Every single one of the volunteers in our BroMo family has been substantially transformed by the fabulous Love of Jesus. They posture their hearts to live daily in relational connetion to his warm presence.

We attempt to live for Him and through Him in all of our BroMo adventures. We are, at core, a Jesus-loving organization in our vision, goals and our strategies for supporting the homeless in their crisis.

One of the primary supports we offer to our homeless friends is to help facilitate connection to a warm and life-giving, restorative relationship with Jesus. We also seek to be highly collaborative with the secular organizations in our county, acknolwedging that many secular organizations share a concentric circle with Brothers & Mothers' supportive vision. We do all we can in our love for Jesus to connect the homeless to the support they need, which many times involves refering our homeless friends to much needed services in the the community. We regularly refer to, and seek collaboration with, these organizations: TMHA, CAPSLO, CHC, Department of Rehab., DSS, SLO County D&A and MH services, among others.

Since the example of Jesus pushes us to find a radical variety of ways to LOVE the disadvantaged, we leave no stone unturned in proclaiming the good news of the gospel AND seeking to meet the many social, emotional and physical needs of this community.

There is a fabulously rich magic that emerges when two members of different socio-economic tribes try to hang out. Our BroMo tribe lives to walk in this biblically mandated magic. The Jesus that we follow was comfortable belly laughing, passing out gospel tidbits, sharing life and shooting the breeze with all tribes... but especially the poverty tribe of sluts, meth addicts, system players, the post-work disabled and depressed, the brawlers, welfare queens, and broken-hearted post-divorce alcoholics. He was comfortable among the high and the low.

As we seek to be present with each other, we also seek, like our Jesus, to enjoy each other's good company. We are not pushing an over-simplification in our desire to connect with our homeless friends. We definitely recognize the experiential and socio-economic gaps between those who are experiencing homelessness and many of us who volunteer with BroMo. In fact, we are fuly aware of the heavy weight of trauma that is statistically massive among those in the homeless community.

BUT, regardless, in all that we do we seek to make ample time to enjoy long conversations, good high quality questions and listening, and to give room to all that relationally based, warm hospitality aims for: friendship, laughter, conflict, tears, honesty, frustration, and the general holding of space for eachother's human experience. This sharing of space with each other is where Jesus works his magic on all of us.

In all of us stumbling humans there exists deep within un-accessible landscapes with concrete road blocks, un-switchable switches, electrical shorts and bitter hurtful stuck places. We at BroMo firmly believe that through prayer Jesus has the power to access the in-accessible, to switch around the un-switchable, to break up those concrete road blocks, and to rectify those shorts and stuck places! Areas where we hold unforgiveness, overwhelming violent anger, uncontrollable urges towards drug abuse, raging lust, unceasing grief and coldness of heart can many times only be touched by the masterful, gentle hands of Jesus. He is not a genie that we can summon to do our will. But we know that when we pray according to his will, He is ready and willing to work his deep magical healing in us and those we love. All throughout his words in Scripture we see that He is thrilled beyond words to support the oppressed and to bring his slow, symphonic healing to those areas in which we thought we had no hope of freedom. Through prayer, Jesus has the velvet jack hammer to break up any of our internal or external messes.

St. Laurence was a deacon of the Roman church in the 3rd century at a time of intense persecution. Ordered by the Roman prefect (govenor) to surrender the treasures of the church he was in charge of, Laurence stalled the prefect for three days while he proceeded to gather a great number of the neighborhood blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned, and widowed persons and gave them all the church's wealth. Then he assembled the poor and took them to the prefect, saying, "Here is the church's treasure". As a result, Laurence was burned to death, hence the early church's celebration of him as a martyr.

In line with our Brother Laurence's heart of love and dedication to the poor, we of BroMo value the poor and the homeless, in all their great variety and complexity, because Jesus places extreme value on them and considers them as his special treasure. Yes it is absolutely true that all humans are valuable to him, BUT even a cursory read of Judeo-Chrisitan scripture reveals that he has a special warm affection for the poor and the oppressed.

To truly "know", in the sense of epistemology, what our Brothers & Mothers family believes, is to not just hear the words of our belief statements, but is to see our faith in action.

The reality is that if one really desires to understand at a core level what BroMo is all about, then one first needs to read our statement of faith, then one needs to join us among those in crisis at Jesus Coffee for an evening, or join Andrew or Ryan for an afternoon of bike outreach among the lovely mentally ill and addicted floating around downtown SLO.

