, and I know God changed me from the inside out so I know if he could change me he can change anybody."

Please consider offering the next homeless person you meet a word or two about Christ's love and engage in God's greatest gift: love.

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