You have to know how much we love Jesus.

I don’t say that to brag. If nothing else it should highlight the broken-ness of all of us at The Sparrow’s Nest. Staff, board, volunteers, at some point we just all realized what a mess we were without the love of Jesus so each day is us just trying to chase after Him, learn from Him, be as close as possible to Him, draw others close to him, try to be like Him all the while recognizing we are nothing without Him.

The staff at The Sparrow’s Nest is trying to be very intentional in our identity as a ministry. We’ve had lots of conversations lately of who we are and what we do.

Do we stop being a ministry if we are in between girls actually living at The Nest?

Do we put the ministry on hold if the phone is quiet?

When does the Bible say we are to stop trying to seek and save the lost?

Where in Scripture does it say if someone is too messy, too broken, to jacked up that we are to stop sharing the love of Jesus?

Do we turn our backs on other single mothers, volunteers in need of love and support, donors in need of encouragement, churches facing hard times? 

We know without a doubt that God has called us to this ministry at this time and this place. We know our calling is to serve young single mothers who are pregnant and/or parenting and need a place to stay while they figure out who they are in Christ. We also know Matthew 26 is seared on our hearts.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

We can’t fix the world’s problems. It breaks our heart that we can’t help every woman who contacts us. But we do believe in the abundant life that Christ sacrificed his own life to give us. We are passionate about using every blessing He has given us, every gift and talent God has blessed us with to serve along side. As a pastor once said about us “The Sparrow’s Nest isn’t social justice, it’s Jesus Justice.“

  We try in our broken, ‘of this world’ ways to seek the will of our Father. We ask for His strength and wisdom to live out the Great Commission to seek and the save the lost, to love God and to love others. Our calling is to be the hands and feet of Jesus. To embrace, restore, confront when needed, teach, serve, and equip His people through grace, love, and mercy. These are just a few examples of what Jesus Justice looks like at The Sparrow’s Nest.

  • We provide long term housing for young women under the age of 19 who are pregnant and parenting. These girls may be homeless, they just need a new start in a new place, they may have exasperated their parents and everyone needs space, they may be orphans. 
  • We provide Christian counseling services to residents of The Nest and also clients of The Branch Resource Center to restore women to their rightful identity in Christ and to attempt to heal crucial family bonds.
  • We give any mom in need monthly access to The Branch Resource Center to shop for bibles, diapers, wipes, breast pumps, formula, baby food, and baby clothing, etc.
  • We teach residents of The Nest to care for themselves and their baby in a myriad of environments such as parenting, financial literacy, and healthy relationships all within the context of sound Biblical teaching.
  • We provide contacts and referrals to other providers if we are not able to meet the needs of any young woman. We want to walk hand and hand with them.
  • We look forward to offering a support group for any single woman as an extension of The Branch Resource Closet. These support groups will offer prayer, parenting support and parenting classes.
  • We equip volunteers and staff  to serve young women by requiring extensive professional training in faith tenets, brain development, CPR/First Aid, De-Escalation, Suicide Prevention, and Group Dynamics just to name a few.
  • We serve moms in need in the area by sharing our plethora of diapers, wipes, personal hygiene products, and baby clothes as a Welcome Baby Gift taken to area hospitals and shared with hospital social workers. We also make these available to area food pantries and church outreach ministries.
  • We pray daily, weekly, and monthly as staff, volunteers, supporters and churches for the needs of young mothers to be met.
  • We provide a community within a community for churches and volunteers to come together to serve young mothers.
  • Our staff builds relationships with volunteers to encourage and edify them in their personal lives.
  • We actively seek out partnerships and collaborations with other referring agencies, schools, hospitals and churches to make sure the needs of young women in our community are being met.

Ministry goes on whether girls are living in The Nest or not. All parts of our ministries will be cyclical. We will experience high volume and low volume depending on the time of year and outside events impacting the community. We trust God’s timing for all parts of our ministry and we trust He will send us the young woman He wants to impact through the staff and resources available at The Sparrow’s Nest.

use-me pictureMinistry goes on whether we choose to engage or not. God will accomplish His Will with our without us.

However, at The Sparrow’s Nest we can’t imagine not being a part of His Jesus Justice.  We just want to be used by Him.