You see, True faith will always express itself in action, just like true orthodoxy results in it's connected othopraxis, and sincere theology always explodes in mission. We in America love to treat religious faith statements as some sort of philosophical game of soccer. Religion is not statements of faith alone, it is statements plus action. Just like in the book of 1st John 4:20 "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar...".

There exists an epistemological interaction between knowledge and experience that is akin to two differnt rivers flowing into one, a convergence. The following statements, with all their necessary grammatical and syntactical positioning, exist as the foundation of our work among the homeless.

All this to say, that I'd like to invite the reader to answer the question of "what does this homeless ministry believe" by not only reading the following word of God based theological statements, but by seeing how we love our homeless friends on the street.

Statement of Faith

1. We believe in the historic, orthodox christian faith as expressed in the apostles’ and nicene creeds, and the evangelical statement of faith. As an elaboration on the basic statements of theology below, I’ve also included the15 beliefs outlined in The Lausanne Covenant. The following statements represent the most necessary highlights from the above mentioned creeds.

2. We believe the bible to be the inspired, inerrant, authoritative revelation of of God. (2nd timothy 3:15-17, 2nd peter 1:21)

3. We believe there is one god, eternally existing in three persons: the father, son and holy spirit. (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30)

4. We believe in the deity of christ (John 10:33); his virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:34-35); his sinless life (Hebrews 4:15, 7:26); his miracles (John 2:11); his vicarious and atoning death (1st Corinthians 15:3, Ephesians 1:7, hebrews 2:9); his resurrection (John 11:25, 1st Corinthians 15:4); his ascension to the right hand of the father (Mark 16:19); his personal return to earth in power and glory. (Acts 1:11, Revelation 19:11-13, Revelation 19:14-16)

5. We believe in the absolute necessity of regeneration by the holy spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of the human nature, and that only by god’s grace through faith alone are we saved. (John 3:16-19; john 5:24, romans 3:23; romans 5:8-9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5)

6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; those who are saved unto the resurrection of life, and those who are not unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28-29)? We believe in the spiritual unity of the believers in our lord Jesus christ. (Romans 8:9, 1st Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:26-28)

7. We believe in the present ministry of the holy spirit by whose indwelling the christian is enabled to live a godly life. And We believe that the gifts and power of the holy spirit are still available to the believer today. (Romans 8:13-14, 1st corinthians 3:16; 1st corinthians 6:19-20; 1st corinthians 12:1-11, Ephesians 4:30; Ephesians 5:18)

The Lausanne Covenant, the result of the International Congress on World Evangelization at Lausanne, Switzerland.

1. The Purpose of God

We affirm our belief in the one-eternal God, Creator and Lord of the world, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who governs all things according to the purpose of his will. He has been calling out from the world a people for himself, and sending his people back into the world to be his servants and his witnesses, for the extension of his kingdom, the building up of Christ’s body, and the glory of his name. We confess with shame that we have often denied our calling and failed in our mission, by becoming conformed to the world or by withdrawing from it. Yet we rejoice that even when borne by earthen vessels the gospel is still a precious treasure. To the task of making that treasure known in the power of the Holy Spirit we desire to dedicate ourselves anew.

(Isa. 40:28; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 1:11; Acts 15:14; John 17:6, 18; Eph 4:12; 1 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 12:2; II Cor. 4:7)

2. The Authority and Power of the Bible

We affirm the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of both Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety as the only written word of God, without error in all that it affirms, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. We also affirm the power of God’s word to accomplish his purpose of salvation. The message of the Bible is addressed to all men and women. For God’s revelation in Christ and in Scripture is unchangeable. Through it the Holy Spirit still speaks today. He illumines the minds of God’s people in every culture to perceive its truth freshly through their own eyes and thus discloses to the whole Church ever more of the many-colored wisdom of God.

