Fla. church opens doors to anyone who needs food, shelter: 'This is what the Lord wants us to do'

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Monday, January 27, 2025

Homeless individual sleeping on a park bench. | iStock/1315026618

The founder of a Florida church comprised mostly of homeless people explained how the Lord provided her with the space to open the doors to those in need of food and shelter, the embodiment of Christ-like behavior. 

100 Church, located inside a storefront in North Port, began offering free community dinners in October 2020, when many churches had stopped providing such services due to the government's COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. That same year, 100 Church provided shelter to anyone in need of a place to stay.

“We're just a small, local church, and we asked the Lord to show us how we could serve our community,” ​​​​​​​Cheryl Reber, who founded 100 church in 2019, told The Christian Post. 

100 Church in North Port, Florida, offers shelter and free community dinners to the homeless and anyone else in need. | Courtesy of 100 Church

“We had just opened, and we were just like, ‘This is what the Lord wants us to do,” Reber said. “And we’ve been doing it ever since, and He has provided ever since. We have served a lot of people, including during hurricanes when there’s no water, no electricity.”

Most people who shelter at the church have their own bedding, Reber added, as many are homeless and used to sleeping outside. The church still provides bedding and hygiene items to those who need them, even if it only shelters people during inclement weather conditions.

“We are in a storefront, so our sanctuary is on one side, and our dining area and fellowship hall are on the other, and we just split it up if we have men and women,” the church founder explained.

News of the church’s efforts has spread via word of mouth and through local media coverage, which has allowed it to expand its resources to those in the community who aren’t homeless but still need a place to shelter. 

Reber told CP that the church holds the free community dinners for around an hour every day. Depending on the day of the week or the time of the month, the church serves between 15 to 35 people, and has around 35 cooks who regularly sign up to make the dinners. 

“And we have a couple right now who are volunteering for the cold weather shelter,” she said. “And then we have volunteers that come in the morning and serve a light breakfast, get everybody up, get them out of the building, and make sure that it's locked and stuff in the morning."

Reber, whose role is listed as “shepherd” on the church’s website, said that many in the congregation are homeless themselves, which means they cannot afford to help fund the church’s efforts. 

A majority of the costs come from the church’s own budget, Reber said. In addition to the church budget, Reber has outside supporters who help fund her ministry, saying that what she does is a bit like missionary work. 

The ministry leader told CP that she hopes her surrounding community and fellow Christians see that the church is abiding by what Jesus instructed His followers to do, which is to serve “the least of these.” 

Reber commented on how some churches treat the homeless by basically telling them "that they can't come to church unless they leave their backpack outside.”

Doing that, she stressed, makes the church “an unwelcoming place for them," she said, adding that "yes, Bible studies and concerts are great, and worship in the park is great, but this is what He told us to do. And if we’re not doing that, then I’m not sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do.”