Not Just a Safe Place
ROP’s ministry is growing. We thank God for the opportunity He is giving us to make a Kingdom impact in the lives of more and more people. Growth, of course, also creates some challenges. One of the biggest is mobilizing the additional volunteers needed to serve the increased number of people seeking assistance. One of the ministries most needing additional ministry partners is our Coffee House outreach to at-risk teens. So I asked our Coffee House Director, Deb Henry, to write-up something to help our supporters better understand her ministry and the opportunity to serve at the Coffee House. Below is the story she sent me. I apologize for its length, but there just was not very much that I felt I could cut out. Read it when you have a few minutes and, if nothing else, you will have a much better understanding of our Coffee House ministry. But beware, you just might find that God is calling you to share His love with at-risk teens.
Story: Not Just A Safe Place
Coffee House is not just a safe place. It is a place where teens come who want to be different; who want to stand for what is right… even if they are standing alone. They are looking for others who will stand with them. They are denying the lies of their culture. They are moving beyond their past. They are reaching for something higher, greater, and God is changing their lives.
When I see Alex – a boy who leaves every night at 8 p.m. because he has to go work for his family until closing – when I see him hug everyone before he leaves – I see why this place exists. When I hear these words, “I’m trying, I’m trying to do what is right”, from a girl who is struggling to stand for what is right when no one else around her is, I see why this place exists. When a girl comes to me and bares her heart about how she is trying to change – how she is trying to break away from the anger and violence of how she was raised – I see why this place exists. And, when I am standing in our hallway with a girl wanting to pray that God would open the eyes of her friend – this girl who was once callous, angry, and distant, now joyful, and putting her trust in God – I know why this place exists.
“Do you believe that God can intervene in Clara’s life?”, I asked point blank. With tears in her eyes Sekita shared, “I know my friend is not going to make it. She’s not going to see her 17th birthday. I watch her put that ‘stuff’ in her arms all the time. I was there to help her clean herself up after she was jumped by people she calls her friends. They laughed at her ”. Sekita is hurting over watching someone she loves hurt herself. “Sekita, I know you say you don’t trust anybody, but do you trust God?” With her head bowed down she nodded yes. “Do you trust Him with your life?” Again, yes. “Do you trust God with your friend’s life – that He can step in and open her eyes?” Again, the answer was yes. “Do you want to go pray for your friend?”
As we headed out into the hallway, I had a flashback of a girl I met a couple years ago. This girl was troubled, closed-off, angry, and scary. She never spoke and always had a cold look to her face. This girl was now standing in front of me, grasping my hands ready to pray with me. This girl has changed from skipping school and getting into fights to taking school seriously and working hard. With one year left of high school, she plans to be the second of her entire family to graduate. She wants to open up her own daycare. “I realize now that you need to have an education. I’ve made a lot of bad choices, but now I’m taking things seriously”. When I asked her when things changed she said, “I just got tired of what I was doing. I didn’t want to do it anymore”.
As we finished praying, I told her, “Sekita, you have come so far and I am so proud of you. You are different. You are special. Most girls your age that have been through what you have are out destroying their lives. But God’s protected you from that… for a reason. He has a plan and a purpose for your life, Sekita”. Her eyes lit up as if joy was filling her as we stood there together. I told her she was never alone; that God was always with her and helping her to stand for Him. When moments like these happen, they define what Coffee House is all about. Changed lives.
Volunteering with Coffee House
Coffee House is a place where lives are changed in relationship with those who know and love Christ. It is a place where battles are fought and won and fought and lost. It is a place where teens come with unexplainable pain and find that they are not alone. The teens that come to us have come from pasts of abuse, neglect, and violence. Their stories will break your heart and you will wrestle with the condition of their lives. You will find in them the resilience of the human spirit to never give up. You will find in them broken children crying out to be loved. You will find in yourself a joy beyond what you expected… because being a part of their lives will bring joy. You will find an ache in yourself beyond what you expected… because being a part of their lives will bring pain.
When you meet them, you will see the struggle of the past they desperately fight to leave behind and the future they believe they can never have. You will see in their eyes that they believe they are worthless. You will see fear to trust and fear to be loved.
These are not your average teens. They are labeled “at-risk” for a reason. They are self-destructive, dysfunctional, and closed-off. They have been rejected and abused by the people that were supposed to love them the most… their parents. To these teens God cannot be understood in words. He must be sitting right in front of them… in the form of a person. This is incarnational ministry in every way. This is a culture that values relationships above anything else because they have nothing else. These relationships, however, have been conditional, abusive, destructive and hurtful. So God is seen as conditional, abusive, destructive and hurtful.
The purpose of Coffee House is to restore lost relationship, first and foremost to God and secondly to people. Through one-on-one relationships teens grow in relationship to God and to other people that will encourage and equip them to be successful in this life. These relationships are built within a safe environment where volunteers intentionally engage and invest in the teens’ lives with the purpose of changed lives.
Be prepared to be surprised. While you are preparing to be a blessing, you will be blessed… tremendously. These teens, once trust is built, will offer their hearts. They will bring laughter, joy, and meaning to your lives. They will become like sons, like daughters… like friends. They will invest in you as you invest in them. You will learn, be stretched and challenged and you will ultimately become more like Christ as you grow to love teens that will, at times, hurt, frustrate, and test you.
If you are willing to invest, commit, and allow God to use you to love in sometimes messy conditions, this is the right ministry for you. If God is moving on your hearts to get involved, please prayerfully consider becoming part of our Coffee House family.
If you read this far, thanks. I hope you were blessed by Sekita’s story as shared by Deb Henry. If you think God may be calling you to get involved with Coffee House or if you just have some questions, I encourage you to contact me or Angelina at Angelina@RestorationOutreachPrograms.org to learn more about this opportunity.
Blessings, Kent