(II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21; John 10:35; Isa. 55:11; 1 Cor. 1:21; Rom. 1:16, Matt. 5:17,18; Jude 3; Eph. 1:17,18; 3:10,18)

3. The Uniqueness and Universality of Christ

We affirm that there is only one Saviour and only one gospel, although there is a wide diversity of evangelistic approaches. We recognize that everyone has some knowledge of God through his general revelation in nature. But we deny that this can save, for people suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. We also reject as derogatory to Christ and the gospel every kind of syncretism and dialogue which implies that Christ speaks equally through all religions and ideologies. Jesus Christ, being himself the only God-man, who gave himself as the only ransom for sinners, is the only mediator between God and people. There is no other name by which we must be saved. All men and women are perishing because of sin, but God loves everyone, not wishing that any should perish but that all should repent. Yet those who reject Christ repudiate the joy of salvation and condemn themselves to eternal separation from God. To proclaim Jesus as “the Saviour of the world” is not to affirm that all people are either automatically or ultimately saved, still less to affirm that all religions offer salvation in Christ. Rather it is to proclaim God’s love for a world of sinners and to invite everyone to respond to him as Saviour and Lord in the wholehearted personal commitment of repentance and faith. Jesus Christ has been exalted above every other name; we long for the day when every knee shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him Lord.

(Gal. 1:6-9;Rom. 1:18-32; I Tim. 2:5,6; Acts 4:12; John 3:16-19; II Pet. 3:9; II Thess. 1:7-9;John 4:42; Matt. 11:28; Eph. 1:20,21; Phil. 2:9-11)

4. The Nature of Evangelism

To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gifts of the Spirit to all who repent and believe. Our Christian presence in the world is indispensable to evangelism, and so is that kind of dialogue whose purpose is to listen sensitively in order to understand. But evangelism itself is the proclamation of the historical, biblical Christ as Saviour and Lord, with a view to persuading people to come to him personally and so be reconciled to God. In issuing the gospel invitation we have no liberty to conceal the cost of discipleship. Jesus still calls all who would follow him to deny themselves, take up their cross, and identify themselves with his new community. The results of evangelism include obedience to Christ, incorporation into his Church and responsible service in the world.

(I Cor. 15:3,4; Acts 2: 32-39; John 20:21; I Cor. 1:23; II Cor. 4:5; 5:11,20; Luke 14:25-33; Mark 8:34; Acts 2:40,47; Mark 10:43-45)

5. Christian Social Responsibility

We affirm that God is both the Creator and the Judge of all people. We therefore should share his concern for justice and reconciliation throughout human society and for the liberation of men and women from every kind of oppression. Because men and women are made in the image of God, every person, regardless of race, religion, color, culture, class, sex or age, has an intrinsic dignity because of which he or she should be respected and served, not exploited. Here too we express penitence both for our neglect and for having sometimes regarded evangelism and social concern as mutually exclusive. Although reconciliation with other people is not reconciliation with God, nor is social action evangelism, nor is political liberation salvation, nevertheless we affirm that evangelism and socio-political involvement are both part of our Christian duty. For both are necessary expressions of our doctrines of God and man, our love for our neighbor and our obedience to Jesus Christ. The message of salvation implies also a message of judgment upon every form of alienation, oppression and discrimination, and we should not be afraid to denounce evil and injustice wherever they exist. When people receive Christ they are born again into his kingdom and must seek not only to exhibit but also to spread its righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous world. The salvation we claim should be transforming us in the totality of our personal and social responsibilities. Faith without works is dead.

(Acts 17:26,31; Gen. 18:25; Isa. 1:17; Psa. 45:7; Gen. 1:26,27; Jas. 3:9; Lev. 19:18; Luke 6:27,35; Jas. 2:14-26; Joh. 3:3,5; Matt. 5:20; 6:33; II Cor. 3:18; Jas. 2:20)

6. The Church and Evangelism

We affirm that Christ sends his redeemed people into the world as the Father sent him, and that this calls for a similar deep and costly penetration of the world. We need to break out of our ecclesiastical ghettos and permeate non-Christian society. In the Church’s mission of sacrificial service evangelism is primary. World evangelization requires the whole Church to take the whole gospel to the whole world. The Church is at the very centre of God’s cosmic purpose and is his appointed means of spreading the gospel. But a church which preaches the cross must itself be marked by the cross. It becomes a stumbling block to evangelism when it betrays the gospel or lacks a living faith in God, a genuine love for people, or scrupulous honesty in all things including promotion and finance. The church is the community of God’s people rather than an institution, and must not be identified with any particular culture, social or political system, or human ideology.

