This week’s story is an excerpt from Founder & President Nancy Alcorn’s book “Echoes of Mercy,” about what makes Mercy different and why it’s so important to incorporate Christ’s love into healing.
Many times I have been asked, “Why do you want to build special homes for these young women? Why not simply let them live with Christian families where they will be exposed to the gospel in a real home?” The problem with this idea is that, in this day and age, parents have enough difficulty bringing up their own children in the ways of the Lord. How much more difficult it is to invest the time to give direction to a young woman going through immense spiritual and emotional turmoil. They would be unable to provide a young woman the around-the-clock, intense, personal discipleship she needs. They would also place their own children at risk by subjecting them to the influence of these young women, which is often anything but Christlike. Unless God has divinely called a family to take such risks for the sake of a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy or other life-controlling issues, it will not prosper as God would intend. Usually the young woman leaves her mark on the family instead of the family leaving Christ’s mark on her.
In addition, these young women often need constant care, and a family cannot give that much time because of all the other commitments they have. Furthermore, the young women need to be in a structured program where they will be taught, counseled, and prayed for according to the Word of God.
Mercy Multiplied serves as a type of intensive care unit for these spiritually wounded young women. We do our best to provide them not with a facility but a home. We try to make every detail of their environment as domestic as possible, down to having a dog for them to love. The place these young women stay should provide all the privileges and responsibilities of belonging to a family. It should not have an institutional atmosphere, but it should encourage personal relationships and harmonious growth.
This is especially important for residents who have never experienced a stable, healthy home environment, one where they are affectionately nurtured in Christian love and taught biblical values. Many of them have spent their lives in rebellion against their family’s values and need a second chance to learn those values that they once rebelled against. These young women, whether raised in Christian or non-Christian homes, need to know that Christlike love is not judgmental but gentle, gracious, and merciful.
You can purchase a copy of Nancy Alcorn’s Echoes of Mercy, by clicking here.