Church Replaces Homeless Shelter with All-Night Service

A Kensington church complied with a city order to shut down a nightly homeless shelter.  But that order didn't stop all-night worship services at Hope Outreach United Church of Christ.

Four ministers and about a dozen men and women gathered inside the church at the corner of Indiana Avenue and C Street for what associate pastor Chris Kimmenez called a typical, all-night prayer service:

"There's song, there's individual prayer, there's group prayer. You know, we kind of pass around the prayer, there's messages shared, there's scripture shared."

And, Kimmenez said if some of the worshippers dozed off or fell asleep, that was okay, too.

The city's department of licenses and inspections ordered the church to stop running a homeless shelter for men, complete with mats for sleeping.

Kimmenz said there was no homeless shelter in operation and no one from the city showed up to check on the congregation or the service.