A Pennsylvania church has been able to return to a housing project where they had seen God move in great ways after intervention from a civil rights group helped them regain access.

Living Waters Church in Meadville, PA had been reaching out to families at Gill Village housing project after the children’s ministry director saw kids eating pancake mix out of the box.  Rachael Groll then began visiting several times a week with free food and clothing provided by the church.  Eventually, the church offered transportation to community events and Sunday morning services.

Then last September the church received a call from the government housing agency telling them that they were no longer welcome to set foot on the property because they were a religious entity.

“I’ve never been up against anything like this, and when I got the call, honestly, I just wept,” Groll told Christian News. “I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. I’ve built relationships with these kids and their families.”

The church was eventually allowed to return because officials admitted the church had made a difference…but the church was not allowed to mention anything having to do with their faith.

“The gospel is the source of the hope and life-change they saw in the community,” Groll said. “Basically they told us, ‘You can pour into the community as long as you want; just don’t tell them why you’re doing it.’”

The church then contacted the Alliance Defending Freedom who informed the housing authority the church had the right under the First Amendment to tell the residents why they were helping them.

“Religious speech receives full and robust protection under the First Amendment and cannot lawfully be excluded from government property simply because of its religious nature and viewpoint,” the ADF told the housing authority. “Government censorship of religious speech is the most invidious form of speech discrimination known to First Amendment jurisprudence, and is presumptively unconstitutional.”

The housing authority has now removed all restrictions from the church.