Action Rewind 2: SafeHouse

Last Thursday, we heard from many voices on how & where we’re taking action for God’s Kingdom.  From group projects to simple individual convictions being lived out, we heard a lot of perspectives!  To recap– this week, we want to track back and remind you about what’s on the table, & how you could potentially be involved.

PART.two.Safehouse

Safehouse Denver serves victims of domestic violence and their children through both an emergency shelter and as a counseling/advocacy center. Several of us have become involved in the children’s program, which works with kids living in the house several times a week so that the mothers can meet & receive counseling.  These women and their children are truly coming out of chaos to re-establish their lives.  Their stories are traumatic, and we’ve found that giving a few hours to their children is a tangible expression of God’s love in our city.   The Denver Post recently featured an article on one women’s journey out of domestic violence you can read here.  Our good friend Shauna Gauthier commented with great care on this issue last fall.  Lastly, you can go to the Safehouse website to find out more.  Feel free to talk to Craig or Megan Post if you want to find out more!

the eve of the day & south of the border

Merry Christmas everyone!  If you’ve been tracking the last few weeks, we’ve had posts centering around advent…  here we are a day away from Christmas.  This will be our final post for 2008.  We’ll be bringing in some new stuff in the new year and a lot of perspective from our own community.  We thought many of you would like this look at Christmas from south of the border (Mexico) featured at relevant- check it out here.   In similar news, we sent $500 of the over $900 we raised at our party down to El Shaddai in Lima, Peru yesterday!!!   Thanks everyone– the remainder of that cash will be covering the volunteer expenses at Safehouse.  A reminder if you check this today, there’s a service @ WBCC at 530PM which should be outstanding… See you all soon, and back here in 2009!   

One more reason…

It seems domestic abuse isn’t just on our hearts.  This article in today’s Rocky Mountain News highlights the great difficulty of agencies like Safehouse meeting the needs of victims in Denver.  The harder news?  Economic hardships always mean higher rates of domestic abuse.  The outlook is tough, as seen here: “Abused Spouses Overwhelm Area Crisis Centers“. All the more reason to participate with us in our efforts with Safehouse! Volunteer training part one is next Sunday 12-6PM.

He Came for This: Domestic Violence and Restoring the Broken

Today marks a new theme in our Seasonal features: HE CAME FOR THIS.  For the rest of ’08, we will be taking different angles on the significance of Jesus’ coming to the world in our Seasonal posts.  This first piece is from our good friend Shauna Gauthier.  She will be offering a personal and powerful perspective on domestic violence and why it might be a concern to followers of Jesus.  We hope it offers some focus as to why we’ve chosen to partner with Safehouse of Denver.  While Shauna was a key part of leadership at WBCC for years, she is currently in Seattle completing her MA in Counseling Psychology at Mars Hill Graduate School.  She also regularly co-hosts a blog titled No Longer Mute with Krista Law.

Kiva & Safehouse

Some important updates on a few action oriented projects we are engaging in.  If you’ve been tracking on Thursday, here’s the most recent details.  If you haven’t, you’ll want to read on….