(John 17:18; 20:21; Matt. 28:19,20; Acts 1:8; 20:27; Eph. 1:9,10; 3:9-11; Gal. 6:14,17; II Cor. 6:3,4; II Tim. 2:19-21; Phil. 1:27)

7. Cooperation in Evangelism

We affirm that the Church’s visible unity in truth is God’s purpose. Evangelism also summons us to unity, because our oneness strengthens our witness, just as our disunity undermines our gospel of reconciliation. We recognize, however, that organizational unity may take many forms and does not necessarily forward evangelism. Yet we who share the same biblical faith should be closely united in fellowship, work and witness. We confess that our testimony has sometimes been marred by a sinful individualism and needless duplication. We pledge ourselves to seek a deeper unity in truth, worship, holiness and mission. We urge the development of regional and functional cooperation for the furtherance of the Church’s mission, for strategic planning, for mutual encouragement, and for the sharing of resources and experience.

(John 17:21,23; Eph. 4:3,4; John 13:35; Phil. 1:27; John 17:11-23)

8. Churches in Evangelistic Partnerships

We rejoice that a new missionary era has dawned. The dominant role of western missions is fast disappearing. God is raising up from the younger churches a great new resource for world evangelization, and is thus demonstrating that the responsibility to evangelize belongs to the whole body of Christ. All churches should therefore be asking God and themselves what they should be doing both to reach their own area and to send missionaries to other parts of the world. A reevaluation of our missionary responsibility and role should be continuous. Thus a growing partnership of churches will develop and the universal character of Christ’s Church will be more clearly exhibited. We also thank God for agencies which labor in Bible translation, theological education, the mass media, Christian literature, evangelism, missions, church renewal and other specialist fields. They too should engage in constant self-examination to evaluate their effectiveness as part of the Church’s mission.

(Rom. 1:8; Phil. 1:5; 4:15; Acts 13:1-3, I Thess. 1:6-8)

9. The Urgency of the Evangelistic Task

More than 2,700 million people, which is more than two-thirds of all humanity, have yet to be evangelized. We are ashamed that so many have been neglected; it is a standing rebuke to us and to the whole Church. There is now, however, in many parts of the world an unprecedented receptivity to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are convinced that this is the time for churches and para-church agencies to pray earnestly for the salvation of the unreached and to launch new efforts to achieve world evangelization. A reduction of foreign missionaries and money in an evangelized country may sometimes be necessary to facilitate the national church’s growth in self-reliance and to release resources for un-evangelized areas. Missionaries should flow ever more freely from and to all six continents in a spirit of humble service. The goal should be, by all available means and at the earliest possible time, that every person will have the opportunity to hear, understand, and to receive the good news. We cannot hope to attain this goal without sacrifice. All of us are shocked by the poverty of millions and disturbed by the injustices which cause it. Those of us who live in affluent circumstances accept our duty to develop a simple life-style in order to contribute more generously to both relief and evangelism.

(John 9:4; Matt. 9:35-38; Rom. 9:1-3; I Cor. 9:19-23; Mark 16:15; Isa. 58:6,7; Jas. 1:27; 2:1-9; Matt. 25:31-46; Acts 2:44,45; 4:34,35)

10. Evangelism and Culture

The development of strategies for world evangelization calls for imaginative pioneering methods. Under God, the result will be the rise of churches deeply rooted in Christ and closely related to their culture. Culture must always be tested and judged by Scripture. Because men and women are God’s creatures, some of their culture is rich in beauty and goodness. Because they are fallen, all of it is tainted with sin and some of it is demonic. The gospel does not presuppose the superiority of any culture to another, but evaluates all cultures according to its own criteria of truth and righteousness, and insists on moral absolutes in every culture. Missions have all too frequently exported with the gospel an alien culture and churches have sometimes been in bondage to culture rather than to Scripture. Christ’s evangelists must humbly seek to empty themselves of all but their personal authenticity in order to become the servants of others, and churches must seek to transform and enrich culture, all for the glory of God.

(Mark 7:8,9,13; Gen. 4:21,22; I Cor. 9:19-23; Phil. 2:5-7; II Cor. 4:5)

11. Education and Leadership

We confess that we have sometimes pursued church growth at the expense of church depth, and divorced evangelism from Christian nurture. We also acknowledge that some of our missions have been too slow to equip and encourage national leaders to assume their rightful responsibilities. Yet we are committed to indigenous principles, and long that every church will have national leaders who manifest a Christian style of leadership in terms not of domination but of service. We recognize that there is a great need to improve theological education, especially for church leaders. In every nation and culture there should be an effective training program for pastors and laity in doctrine, discipleship, evangelism, nurture and service. Such training programs should not rely on any stereotyped methodology but should be developed by creative local initiatives according to biblical standards.

