Key points:

• At least six churches in Holston Conference are hosting overnight guests in need of housing this week in response to life-threatening winter weather.
• In Knoxville, all of the church warming shelters offered by the city are United Methodist churches: Cokesbury, Magnolia Avenue, and Vestal.
• Magnolia Avenue is accommodating the largest group of guests with about 130.
• Other churches as well as the public are supporting the warming shelters with money, food, supplies, and volunteers.

 

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – When the Knoxville homeless coalition posted the list of warming shelters available to help people during this week’s life-threatening winter weather, it was striking to see that all were United Methodist churches.

Those three Knoxville churches were joined by at least three more United Methodist congregations throughout East Tennessee who invited unhoused people to stay inside their warm buildings while temperatures plummeted outside. Other congregations provided support with food, supplies and money.

“If we don’t get more cots, they’ll be sleeping in the sanctuary on the pews, and let’s be honest, we all have a lot of empty pews,” said the Rev. Tim Jackson.

As pastor of Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church and Vestal United Methodist Church, Jackson organized a massive outreach effort for days while an artic blast approached regions throughout the U.S., finally hitting the Knoxville area on the Monday of Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.

In East Knoxville, Magnolia Avenue opened as a warming shelter on Sunday, accommodating as many as 130 guests overnight. In South Knoxville, Vestal opened as a warming shelter on Monday, accommodating 50 to 60 as about eight inches of snow fell and then temperatures dropped below zero.  

“I knew this was going to happen, and both churches were prepared,” Jackson said. “This is a human problem. This is a life-or-death situation, and I know right now we are being a very powerful witness for Christ.”

In West Knoxville, Cokesbury United Methodist Church opened Monday as a warming shelter, partnering with nearby Concord United Methodist Church. Last night, Cokesbury hosted about 30 overnight guests at their ongoing Fig Tree ministry site with the help of church members, agencies, and neighbors.

“It’s very sweet to see our community show up,” said Katie McIlwain, Cokesbury outreach director. During a telephone interview, she described looking outside the church window to see a family walking through the snowy parking lot with new pillows to donate.

Other Holston Conference churches opening their buildings during this week’s harsh winter weather include Asbury United Methodist Church in Greeneville and First United Methodist Church in Sevierville, both in Tennessee.

Asbury partnered with an organization called C.A.R.E. (Community in Action Reaches Everyone) to host 12 guests on Monday night, said the Rev. Jerry Jones. His church leaders were enthusiastic when asked by C.A.R.E. to open the church to homeless neighbors.

“I’ve been in ministry a long time and have never done anything like this,” Jones said. When he arrived at the church yesterday to meet the volunteer delivering the evening meal, he was met by three new people needing a safe, warm place to stay.

At First United Methodist Church in Sevierville, the Salvation Army set up 20 cots in the fellowship hall, said the Rev. Jeff Wright. Four people filled those cots on Monday night, including regular guests of the church’s weekly community meal and people rescued from the cold by local police.

All this winter, Keith Memorial United Methodist Church has hosted unhoused neighbors inside the church on freezing nights in a partnership with the community in Athens, Tennessee. However, church trustees recently decided to relocate the McMinn County Warming Center to a former bank building after an incidence of drug abuse was discovered.

“We are no longer hosting the shelter because of the drug issues, but that has spurred us to look for a more permanent solution,” said the Rev. Melissa Smith, senior pastor.

About 15 to 20 people are staying in the McMinn County Warming Center this week, and 20 to 25 volunteers from Keith Memorial are providing meals and other aid, Smith said.

In Maryville, Tennessee, First United Methodist Church is one of 10 partner churches of different faiths helping to provide a warming shelter at First Baptist Church of Maryville.

“Each congregation adopts a day and offers volunteers and food on that particular day of the week. Our congregation’s day is Sunday,” said the Rev. Jonathan Jonas, First Maryville’s senior pastor.

On Tuesday night in Knoxville, United Methodist churches led the way in housing 230 total people in need of refuge from the extreme cold, according to Erin Read, executive director of the Knoxville-Knox County Office of Housing Stability. The planning started weeks ago.

“I reached out to about two dozen churches, and consistently, the congregations that reached back out and felt this visceral call to help were United Methodist,” Read said.

Magnolia Avenue, Vestal and Cokesbury churches were the three warming shelters announced by the city as designated places to go this week. To “take pressure off” Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church, which sheltered the largest group of residents (130), the Salvation Army opened Tuesday night to host 20 more guests, Read said.

Knoxville police and outreach workers have been driving around, looking for people outside in the cold. Some were spotted under a city bridge but they “refused to come in," Read said.

“I know we still had people out last night. I don’t know if any died,” she said.

United Methodists expressed pride in their sister United Methodist churches for showing hospitality to their neighbors, many sending volunteers and donations to help.

“Cokesbury's work the past couple of years in West Knox County in serving those without housing has provided a foundation and structure on which to provide the warming shelter,” said the Rev. Brooke Hartman, Concord pastor of discipleship. “We are grateful for their intentionality and for inviting us to be part of serving others in our community.”

Jackson said that Magnolia and Vestal had received “overwhelming” support from churches as well as the public, including $25,000 through Venmo donations alone. Others delivered or sent water bottles, food, blankets, toiletries and clothing to house the growing number of people arriving at Magnolia Avenue’s or Vestal’s doors.

Between 10 to 20 volunteers are serving at Magnolia Avenue at any given time, while Vestal has about five to eight volunteers on site, Jackson said.

“It’s overwhelming to see that so many people across the spectrum are giving,” Jackson said. “That $25,000 is mostly $5, $10, $25, $50 donations, as well as a smattering of larger ones.” More money is likely to arrive in checks by mail, which will be used to serve the community during cold weather and beyond, he said.

Jackson urged other pastors and churches to “position themselves in the direct path of ministry,” instead of stepping aside to avoid risk or inconvenience.

“We live in a country and denomination in rapid decline. Moments like these can redeem our witness to the community,” Jackson said. “I am thankful for this opportunity for Vestal and Magnolia to be a witness to the entire Knoxville area as we minister to the less fortunate. We were doing this before the weather, and we’ll continue to do this after.”

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To give to Magnolia Avenue United Methodist Church or Vestal United Methodist, make a check out to either church and mail to: 2700 East Magnolia Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37914. You may also give through Venmo @magaveumc. (Designate “Magnolia” or “Vestal” in the comments.)

To give to the Fig Tree ministry for vulnerable neighbors at Cokesbury United Methodist Church, choose “Fig Tree” from the drop-down menu at https://buff.ly/491fURL.


Holston Conference includes 545 United Methodist churches in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and North Georgia, with main offices in Alcoa, Tennessee. Sign up for a free email subscription to The Call.