Pastor Charged With Housing Homeless in Church Sparks Fury

A pastor being charged with using his church to provide shelter to his city's homeless population has sparked outrage on social media.

Chris Avell, the pastor of Dad's Place in Bryan, Ohio, has been charged with violating the city's zoning laws for allegedly keeping the church's doors open for the homeless 24/7. City officials said the charges stem from investigations that allegedly uncovered safety risks inside the church, but his attorney told Newsweek that the church made necessary repairs and that the city continues shifting the goalposts amid the dispute.

Avell pleaded not guilty to violating zoning rules at his January 11 arraignment. Dad's Place is next to a homeless shelter, so he opted to open the church's doors to anyone the shelter was unable to help, according to WTVG in Toledo. The Bryan City Zoning Commission in November warned him that the church may not be used a shelter, as it does not have bedrooms, and doing so would violate zoning laws.

The charges sparked outrage on social media, as critics argued he should not be punished for trying to provide shelter for his city's homeless population.

"This is outrageous," MSNBC host Katie Phang posted to X, formerly Twitter.

"An Ohio pastor was charged with violating his city's zoning restrictions after he opened his church to homeless people to help them escape the freezing temperatures... this is unbelievable," ABC News journalist Deborah Roberts said.

"I'm absolutely sure that if Jesus was born on Earth now it would end the exact same way," podcaster Phillip Slavin wrote.

In a statement sent to Newsweek, the Bryan Mayor's Office said the church is in an area of the city in which buildings are not permitted for residential use on the first floor and that Avell never requested permission to use the church as a homeless shelter.

The statement pointed to a number of alleged violations—including improper installation of laundry facilities, inadequate or unsafe exit areas, a lack of permitted and approved kitchen hood over the stove and limited ventilation—found in November.

The fire chief returned on January 16 to determine if the violations had been fixed but allegedly found five violations that remained uncorrected and a gas leak that has since been fixed, according to the statement.

"Most of these violations are serious and potentially endanger the health and safety of those individuals at Dad's Place and residents in the apartments above Dad's Place," the statement said.

Jeremy Dys, an attorney representing Avell, told Newsweek via phone that the mayor's office released the information to put Avell "in a bad light when he is as interested in safety concerns as anybody else is."

The concerns listed in the press release have all been corrected, Dys said.

"It's these shifting goalposts with ticky-tack requirements being added all over the place that doesn't demonstrate in our mind that they're truly interested in safety but trying to create reasons to force people out of that church and to where? I guess into the cold unknown," Dys said.

He said he remains hopeful that he will be able to sit down with city officials to sort out the dispute but does not believe Mayor Carrie Schlade "is particularly interested in sitting down with Pastor Avell."

In a Fox News interview this month, Avell explained why he decided to open his church to homeless people.

"Last year we made the decision to keep our church doors open 24/7," he said. "We had opened during extreme heat and extreme cold before to allow people in. It's kind of this idea that we believe that anyone who is weary and burdened, that they can come in and find rest. And we believe it's true rest, like rest for our souls."

Adell said he believes the church is "commanded" to take care of those in need and "show Christ's love to even those the world rejects."

Correction 1/24/24, 4:36 p.m. ET: This article was updated to correct the spelling of Jeremy Dys.