(Col. I:27,28; Acts 14:23; Tit. 1:5,9; Mark 10:42-45; Eph. 4:11,12)

12. Spiritual Conflict

We believe that we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare with the principalities and powers of evil, who are seeking to overthrow the Church and frustrate its task of world evangelization. We know our need to equip ourselves with God’s armor and to fight this battle with the spiritual weapons of truth and prayer. For we detect the activity of our enemy, not only in false ideologies outside the Church, but also inside it in false gospels which twist Scripture and put people in the place of God. We need both watchfulness and discernment to safeguard the biblical gospel. We acknowledge that we ourselves are not immune to worldliness of thoughts and action, that is, to a surrender to secularism. For example, although careful studies of church growth, both numerical and spiritual, are right and valuable, we have sometimes neglected them. At other times, desirous to ensure a response to the gospel, we have compromised our message, manipulated our hearers through pressure techniques, and become unduly preoccupied with statistics or even dishonest in our use of them. All this is worldly. The Church must be in the world; the world must not be in the Church.

(Eph. 6:12; II Cor. 4:3,4; Eph. 6:11,13-18; II Cor. 10:3-5; I John 2:18-26; 4:1-3; Gal. 1:6-9; II Cor. 2:17; 4:2; John 17:15)

13. Freedom and Persecution

It is the God-appointed duty of every government to secure conditions of peace, justice and liberty in which the Church may obey God, serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and preach the gospel without interference. We therefore pray for the leaders of nations and call upon them to guarantee freedom of thought and conscience, and freedom to practice and propagate religion in accordance with the will of God and as set forth in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We also express our deep concern for all who have been unjustly imprisoned, and especially for those who are suffering for their testimony to the Lord Jesus. We promise to pray and work for their freedom. At the same time we refuse to be intimidated by their fate. God helping us, we too will seek to stand against injustice and to remain faithful to the gospel, whatever the cost. We do not forget the warnings of Jesus that persecution is inevitable.

(I Tim. 1:1-4, Acts 4:19; 5:29; Col. 3:24; Heb. 13:1-3; Luke 4:18; Gal. 5:11; 6:12; Matt. 5:10-12; John 15:18-21)

14. The Power of the Holy Spirit

We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Father sent his Spirit to bear witness to his Son; without his witness ours is futile. Conviction of sin, faith in Christ, new birth and Christian growth are all his work. Further, the Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit; thus evangelism should arise spontaneously from a Spirit-filled church. A church that is not a missionary church is contradicting itself and quenching the Spirit. Worldwide evangelization will become a realistic possibility only when the Spirit renews the Church in truth and wisdom, faith, holiness, love and power. We therefore call upon all Christians to pray for such a visitation of the sovereign Spirit of God that all his fruit may appear in all his people and that all his gifts may enrich the body of Christ. Only then will the whole church become a fit instrument in his hands, that the whole earth may hear his voice.

(I Cor. 2:4; John 15:26;27; 16:8-11; I Cor. 12:3; John 3:6-8; II Cor. 3:18; John 7:37-39; I Thess. 5:19; Acts 1:8; Psa. 85:4-7; 67:1-3; Gal. 5:22,23; I Cor. 12:4-31; Rom. 12:3-8)

15. The Return of Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly, in power and glory, to consummate his salvation and his judgment. This promise of his coming is a further spur to our evangelism, for we remember his words that the gospel must first be preached to all nations. We believe that the interim period between Christ’s ascension and return is to be filled with the mission of the people of God, who have no liberty to stop before the end. We also remember his warning that false Christs and false prophets will arise as precursors of the final Antichrist. We therefore reject as a proud, self-confident dream the notion that people can ever build a utopia on earth. Our Christian confidence is that God will perfect his kingdom, and we look forward with eager anticipation to that day, and to the new heaven and earth in which righteousness will dwell and God will reign forever. Meanwhile, we rededicate ourselves to the service of Christ and of people in joyful submission to his authority over the whole of our lives.

(Mark 14:62; Heb. 9:28; Mark 13:10; Acts 1:8-11; Matt. 28:20; Mark 13:21-23; 1 John 2:18; 4:1-3; Luke 12:32; Rev. 21:1-5; II Pet. 3:13; Matt. 28:18)