Should You Give Money to Homeless People? 

I live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C, a city whose homeless population was recently put in the spotlight. In August 2025, President Trump signed an executive order¹ declaring a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital with the stated goal of expelling all homeless people. 

We’re having a News Conference tomorrow in the White House. I’m going to make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before. The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong. It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border. We went from millions pouring in, to ZERO in the last few months. This will be easier — Be prepared! There will be no “MR. NICE GUY.” We want our Capital BACK. Thank you for your attention to this matter!² 

As someone who lives within walking distance from the end of a Metro line, my neighborhood was abuzz with conversation. Some supported the actions but feared it would drive dangerous vagrants into our own area. Others condemned the move and expressed concern for the already abundant homeless population around us. 

In the end, not much changed downtown.³ There was no massive influx of displaced homeless people into my neighborhood. The local daytime homeless shelter my church partners with didn’t notice a change in its attendance. I saw the same handful of familiar faces standing at the intersections along my commute to work. But the noise did stir up a new round of conversations in my church around a very common question: should you give money to homeless people? 

Lots of Christians have different perspectives on this topic. In my own conversations, I’ve noticed the majority answer is: no, primarily for three reasons. The first reason is that giving straight cash might enable them to fuel their addiction or other destructive habits. The second reason is that small cash gifts reinforce the short-term solution of panhandling instead of pointing people to more long-term and sustainable solutions like homeless shelters; Christians ought to pass on the former in order to give money to the latter. The third reason is that a one-off gift is often divorced from relationship and doesn’t give room for a complete gospel pitch. 

A few years ago, my church’s adult Sunday school class was working through a course on the communicable attributes of God. These are attributes of God we share in common, not identically but analogically. For example, God is loving and humans are loving. God’s love is different from our love in important ways (his is perfect, eternal, self-generating, etc) but we learn about God’s love through the ways we show love (commitment, unconditional, deep, positive, genuine, etc). So when a father loves their child through good parenting (with all that entails) that is a way that we display God’s love to those around us. We are each like little mirrors, and every time we live out a communicable attribute of God we give a little reflection of who God is and what he’s like. 

One of the attributes we covered was mercy. At the end of our class, we used the example of giving money to homeless people as a case study. Here’s the lesson we covered and the conclusion I suggested. 

Defining God’s mercy 

The renowned nineteenth-century theologian A.A. Hodge offered the following definition for God’s mercy:  

God’s mercy, of which the more passive forms are pity and compassion, is the divine goodness exercised with respect to the miseries of his creatures, feeling for them, and making provision for their relief, and in the case of impenitent sinners, leading to long–suffering patience.⁴ 

Others offer a simpler definition by comparing God’s mercy to his justice and grace. Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we do not deserve. 

How do we know God is merciful? Most basically, because he shows himself to be merciful. As Psalm 145:8-9 says, “the LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” 

Practically every page of the Bible gives us an example of God’s mercy. For the sake of this study, let’s stick to five passages. Take some time to read each and consider the following questions: What does God’s justice demand? How does God show mercy? 

Passage #1: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:6-21 

God makes his perfect and good will clear: “Do not eat the fruit from that one tree; if you do, you die.” The fact that anything comes after Genesis 3:6 is undeniable proof of God’s mercy. The whole Bible—indeed, the whole of humanity—could have and should have ended right then and there. Any delay was an act of mercy. But God doesn’t just delay. Look at the radical extent of God’s mercy. When Adam and Eve run, God pursues. When they hide behind blame shifting, God sets the record straight (an invitation back into honesty is a rich form of mercy). God promises judgement against the serpent who deceived them. Yes, God declares curses for their disobedience—but a curse is not a cruelty or an injustice. Again, anything short of immediate death is mercy. Greatest of all, God promises Adam and Eve a descendent who will execute this justice against the serpent. By promising a descendent, God extends to them the offer to take up again their creation mandate. Last of all, God clothes them with animal skins, literally covering them to meet a physical need but also symbolically covering their shame. 

