Photo by PhotoMix Company for Pexels
My House Ministry is a faith-based organization located in Holland, Michigan. They seek to provide women shelter when they escape from domestic violence and also help them get back on their feet.
According to Kimberly VanKlompenberg, who is the current Executive Director of My House, the need for more shelters is imperative in the Holland community. This need continues to grow as time moves forward.
“They have nowhere to go,” VanKlompenberg explained. “Our domestic violence shelter in town is full, and they've had to change their parameters. It used to be open-ended; then it became about two months, and now it’s 30 days.”
Vanklompenberg also said that the ministry has received many referrals from the domestic violence shelters in their area
My House Ministry: Then vs. Now
My House Ministry was founded in 2013 by a woman named Nancy Houser Jones, according to VanKlompenberg.
At the time, Jones had a daughter who also had children of her own. They were in need of emergency housing, but there was no place for them to go.
Since the organization’s founding, they have evolved from helping women in domestic violence situations to helping any woman in what they call a “cycle of chaos.”
“The purpose of My House Ministry started out to support women leaving domestic violence situations or needing a safe place to go,” Vanklompenberg said. “And now, it has grown into serving any woman with any chaos in her life, who is ready to make a change.”
Photo by Pixabay for Pexels
Services
My House Ministry has three safe and sober houses, one of which is specifically catered to mothers. All clients in the house are either single mothers or any woman recovering from addiction. Additionally, My House Ministry is able to serve three moms and nine children at a time.
Not only is the program meant to house women, but it also focuses on four areas of life: spiritual, physical, financial and social/emotional.
In order to help these women achieve stability in these life pillars, they have a recovery coach, a dietitian and an LPN.
Additionally, according to VanKlompenberg, the program also comes with a life coach, who works with the residents.
“Our residents set goals and also work to get them connected with other agencies in the community that can help with that [their goals],” VanKlompenberg said.
Photo by Tara Winstead for Pexels
Spiritual Impact
VanKlompenberg said that they have noticed spiritual abuse from churches has kept women in abusive relationships and situations. For example, VanKlompenberg brought up the story of an anonymous woman who sought help from the ministry.
“She was with us for two months, and she had three little boys.” VanKlompenberg revealed, “The church she had grown up in told her that [if] she were to leave her husband, they were going to disown her.”
Although My House Ministries does not force Christianity on the women they serve, they are open to having conversations about spirituality with them.
“I like to say we do not stuff Jesus down their throat, but all of our staff has our own individual stories and our own history that God has redeemed,” VanKlompenberg explained. “Collectively, as a staff, we can relate to probably 95% of the women who come into the program and what their past history is. It's something we've seen that helps in a lot of ways, like building trust quicker and having conversations about God.”
According to VanKlompenberg, a lot of women in their program have either believed in God at one point or have never heard of him before. Some of these questions include, “Why would a loving God allow x, y and z to happen to me?” as well as wondering why God would not come through after they prayed for something. These types of questions have led women to not want anything to do with God altogether, according to VanKlompenberg.
Their doubts, however, do not deter My House Ministry from talking about God.
“Because of our own stories and our own healing and surrender to the process of healing and the work that has to be done and all of that, we can walk with these women as they wrestle with their thoughts and opinions about God and who He is and where He is in their story,” ValKlompenberg said.
For more information, please visit their website.
Zoë Ware is a junior at Biola University. She is currently majoring in English with a minor in Entrepreneurship. In the future, she hopes to become a good writer and glorify God with the stories she tells.
