Roughly three weeks after starting at my new pastorate, I sat in this unique place with a 17-year-old girl as she shared, quite nonchalantly, that she and her mother were the only ones left in her family. Her father had died of an overdose, her brother had died of an overdose, and she (who had previously been incarcerated for “meth and a gun”) was introduced to heroin when her mother decided that she needed to try it and injected it intravenously for her. That story would floor most North Americans, churchgoers as well as non-Christians, but at White’s Family & Residential Services these kinds of stories are the norm. This is my new congregation.
White’s is a 180-year-old organization started by Quakers that currently serves 80–100 children in a group home setting as an alternative to incarceration. Many of these kids are in the foster care system and either they are orphaned or their parents are incarcerated. The chaos and destruction of man’s fallen nature are brought to this place, and I am their pastor.
It is our vision to refocus this Christian social service organization to a Gospel-centered missionary endeavor. We hold three chapel services a week with a combination of testimony services from those who have been transformed by the Gospel, a continuous message that there is enough grace through the cross of Christ to bring new life, and many in-depth one-on-one conversations that reinforce the idea that God is far better than their skewed ideas and experiences have led them to believe.
Pray that God will raise up workers for the harvest. We are looking for missionaries who, being able to work within the context of a social organization, are ready and able to minister the Gospel and to disciple young people during their time at White’s.
To apply as a prospective Family Teacher / Houseparent, visit http://www.whiteskids.org/. If you have any questions about this ministry and its needs, please contact Shanea Kirk, our Human Resources Recruiter, directly at shanea.kirk@whitesrfs.org.