The Connecting Grounds offers Christian worship and social outreach for Springfield-area unsheltered residents. The church got started in 2018 and has moved various activities several times.
"I think one of the things that we’ve tried to do is be flexible and be adaptable," says Christie Love, The Connecting Grounds’ pastor. "And so we were happy to be where we were on Commercial Street, and when that didn’t work out, we were happy to try to thrive on the west side of town.”
On Sept. 8, Love announced The Connecting Grounds will partner with St. John’s Chapel United Church of Christ to share space. Starting in early October, St. John’s Chapel UCC south of Republic Road will serve as home for activities including The Connecting Grounds’ Saturday night worship services and Wednesday night sober support meetings.
The two churches will also work together to provide overflow cold-weather shelter at St. John’s Chapel UCC.
Love says, “The last couple of years, we have run into situations and had to open overflow shelters. We typically call them ‘code blue shelters.’ And those typically open in Springfield when we reach temperatures that are in single digits or below, or we have an ice or single [cold snap] event. Our current capacity for the last few years of cold-weather shelters are not enough, not even enough to scratch the surface."
Love says this winter’s demand for emergency shelter is likely to increase because one church that previously provided a home for shelter is not able to help this year.
She says moving worship and emergency shelter won’t affect The Connecting Grounds’ other operations, like its community outreach center on West Chestnut Expressway.
In Springfield, an economic calamity declaration dating back to the Great Recession in 2009 — renewed eight times since then by City Council — provides for nonprofits and the church community to provide homeless shelter services, rather than the municipal government.
