Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness

by Kevin Nye; Terence Lester

Publisher:

Herald Press

, 2022

Overview

On any given night, more than half a million Americans and Canadians find themselves sleeping on the streets, in shelters, cars, and other places not meant for human habitation. Yet as this crisis continues to grow, it remains one of the least talked about—especially in churches. Even where compassion and empathy exist, the complexities around homelessness can make us feel stuck, overwhelmed, or numb to the existence of unhoused people in our cities and neighborhoods.  

Reporting back from his work in homeless services, minister and advocate Kevin Nye introduces readers to the Christ he’s met in tents, shelters, and drop-in centers. He demystifies homelessness by journeying into complex issues like affordable housing, mental illness, addiction, and more, while reimagining our theological approach to these matters and educating us on how they intersect with homelessness.  

This thorough and intimate book shows us that from the margins, Jesus has something to teach us all about grace—something that could change the landscape of homelessness entirely if we’re ready to hear it.  

Praise for Grace Can Lead Us Home

“Drawing on years of experience in homelessness services and relationships built with the unhoused people he has met along the way, Kevin Nye skillfully walks readers through the complex issues that surround homelessness while casting a powerful theological vision that calls us to shelter all God’s people through hope and faithful action. Personal and prophetic, practical and powerful, Grace Can Lead Us Home is desperately needed, breathing love and new life into a grace-filled response to the housing and homelessness crisis.”
 

“By drawing readers back to the biblical vision of justice, Kevin Nye gives readers a new lens for seeing their unhoused neighbors. He breaks open common myths about the causes of homelessness and challenges attitudes in the church that essentially blame people for their trauma. Instead, Nye articulates as well as lives out neighbor-love that is less about ‘us and them’ and more about ‘we,’ who are equally in need of grace. This vision isn’t just about addressing homelessness but also about remembering our humanity.”
 

“I am so glad this book exists because as Christians we worship a homeless Savior yet when we encounter people experiencing homelessness, our response often lands somewhere between indifference and outright rejection. This is not the way of Jesus. In Grace Can Lead Us Home, Kevin Nye challenges us to rethink what it means to be the people of God in and for the world, particularly in how we practically go about loving and serving our neighbors in need. If your heart breaks every time you walk by someone sleeping on the sidewalk but you don’t know how to be Christ to them, this is the book for you.”
 

“My best friend’s father was unhoused for years. She would visit him in a tent off the side of a highway. Kevin Nye will help you see that unhoused people are fathers, and mothers, and family members, and friends. They are human beings worthy of our attention and deserving of dignity. Grace Can Lead Us Home is a book about love, compassion, and the value of humanity.”
 

“In Grace Can Lead Us Home, Kevin Nye partakes in the sacred work of rehumanization. In illustrating some realities of our neighbors experiencing homelessness, he shows us where we might find Jesus. In showing us how we might overcome this reality, he shows us how we might embody Jesus.”
 

“This timely, moving, well-researched book is an exploration of the stunning injustice of mass homelessness in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. What is so astounding is not only that so much human suffering exists, but that we—Christians—have allowed it to endure for so long. These pages contain a call to compassion, community, and justice. They implore us to reexamine our preconceived notions and to transform our hearts, minds, and world.”
 

“In exploring the grace of perhaps the most famous person in history to experience homelessness, Jesus Christ, Kevin Nye reveals the Christ in the millions of people experiencing homelessness in the world today. In doing so, Nye follows the call of God by proposing a bold but necessary plea: to end homelessness.”
 

Product Details

• Title: Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness
• Authors: Kevin Nye, Terence Lester
• Publisher: Herald Press
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2022
• Pages: 208
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781513810539, 9781513810515, 1513810510, 1513810537
• Resource ID: LLS:9781513810539
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T16:49:20Z

About the Authors

Kevin Nye is a writer and advocate working toward ending homelessness by engaging best practices. He has written on the intersections of homelessness and faith for Religion News Service, Sojourners, Red Letter Christians, and more. He has presented at national conferences on the topic of homelessness, including Housing First Partners Conference 2022. 

Kevin's first book released in August of 2022 and is titled, "Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness." Kevin currently lives with his wife and son in Minneapolis, MN, where he works as Housing Director at an organization addressing youth homelessness.