Who Is Reconciler?

• We are drug addicts and alcoholics.
• A recovering drug addict opens our facility each Sunday morning at 7:00 AM and prepares coffee and hospitality for the homeless community.
• We have an official church statement that affirms our commitment to support recovery, not to enable addiction.
• We sponsor a Day Program for the homeless, providing shelter, a place to rest, and access to telephones for 175 people every Tuesday - Friday.
• We are prostitutes and pimps.
• We have an official church statement on responsible sexuality.

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Church of the Reconciler Offers Radical Hospitality

We open our doors to everyone and proclaim the Good News of the Gospel to all. We trust in God's presence. We trust in the power of God to help any person. When discussing the variety of people who come to Church of the Reconciler, we avoid using the word "welcome." To say that a particular group of people is welcome implies that we who are members are different from the group we welcome. We are all sinners. We are all Christians. We are open to hearing the word of God and applying that word every day.

Many of our members are homeless, and we rejoice in their participation. Addicts and prostitutes have found a home at Church of the Reconciler, and many have found a message of grace which allows them to begin a new life, a life that exemplifies God's love and grace for all.

We also have dozens of children and youth who are regular participants. Some of these youth participate with their families, but a significant number come without adult supervision. They rely on the church for guidance, during worship as well as in their daily lives. We provide the children a simple breakfast on Sunday morning before worship. In addition to Bible study during the School for Urban Christian Living, the children go on several field trips each summer. We also open our doors to after school tutoring programs for children. There is no doubt that Church of the Reconciler provides a home for all of God's children.

We are Multicultural and Interracial

This commitment to being multicultural and interracial presents us with never-ending challenges. It means, among other things, that we can never "get it right." For example, if we make a decision that makes the homeless feel comfortable, we are likely to be outside the comfort zone of the average middle class family. What is "right" for one culture may feel "wrong" for another. Our challenge is not to make everyone feel comfortable all the time. Our challenge is to embody God's love for all. We strive to reflect a variety of cultures and ask our members and friends to be open to ways of worshipping together. We cannot always get it right, but we can celebrate our diversity.

We Combine Worship and Mission

This factor makes us even more unusual than the first. Other churches focus on interracial worship and fellowship. They may ask their members to be in mission to their community, but the churches themselves are not. We believe that worship without mission is an empty shell. We cannot be a church in downtown Birmingham without ministering with the people in our community. We cannot be an interracial church without speaking out against injustice and racism.