Consider the statistics:
- 1 in 3 girls becomes pregnant at least once before age 20.
- 1 in 5 young women struggles with an eating disorder.
- The number of girls seeking help from self-harm practices doubled last year.
Hurting young women in staggering numbers crying out for help. What’s the answer? Mercy.
Mercy Ministries (MM) is a Christian non-profit organization that offers a free-of-charge Christian residential program that helps young women between the ages of 13-28 who face life-controlling issues such as eating disorders, self-harm, drug and alcohol addictions, physical and sexual abuse, depression, and unplaned pregnancy. MM provides these young women the opportunity to experience love, forgiveness, healing, and God’s transforming power. It also offers transitional care, including life-skills training and assistance with housing, transportation, job placement, and school applications.
Having worked 8 years for the state of Tennessee at a correctional facility for juvenile delinquent girls, MM’s founder and president Nancy Alcorn
saw girls released from the facility only to return again – or die. Nancy knew the only agent of true change is Jesus Christ and was determined to provide a sure hope and lasting healing for these young women. So in 1983, she moved to Louisiana and opened the first Mercy house in West Monroe. MM operates on 3 guiding principles: 1) the girls come free-of-charge so that they’ll know they are loved and that MM is not making money off their pain; 2) MM accepts no money with strings attached, including any federal, state, or local government funds; and 3) all contributions made to MM will be tithed (10%) and given to other ministries.
How well does it work? Just a few months ago, an independent firm conducted an extensive survey to find out just how effective MM truly is. What they found was staggering: a 94% success rate! That’s right; 94% of the girls who graduated from MM testified that Mercy Ministries changed their lives and that they have not returned to their old lifestyles or addictions. These graduates can be found attending colleges, building diverse careers, working on the mission field, being godly wives and mothers — all the while sharing the message of freedom found only in Christ Jesus.
Almost 27 years after it began, Mercy Ministries (now headquartered in Nashville, TN) operates homes in Nashville, St. Louis, West Monroe, and Sacramento, as well as in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Peru, and Australia. And Nancy’s not finished building yet!
Yes, Mercy has a face. It’s the face of Jesus Christ shining through the face of Nancy Alcorn, through all Mercy’s girls who’ve found freedom in Christ and who extend it to others, and through all those who have supported this life-transforming ministry known as Mercy Ministries.
How about you? Does the mercy of Christ shine through you?
For more information on Mercy Ministries or to make a contribution, visit www.mercyministries.com.
(Information on MM was taken from the brochure Mercy Ministries: Lives transformed. Hope restored.)