Our Congregants
The
Outdoor Church ministers to homeless people who are outdoors in
Cambridge most, if not all, of the time, including young people who
have run away from home and who have gravitated to Harvard Square,
especially during the summer.

We
now serve approximately ninety to one hundred chronically homeless men
and women outdoors on a weekly basis. Approximately two thirds are men. Ages range from sixteen to eighty. The younger homeless people have often recently run away from
home, and come from varied ethnic and economic backgrounds. This population is highly transient and changes almost daily,
especially during the summer. The older homeless people have usually been on the street in
Cambridge for an extended period of time and are uniformly
impoverished and in poor health. Almost all of the people we encounter are substance abusers,
mentally unstable or - particularly men - both. Altogether, the
Outdoor Church has reached as many as 240 homeless men and women and
provided them with pastoral services, including prayer, meals and
clothing.