The plain cinder block hall of New Hope United Methodist Church was brightened by a Christmas tree that had been trimmed in the colors of royalty, purple and gold, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

At tables around it sat those who the church serves year-round in Jesus' name: homeless and unemployed residents of Pittsburgh's North Side. Three times weekly they come for a meal and caring attention from volunteers who hail from more than two dozen congregations. Seven from Ingomar United Methodist Church in Franklin Park this week dished out ham casserole, green beans, applesauce and cookies, greeting the diners as good friends.

Barbara Owens, 71, has volunteered for the feeding ministry since it began nearly 25 years ago.

"I've always had a love of cooking. What better place to do it than here?" she said. She wouldn't have dreamed of skipping it during Christmas week.

"It's a busy time for all of us. But, unless we're traveling, we wouldn't be anywhere but here."

The small church on North Avenue is linked as a pastoral assignment with nearby Calvary United Methodist Church. Together they form North Side Ministries and have a combined membership of fewer than 200 people.

But they draw on a wide network of United Methodist support to minister to those in need. The Church Union, a century-old regional United Methodist social service ministry, provides supplies for the meals, subsidizes some of the food and coordinates more than 100 volunteers.

At Ingomar United Methodist there's a waiting list to volunteer. Bill Ziener, 70, had been a regular volunteer 20 years ago, then stopped to help care for his grandchildren. When he was ready to come back, he couldn't get back on the rotation. This week he was delighted to substitute for a volunteer who was out of town.

"Most of us in the northern suburbs are very fortunate, blessed people. We have a lot, not just monetarily but in other ways. We want to give back," he said.

"Christmas might be a more interesting time for giving, but it's not just for Christmas. It's something that all of us here do all year in church, in our community and elsewhere."

But sometimes, the volunteers said, other suburbanites chide them for "enabling" the poor to remain poor.

"That could the truth in some instances, but you can't filter out who really needs the help and who might find a way to get by without it," said Bud Owens, 73, Barbara's husband and a parishioner at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Franklin Park.

He leaves such assessments up to professional social workers and to God.

"You have to help the people who will never be able to help themselves," he said.

"There are some words in the Bible about that," Mr. Ziener added.

"It's a spiritual issue," Mr. Owens said.

A volunteer passed a plate to Nolan Ray Brooks, 63, who is celebrating his best Christmas in memory. The Mississippi native was hooked on booze and drugs from an early age and spent 11 years in prison for assault. When he got out in 2006, he was homeless. He slept under bridges and in abandoned buildings, he said, until a medical team from Operation Safety Net reached out to him earlier this year.

They found him an apartment and enrolled him in a drug and alcohol treatment program at Mercy Behavioral Health. He's been clean and sober for months, he said. In September North Side Ministries sponsored an eye clinic, and he received glasses that literally gave him a new perspective on the world.

When he eats at the church, "It's like family," he said.

"It makes you feel that people care about you and are trying to help you. I have been blessed this year. I feel so good about having my own place where I can eat and shower and even watch TV if I want. I wouldn't give it up for nothing. I'm sober and I want to stay that way. I made it through with the help of these churches."

The Rev. Larry Homitsky, co-pastor of North Side Ministries, said he's seen many people turn their lives around. But that's not why the church does what it does, he said. When Jesus told his followers that whatever they did for the poor, they were doing for him, he didn't demand measurable results, he said.

The results of the eyeglass clinic, held in cooperation with an optical trade charity called Vision and Mission, were literally visible. The congregation has filled backpacks with school supplies and collected winter clothing for students at Manchester Elementary School. On Wednesday, North Side Ministries finished delivering Christmas presents to more than 200 North Side families. They do all of that as a matter of faith, not social engineering.

From its beginnings in 18th century England, the Methodist movement has insisted that faith and good works are inseparable, the Rev. Homitsky said.

At North Side Ministries "We see lives change, sometimes temporarily and sometimes lasting. So the results are very rewarding," he said.

"But the real reason that we do this is grace. We want to reach out and touch people with the same grace and gift of faith with which God reached out to us on that first Christmas."

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