Room to Grow
By Sill Davis, Ministry Director
The Ministry Center is the heart of our Ministry of Transformation. It’s where the men begin the difficult work of addressing the issues that drive them to sell their bodies on the streets.
When John Green started Emmaus Ministries 25 years ago, it was a simple street ministry. He and a few hearty volunteers walked the streets late at night, forging relationships with men no one else cared about and offering what limited help they could. These efforts made a tremendous impact, but John saw that it wasn’t enough to get men off the streets and out of prostitution.
That was when God planted the seed of the Ministry Center in his mind: a place where Emmaus could help the men transform their lives in ways that aren’t possible through street outreach alone. In 1992, the Ministry Center was born. Like a seed falling on good soil, it bore tremendous fruit: ten-fold, thirty-fold, and a hundred-fold.
The work of the Ministry Center has four main facets:
- It is a place of refuge. It is a safe place for men to be honest about their prostitution history without fear of being condemned for it.
- It is a place where men can meet their basic physical needs. We serve six family-style meals every week. We offer laundry services and showers, and we distribute clothing several times a week.
- It is a place where men can meet their spiritual and emotional needs. Both in groups and individually, we have regular prayer with the men. We also meet with men seeking pastoral counseling, and we offer more intensive one-on-one mentoring for men who are interested.
- It is a place where men connect to other critical services. We’ve developed an extensive network of partner organizations to meet needs that are beyond our capacity. We refer our men to these partners—addiction treatment clinics, hospitals, housing providers, mental health professionals, job training agencies, etc.—and manage the relationships between them to make sure the men get the care they need.
For the past several years, our current building has limited how much we can grow the services we directly offer. In our new building, we will have the space to expand those services. We will have:
- a rec room for games and activities
- a computer lab for GED and basic computer skills classes
- private counseling rooms so men can count on having a confidential space when they speak with staff
- expanded space for quiet areas so the men can sit and relax, as well as a larger dining space
- an industrial kitchen to improve our meal service
- much nicer showers and laundry facilities, a TV room, and a game area
- space specifically set aside for other service providers to offer our men their services on-site
We are delighted and excited that we now have the space to accommodate the growing vision for our ministry that God has given us. By his grace, and through your support, we will continue walking the road of transformation with our men, awakening hope in their hearts, and welcoming men to the table of fellowship in the love of Jesus Christ.
Note: This article appears in Emmaus’s January newsletter.