Passage #2: Exodus 32:1-10, 33:12-34:10

Just a handful of weeks into their newfound freedom, Israel has run full speed back into slavery. They had witnessed Egypt suffer under the plagues while the Lord sheltered them. They had just walked through the Red Sea on dry land only to hear the roar of crashing waves and screaming armies behind them once they had crossed over. They had heard God himself speak his Ten Commandments to them at the base of Sinai, the second of which explicitly forbade the crafting of idols. Yet within forty days of Moses climbing the mountain to receive the rest of God’s law, they had returned to Egypt in their hearts. 

God makes it clear. He would have been fully justified to wipe out Israel and start again with Moses like a new Noah. But Moses intercedes on behalf of his people, and God relents. Not only does he not destroy them, not only does he keep his promise to send them into the promised land, he also promises to go with them as their God. (I’ve preached about the golden calf account here)

Passage #3: Psalm 106

This psalm recounts the whole history of Israel from the exodus to the exile. Their story has two constant refrains: Israel’s sin, and God’s mercy. As often as Israel sins and faces the consequences of their actions, God relents from their utter destruction. It is on this constant mercy that the faithful in exile put their hope. 

Passage #4: Matthew 18:21-35, Luke 7:36-50

These two accounts include parables where Jesus illustrates the extravagant mercy of God to sinners. To put the debt of the unforgiving servant in perspective: the annual gold revenue of Israel under the reign of Solomon, the wealthiest king in Biblical history, was 666 talents. Estimates on the annual tax revenue of the Roman empire range between 1,000-2,000 talents. His debt was unimaginable. In comparison, 100 denarii was equal to about four months’ worth of a single laborer’s wages. Jesus equates the debt of sin against God with the ten thousand talents, and the debt we owe our neighbors in sin to 100 denarii. The key insight we are given upon which these parables stand: the master forgave the debt (Mt 18:27, Lk 7:42). 

Passage #5: Ephesians 2:1-10

The phrase “children of wrath” is not only descriptive of their character; it is also descriptive of their end. Children who inflict wrath will receive wrath. The apostle Paul says that all mankind were by nature children of wrath, following Satan’s destructive will. Does God respond with wrath? Paul says “Not with us.” See again the gratuitous progression of mercy in verses 4-7. He made us alive (2:5). What a miraculous thing that we have been resurrected! But God doesn’t stop there. After giving us life, God seated us with Christ in heaven (2:6). Not only are we alive, we’re in heaven! With Jesus! Seated with Him! But wait, there’s more! After being raised with Christ and seated with Him, God promises to show us “incomparable riches… in the coming ages.” Can you even imagine what that will look like? Hence why Paul elsewhere in Ephesians speaks of the “immeasurable riches of his grace” (3:8, NIV) and the “love of God which surpasses understanding” (3:19). 

So let’s make some general observations from our passages and from what you know about the rest of Scripture. What does it look like for God to show mercy? What do we see God do in these passages? Clothe the naked. Withhold judgement, over and over and over and over and over again. Rescue from oppressors. Forgive debts. In Jesus’ ministry especially: heal the sick, free the demon-possessed, and feed the hungry. Grant spiritual resurrection by uniting us to Christ, ensuring total restoration one day in eternal bliss before the face of God. 

Why does God show mercy to these people? Or maybe more pointedly, what are not the reasons God shows mercy? Not because the people deserve it or because the people ask for it. Simply because of who he is “the LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ex 34:6, Ps 145:8). These are important things for us to remember as we consider what it looks like for us to show mercy. 

Reflecting God’s mercy 

So what does it look like for us to show mercy to those around us? The best picture we get of this is looking at Jesus’ earthly ministry. 

Two key components to Jesus’ ministry: preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, and caring for the needy. Jesus sends his disciples out to do these same things as an extension of his own ministry—their works are in fact his continued work (Mt 10:5-8, Ac 1:1-2). Thus, you and I as followers of Jesus are commanded to show mercy. 

