News and Updates

January 19, 2024

Haywood Street at the MLK Prayer Breakfast

Haywood Street Congregation and Haywood Street Community Development Board members attended Saturday’s MLK Prayer Breakfast. We are proud to support the work of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.

Haywood Street featured in DunkerPunks Podcast

Lead Storyteller Melanee was recently interviewed on the anabaptist, young adult podcast, DunkerPunks, where she explains what it means to be a church that embraces Holy Chaos in a world too often turning away from those on the margins of our society. Listen here.

Family Style Training and Prep Days

Each Thursday, beginning February 1st, we will have workdays in the dining room from 9-12 to prepare for the transition to family-style meals.

Before this transition on Wednesday, March 6, there will be a training opportunity for all companions. If you can, join us on February 22nd as we will go over the new logistics and flow of the Welcome Table. Our time together will also include a family-style meal for you all to experience! We'll meet at 5:00 p.m. in the dining room.

Join us Sunday, February 4th

As we grieve the end of the Sunday Downtown Welcome Table and worship, we also excitedly anticipate what's to come! We hope you'll join us at the table for the last breakfast on February 4th and stay for the worship service at 11:00.

This will be a special service as we accept a firearm donation as part of our participation in the RawTools community! The weapon being disarmed will then be created into a shovel to be used for the upcoming groundbreaking and blessing of our housing project. Keep checking for more details to come!

Thank You for Your Support

Thank you again to all who supported us generously in 2023. Each gift has helped us continue Haywood Street's ministry of relationship. Your tax statements should arrive by the end of this month!

On-going opportunities to participate at the Welcome Table:

• Have a meal! - Join us on Sunday or Wednesday to enjoy a meal with our community!

• Dining Room Clean Up - As always, clean up is one of the places that we need companion support. We promise to make it fun! On Sundays, we need companions from 10:00-12:00, and on Wednesdays from 12:00-2:00

• Kitchen Clean-Up - On Sundays from 10:00-12:00 and Wednesdays from 12:00-2:00, we would love for a couple of companions to help us clean up the kitchen and help serve the folks who come in during that time for a meal. You can sign up for this role on the sign-up sheet below!

Haywood Street in Photos

Jinnia and Kim on Wednesday at the Welcome Table! It's been a cold week, but Kim has found a way to make it a little less difficult.

Wednesday at the Downtown Welcome Table was a little slower-paced than usual. These are the days when we see folks feel more freedom to slow down and linger at the table.

Last week, Shaun found a quiet place in the church lobby to work on his found-object sculptures. It is so inspiring to see the creativity that abounds in our community!

Weekly Ministry Opportunities:

Worship:

Sundays at 11:00 and Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. in the sanctuary

Tuesday Haywood Street Holy Ground Keepers:

8:30 a.m. in the parking lot. Walk the grounds of the church campus and our local neighborhood, cleaning up along the way.

Tuesday Prayer Group: 12:30 p.m. in Room 6. Gather for a time of communal prayer.

Wednesday Art Ministry: 8:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Join us for a time of fellowship, prayer, and art-making.

Thursday Card Making: 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Gather together to make cards for our community and friends in prison or in the hospital. 

Weekly Sermons

Read each week's sermon and previous sermons on the sermons page of the website.

Community Resources

Click below to see a list of places in the community to donate and find clothes, and when recovery meetings are held.

Fresco Viewing Hours:

Sundays 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Monday-Thursday 10:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m.

By appointment, contact April at [email protected].

SACRED ENCOUNTERS

Celebrating 10 Years

By Director of Respite, Nicole B.

co-workers who lives were forever changed by their stay at respite. Memories shared of a friend who chose respite as the only place he wanted to be at the end of his life. There is no doubt that this small space has impacted lives and holds such a dear place in the hearts of many. And I think that because through all of the changes over the past 10 years one thing holds true and steady-our ever-persistent focus at Haywood Street on relationships.  

When I came into this role, I knew that I was coming into a beloved space that a lot of people loved and felt ownership over…why? Because it had been such a special and important place in their own journey. My hope was to honor all that respite was while also pushing the boundaries of what radical love and relationships with the marginalized of our community could and should look like. I had this tugging at my heart that I just couldn’t ignore, and that was for the IV drug user and those with significant and persistent mental health issues.  

Respite had traditionally been a place where we focused on keeping those inside respite safe and protected from the often-nefarious things that can happen around the Haywood Street Campus. But that protection, while right for so long, no longer fit our changing demographic. As heart breaking as it is, the person who has significant and persistent mental illness and suffers from polysubstance use is now the majority not the minority. I just felt everything within me saying we have to figure out how to serve them in respite—how to offer a place for healing and relationship for those who typically can’t get it anywhere else.   

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A witness to include the most excluded, Haywood Street not only welcomes every child of God–especially sisters and brothers of every mental illness and physical disability, addiction and diagnosis, living condition and employment status, gender identity and sexual orientation, class, color, and creed–but we celebrate your presence, certain that the kingdom of God is coming closer because you are here.