News

Sex Offender Misstep Illustrates Outreach Difficulties

A law prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living near a public-school bus stop created complications for one ministry.

A federal judge’s ruling that an outreach to sex offenders violated the U.S. Fair Housing Act demonstrates the complexities churches and ministries face in serving “the least of these.”

The case concerns Matthew 25 Ministries, which in 2008 leased a complex of duplexes and houses in Pahokee, Florida, to create a community of recovering sex offenders. One problem: A state law prohibits convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a public-school bus stop.

Matthew 25 founder Dick Witherow first tried to persuade the school board to relocate the stop. When that failed, he tried to convince families with children to move.

Witherow said the company it leased the homes from, Alston Management, had agreed to relocate the families at no charge to another complex it owned. But according to court records, the company notified 25 families they would be evicted if they didn’t leave by January 1, 2009.

The notices sparked lawsuits in state and federal courts. U.S. District Judge William Dimitrouleas ruled recently that both the ministry and Alston were guilty of discrimination on the basis of familial status.

Witherow said the ruling won’t affect his ministry since Matthew 25 has no assets. “We didn’t discriminate against anybody,” he said. “We love children and wouldn’t allow anything that would allow us to be put in that light.”

Prison Fellowship vice president Pat Nolan said the situation is far broader than Matthew 25 or sex offenders, illustrating the difficulties any ministry that works with an unpopular constituency faces. “It’s a ‘not-in-my-backyard’ problem.”

Matthew 25 isn’t alone in seeing a ministry hurt some while it helps others, said Galen Carey, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals. “Food aid can distort local markets and is sometimes ruinous to local farmers. Slavery redemption programs sometimes create a market for more slave raiding,” he said. “The general issue of unintended consequences resulting from inadequate planning and contextual analysis is a common one.”

Copyright © 2012 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Previous Christianity Today articles on the difficulties encountered in outreach include:

A Senior Moment | The elderly population is steadily growing and will be for years. How some ministries are embracing the challenge. (December 21, 2011)

Trading Spaces: Inner City Helps the Suburbs | Suburban poor change the direction of ministry. (November 10, 2011)

Persecution Prompts Missions Agency to Transform | Operation Mobilization India transforms itself into a local witness. (October 21, 2011)

CT also has more news updates in its news section and liveblog.

Also in this issue

The CT archives are a rich treasure of biblical wisdom and insight from our past. Some things we would say differently today, and some stances we've changed. But overall, we're amazed at how relevant so much of this content is. We trust that you'll find it a helpful resource.

Cover Story

The Best Ways to Fight Poverty—Really

Cover Story

Cost-Effective Compassion: The 10 Most Popular Strategies for Helping the Poor

Review

John Stott: A Uniter and a Divider

Excerpt

Beauty Will Save The World

Public Theology Project

A Purpose-Driven Cosmos: Why Jesus Doesn't Promise Us an 'Afterlife'

Wilson's Bookmarks

The Price of Religious Advocacy in D.C.

Liberty Balance

Flaming Truth: Recalling Francis Schaeffer's Challenge

News

Teaching Natural Theology as Climate Changes Drown a Way of Life

News

Go Figure

The Other Prodigal Son

Letters to the Editor

News

Pro-life Advocates Cheer State Court Rulings, Parliament Reaffirms Church De-Regulations, and More News

Editorial

You Can't Worship Here: Evicting Churches from New York Schools

A Rueful Meditation

Two Minutes With ... Jaci Velasquez

My Top 5 Silent Movies

Finding God in the Sewers

Review

Schoolhouse Divided

How biblical is it to be pro-life and support the death penalty?

News

Does motive matter if a ministry is doing good deeds?

How to Help

Community Chaste

More Media

My Top 5 Books By Charles Dickens

Books to Note

News

After Komen, the Next Big Planned Parenthood Fight

News

Out of Africa

News

Passages

News

Pink Stink: Komen Drops Planned Parenthood Support

News

Quotation Marks

Masculinity in the Movies

Critics' Choice Movie Awards of 2011

The Most Redeeming Films of 2011

View issue

Our Latest

News

Meet the Evangelical Expats Staying in Lebanon

Shout to the Lord in a Foreign Language

Worshiping God with words we don’t understand may seem strange. But I consider it a spiritual practice.

Jesus Is Still Right About Persecution

Nine truths believers need to understand to pray well for the suffering body of Christ.

The Bulletin

Electioneering

The Bulletin discusses the final presidential campaign push, churches in the age of screens, and the UN’s work in Gaza.

News

Argentina Moves to Officially Celebrate Its Evangelicals

Leaders are grateful for the government recognition but hope for further progress.

All Saints Die

Our yearly reminder for Christians neither to run from nor to leap toward death, but to learn the art of dying well.

 

 

 

 

The Antidote to Election Anxiety

My community is the kind you see in articles hyping the threat of political violence. Reality is more mundane—and hopeful.

News

Steven Curtis Chapman Joins Country Music Royalty

The Christian music star is the first in the industry to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube