Homeless Jesus

Jia Wu

Missouri United Methodist Church unveil and dedicate a “Homeless Jesus” statue in its downtown courtyard on Sunday, June 26, 2022 in Columbia. People gathered at Missouri United Methodist Church around 12 p.m. to listen to the speeches, sing, and pray together for the unveiling. Photo by Jia Wu/Columbia Missourian. Copyright 2022; used by permission.

Missouri United Methodist Church Unveils 'Homeless Jesus' Sculpture

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The next time someone passes Missouri United Methodist Church along Ninth Street in Columbia, Missouri, they might see what looks like a man lying on a bench, huddled in a blanket that covers everything but his feet and a sliver of his bearded face. 

Only upon closer inspection will passers-by notice the crucifixion wounds in his feet that reveal his identity.

Missouri United Methodist Church unveiled its "Homeless Jesus" sculpture at a June 26 dedication ceremony. About 70 people, mostly members of the church's congregation, gathered in the courtyard to join together in prayer and song.

To open the ceremony, Becca Griffin warmly strummed an acoustic guitar and sang "A Place in the Sun" by Stevie Wonder, with Debbie Schulte providing a feathery high harmony.

There are "Homeless Jesus" sculptures on five continents, according to a news release from the church. Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz created the original "Homeless Jesus" in 2013 at Regis College in Toronto.

David Webber, an MU political science professor who advocates for Columbia's unhoused community, donated the sculpture.

The church received the statue "in recognition of the church's work with Columbia's unhoused population," according to the release. In the winter of 2008, Missouri United Methodist Church and Cavalry Episcopal Church established Room at the Inn, a winter shelter for Columbia's homeless population.

Troy Bowers, the lead pastor at Missouri United Methodist Church, dedicated the sculpture with a prayer envisioning a future where everyone can find "shelter, security and purpose in life."

S. Jewell S. McGhee, associate pastor at the church, said the installation is not intended to be happy or comforting — it is supposed to spark conversation about Columbia's homeless residents and action toward helping them.

"We lament the brokenness that causes housing injustice and the brokenness that is caused by housing insecurity and injustice," McGhee said to the congregation. "We covenant today to see rather than look away, we covenant to pray rather than dismiss. We covenant to listen rather than ignore, we covenant to act for justice and hope."

Brad Bryan, executive director of Turning Point and the lead pastor at the Wilkes Boulevard United Methodist Church, spoke to the congregation about the Opportunity Campus. It is a developing plan for a comprehensive homeless center in Columbia spearheaded by the Voluntary Action Center. It would bring an overnight shelter, a day center, a resource center and meals under one roof.

Bryan said the Opportunity Campus would not be the "magic wand" that would solve homelessness in Columbia, but he said Columbia has the right convergence of public power, city and county support and available funds to do something substantial.

He said "Homeless Jesus" should remind Christians in the community of their commitment to help those who are less fortunate.

"We hope that this installation becomes a place that we can all come when we're downtown and just remind us of not only the human face of unsheltered homelessness, but the incarnational face of Jesus on all of our friends who are unsheltered," Bryan said.

Jonathan Carpenter, a member of the church who is homeless, was the first to approach the sculpture after the ceremony ended. He said homelessness "is a big problem in our community," and that it always has and always will be.

He emphasized that every unhoused person is human, with human feelings and desires.

"Some are a little hungry," Carpenter said. "Some are a little intimidating. Some don't smell good. Some are completely crazy. But they are all human."

Emmet Jamieson is General Assignment reporter, summer 2022, at the Columbia Missourian student newspaper. He is studying journalism, political science and German. This article is republished with permission from the Columbia Missourian.

Jia Wu took photographs of the unveiling ceremony.