Why are we commanded to show mercy? Here is a key insight: We show mercy not because of who they are. Humans are not entitled to receive mercy—because of sin we all deserve death. We show mercy because of who we are. Humans are required to show mercy because their existence as image-bearers of God demands it; not showing mercy is contrary to who we are. How much more true is this for believers, who are made after not only the image of the first Adam, but the second! We who have received the single greatest act of mercy in Christ’s blood, not even counting all the benefits which flow with it! 

I think this is important to make explicit because we must realize, the one necessary prerequisite to showing someone mercy is that they be undeserving. 

Think about it like this: who are the people I find it easiest to be merciful to? The people who are really grateful, good people. They’re really nice. They’re funny and smart. And if they need forgiveness, it’s because they made an honest mistake and didn’t mean to hurt anyone. And if they need some tangible needs met, it’s because they hit a stroke of bad luck. These are the people whose GoFundMe’s fill up fast and exceed the goal—that’s the kind of person we like to show mercy to. 

You know who I find it really hard to show mercy to? Absolute jerks. People who are consistently rude or disappointing. My spouse when they’ve forgotten to do that one thing again even though we talk about it all the time! Or to be honest, the hardest person to be merciful to is someone who is totally merciless themselves. 

Do you see how that mindset is rooting mercy in the other person? That’s actually making mercy something contingent on behavior. It’s making mercy merit-based—or in other words, it is making mercy not mercy. Jesus doesn’t make his mercy contingent upon the character of the other person; Jesus shows mercy as an extension of his own character.  Jesus shows mercy because mercy simply bursts out of his own heart, he delights in showing mercy—it’s who he is. And since as Christians Christ is our life, it’s who we are, too. 

So…yes or no? 

With all this being said, let’s come back to the starting question. Should you, as a Christian, give money to homeless people? 

I’ll start by acknowledging the need for wisdom in any given specific situation. In her chapter on mercy in her book In His Image, Jen Wilkin helpfully articulates “wise mercy.”⁵  We want to be merciful in a way that honors others and protects ourselves from abuse. So is it merciful to stay in an abusive relationship? No. It’s not merciful to yourself or to the abuser. Is it merciful to never discipline your children? No. Consequences are necessary to raise children. There’s lots of room for discussion on how we can properly show mercy to those around us, but the question is never “Should I show mercy or not?” 

One could certainly make an argument that it is not wise to hand cash out to people on the street. But to be honest up front: I will not make that argument. In my experience, and based on the study above, giving money to homeless people is an appropriate and immediate way to extend God’s mercy. 

I’ll quickly respond to the three objections listed above. First, might giving straight cash enable the person to fuel their addiction or other destructive habits? Yes, it might. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the money I’ve given away immediately went to the local liquor store or drug dealer. But I have two reasons for not letting that stop me from giving money. 

The first reason is grounded in personal experience: most people who are desperate enough to ask for money are going to spend it on fundamental needs before they spend it on their destructive habits. If someone hasn’t eaten a meal in three days, they’re going to buy food before they buy booze or drugs. A person might have a deal with a local motel where if they can pay $40, they can stay in a room closed to the public while undergoing repairs. My $10 might be the difference between spending a night outside in 15-degree weather or spending it safe in a bed. One homeless friend I made asked for money to buy ibuprofen. He had been hit by a car, flipped head over heels, and landed flat on his back in the middle of an icy road a few nights before. 

The second reason is grounded in principle. Acts of mercy are grounded in who I am as a Christian and not in who they are as someone who might misuse my charity. And mercy by definition is giving someone what they do not deserve. Jesus didn’t withhold tangible mercy because of the possibility of its misuse. Jesus never said say “You know what, if I give this blind man eyes he might use them to lust after women; if I give this paralytic functioning legs he might use them to run headlong into sin.” He met their needs and then called them to follow him. Even if they were to abuse it, that reinforces the very point of mercy—provision for the relief of the undeserving. 

The next common objection: wouldn’t small cash gifts reinforce the short-term solution of panhandling instead of pointing people to more long-term and sustainable solutions like homeless shelters? In my experience, no. Many homeless people aren’t content in their homelessness. They didn’t grow up dreaming about one day having no bed or car or job. And as much as possible, they don’t intend to stay on the streets. Panhandling isn’t their permanent solution. It’s a necessary immediate solution to an urgent need. Rarely have I met a person asking for money who isn’t aware of the church right across the street, or the food bank two miles up the road, or the other services I was not aware of but they are intimately familiar with. They use those institutions when they can. But even with that help, sometimes they just need some money. 

Handing out cash is perhaps the most immediate way to tangibly meet an urgent need. That’s not to say you shouldn’t give to local homeless shelters or food banks or other supporting institutions, but when it comes to immediate impact, $10 in cash right in someone’s hand can be more powerful than $1000 to an organization. And sometimes local institutions aren’t accessible for everyone. On a lunch break a few months ago, I met a man and his wife outside of our nearby Chipotle. We chatted for a bit and I asked if they had heard of the Lamb Center, a local homeless shelter and one of my church’s missions partners. He told me they had been kicked out of the Lamb Center because he had gotten into a fight with another guest. That’s not the right thing for him to do, and it might even be his own fault for instigating that fight—but he and his wife still need to eat. I can’t remember if I bought them Chipotle or gave them cash to get something else, but I prayed for them and wished them the best. 

The last common objection: what people ultimately need is the gospel, and a ten-second interaction of passing someone a bill out your window at an intersection doesn’t offer that. Isn’t it better to have charity paired with relationship and a deeper gospel ministry? 

To respond to the first part: yes and amen, they do need the gospel! But to use that as an excuse to not even engage with a homeless person is a terrible way of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. First, it’s worth considering the possibility that the person on the other side of your car window is a Christian! They might already have the gospel, and believe in Jesus, and trust in him for their daily bread in a way I (Lord willing) will never understand. It’s possible that my ten-second interaction of handing a $10 bill might be the literal, tangible answer to their prayer. 

To respond to the second part: I disagree. I am someone who is fully bought into a relationship-based, longterm approach to evangelism. I believe that is the best approach to sharing the gospel—but it is by no means the only approach! We see plenty examples of evangelism in the New Testament which are one-time interactions, whether it be a single visit to a new town, an apostle street preaching, or Philip chasing after the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot. 

It’s completely possible to establish a basic relationship and share the gist of the gospel in 15 seconds. Here’s an example of a conversation I’ve had many times: “What’s your name? John, my name is Patrick. I’m a Christian, and I’ll pray for you tonight. I’m giving you this money because Jesus told me to. He loves you and wants you to follow him. God bless you, brother!” If you’re willing to sit a bit longer and risk someone behind you honking, you can even ask them how their day is going and if there’s anything specific you can pray for. Even more than that, though, it is possible to establish longterm friendships with homeless neighbors. 

A personal story

The friend I mentioned earlier who had been hit by the car—let’s call him James—was a person I maintained a friendship with for over three years when I lived in Newport News. The first time I met James I was heading to Chipotle after running some errands. I pulled up to a red light where he was standing with a cardboard sign. I pulled out my wallet, rolled down my window, had a very brief conversation with him, handed him some cash, and drove off. 

As soon as I pulled away, I felt a prick in my conscience. There was no audible voice, but the message was clear. I knew the Holy Spirit was telling me, “That’s not what I wanted you to do for him.” I turned around and parked in an adjacent parking lot, then walked over to James and told him bluntly, “You can keep the cash, but the Holy Spirit wants me to invite you to lunch.” It was as if the weight of the world fell off his shoulders. With a wince and groan, he lifted his massive rucksack and hobbled over to my car. We tossed it in the backseat and drove to Chipotle. 

It was the first real meal he had eaten in four days. James told me a bit of his story. He was in his early forties. He had two daughters and had been married until a few years ago. He had worked for Verizon but got laid off. He didn’t have much in savings and after a few months of unsuccessful job searching was struggling to pay rent. In a desperate move to float himself another month or two, he sold his car. But he still couldn’t find steady work, and the bills kept coming. Three strokes of misfortune—a nasty divorce, getting laid off, and selling his car—was all it took to put James on the street. After a few weeks, none of his friends responded to his texts or phone calls. He had never done drugs. He didn’t smoke cigarettes. He never drank alcohol. He was fully willing to work and hated the humiliation of asking strangers for money. He refused to steal even out of desperation. 

James had set up a campsite in the woods near a shopping center and a hotel. One night, after a rare snowstorm in Newport News had covered the roads with ice, James was walking back to his camp. He was on the street because snowplows had buried the sidewalks. Suddenly he found himself on his back in immense pain. A car had struck him at high enough speeds to launch his 6’4” body into the air. The car drove off without stopping. After crawling over to the side of the road, he laid in the snow trying to get his bearings and see if he was seriously injured. Eventually he gathered enough strength and will to stand up and walk four miles to the nearest hospital. James said they couldn’t do much for him, but since he had walked that far, they weren’t too concerned and recommended he take Ibuprofen to help with the pain. 

It had been maybe two weeks since that had happened when we met. After we finished lunch, I drove him to a CVS and bought him some meds, then dropped him off at his street corner. I gave him my cellphone number and told him to contact me if he was ever in a pinch. (He owned a smartphone. Lest you judge a homeless person for owning a phone worth several hundred dollars: he had bought it before the hard times, and it was literally his only lifeline left to connect him to the world. Without a phone, he wouldn’t have been able to apply for jobs or contact his social worker case manager. Paying for minutes on his phone was more urgent than securing stable housing or transportation.) 

James is a Christian. We often talked about faith, dependence on the Lord, and his great mercy. I would share about my own struggles with depression (which were intense at the time). He would share about his anger toward God and his constant fear while on the streets. When my dad was first diagnosed with cancer, James would regularly text me to ask how he was doing and remind me that he was praying. The Bible study I led prayed for him every week. 

I have loads of stories I could share about my friendship with James. I still pray for him when I think of him. I was so richly blessed by getting to know him and to see the world through his eyes. None of that would have happened if I had decided to not roll my window down at the stoplight. I know not everyone will agree with my stance on giving cash to homeless people. Perhaps you prefer giving out granola bars and water bottles (I find this hard to do when I see someone at a stoplight, but it’s a fine option if you have the time to go to your trunk and hand-deliver it to someone). But I hope and pray that as Christians, whether we give money or not, we commit to giving the dignity of recognition. Even  a simple “Hello!” with eye contact can breathe God’s love. Asking for someone’s name, telling them you’ll pray for them and that God knows and sees them—that’s free for us, and can be priceless to them. 

What do you think? Have you had any experiences of giving money to homeless people? Were those interactions positive or negative? How else can believers show God’s mercy to our neediest neighbors? Feel free to leave a comment with your own thoughts! 

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¹ Executive Order “DECLARING A CRIME EMERGENCY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,” August 11, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/declaring-a-crime-emergency-in-the-district-of-columbia/

² Donald Trump, Truth Social, August 10, 2025, 8:03am. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/truth-social-posts-august-10-2025 

³ Sarah Kim, “Despite Trump’s clearing of encampments, homelessness still exist in D.C.” NPR, October 27, 2025.  https://www.npr.org/2025/10/27/nx-s1-5578006/despite-trumps-clearing-of-encampments-homelessness-still-exist-in-d-c

⁴ Archibald Alexander Hodge, Outlines of Theology: Rewritten and Enlarged (New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1878), 158–161.

⁵ Jen Wilkin, In his Image: 10 Ways God Calls us to Reflect His Character (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 80-81.