Programs

Programs/Services

Mentoring Program

We teach what we know, we reproduce what we are. (Luke 6:40)
Rick Farley, Attitudes of Great Leaders

Most of the women and youth that we serve have been estranged from their families and cannot return home due to abuse and neglect. Because of weeks, months and sometimes years of continuous trauma, their concept of love, friendship, and appropriate relating to others has been greatly distorted. In order to help them transition back into society, RM helps the women and girls build a new support system through the body of Christ. It is important that each young woman in our program be given caring, Christian mentoring couple which will offer loving support as they heal.

The three most important things in mentoring are relationship, relationship, relationship. Our goal is to build strong, healthy, one-on-one bonds with those we serve.

Successful mentors develop relationships of trust and respect giving the mentee the opportunity to do
the same with others. Mentors help instill character in their mentees by empowering them to become people of integrity; honest, responsible and disciplined.

Mentoring high-risk young adults and adolescents poses some interesting challenges, but that makes the rewards all the more sweet. Mentors share their skills and talents, participate in sports and recreation and help their mentees with job preparedness. All mentors are properly screened and trained and receive on-going staff support.

Mentors help their Mentee with:

Spirit-esteem: know who they are in Christ
Sense of purpose: know their destiny in Christ: their life has purpose
Planning and decision making: healthy choices and plans for their future
Interpersonal competence: empathy, sensitivity and friendship skills
Resistance skills: ability to resist negative peer pressure and dangerous situations
Empowerment: exercising discipline, wisdom and control in the face of life circumstances

The Role of the Church

Restoration Ministries strongly believes that the church has a very significant role to play in the healing of men, women and girls who have been caught in the trap of sex trafficking. As horrendous as this issue is, there is a place for the average person. One does not have to have a specific calling upon
their lives in order to be a friend-in-need to someone in this population group

Because they have been isolated during the time they were trafficked, it is very important that they not become isolated during their healing. And sadly, that is what we are finding in most programs. It
has been said that it is easier to kick a drug habit than it is your old friends. Once they finish a recovery program, where do they go? Right back to what is familiar to them. This is why the body of Christ is so crucial to keeping them well. We are not only to bring them the good news of Jesus Christ but to also walk along beside them in their journey here on earth.

Youth Program

"I look forward to meeting with these girls each week because it is a wonderful opportunity to speak God's unconditional love and abundant hope into their lives." Proverbs 13:12 says; "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." At a very early age, these girls have already experienced an often staggering number of deferred hopes and dashed dreams, making their young hearts particularly susceptible to emotional and spiritual heart sickness. Through Restoration
Ministries' outreach, we have an opportunity to be instruments of God's love and healing, and to restore hope in their hearts, as we claim Jeremiah 29:11 over them: "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. "
Jeanne Bailey, volunteer

RM provides a weekly therapeutic recreational group, tutoring and a monthly movie night at the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services for female youth between the ages of 10-21 who have sexual abuse/sex trafficking in their history. Approximately 40 youth are annually incarcerated for solicitation charges in the District of Columbia.

Because youth are very transient today and trafficking is global, many of the girls are not DC residents. Our time with the girls is short. They usually stay at the detention center six weeks or less before being returned home or placed in a residential facility outside the city.

Every week is a new adventure as we share the love of the Father and weave in His Word through the creative arts. The girls respond to His love and are starting to see themselves as the Father sees them. Our desire is that each one will see her purpose and fulfill her destiny in Him.

"Being able to share God's love and hope with these precious girls makes my life richer, and I am honored to be a small part in helping them reach their fullest potential."
Celeste Signorino, volunteer

Retreats

Everyone knows how much fun retreats can be. They are times when we can bond with others through emotional sharing and come closer to the Lord. It is a time when God encounters happen and the Lord
is so tangible that we feel we can almost touch Him. It is truly a privilege to be able to spend extended time with these lovely ladies, bringing hope and victory into their troubled lives. Retreats usually last three days with fun and teaching mixed together to provide a relaxing atmosphere in which healing can take place.

Street Outreach

RM goes out on the street with coffee, homemade cookies and hotline cards to reach out to the women and youth who are working the streets. Our purpose is to let them know that someone cares and there
is practical help. Our focus is their health and well-being and when we have the opportunity, to pray
with them.

"As much as I enjoy the other parts of the ministry, the street outreach is the most special to me. Jesus did not hide away in a chapel, but walked right into areas of need, hurt, abuse, and sin, healing those who were most in need of His touch. RM gives me the opportunity to talk to people who others walk past with their gaze averted. It gives me the privilege of looking a woman in the eye and saying to her, 'Hi! How are you?' I can give her a number to call if she decides to seek help. I am a light in the middle of her world of abuse... a reminder that she is not forgotten, that there are those who care, and not everyone will treat her with disrespect. RM helps to restore grace and dignity to those who have been robbed of it and I am grateful for the privilege to be a part of that."
Agata Tyson (volunteer)

Short-term Mission Trips

Because trafficking is global and D.C. is an international city, it is important that we have an understanding of the cultural background of the women to whom we minister. Traveling to other nations allows us to experience this first hand and also to partner with other ministries that are reaching out to them.

RM has had the opportunity to minister to the ladies behind the windows and those working the streets
of Amsterdam's Red Light District. Working with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), we walked the streets with coffee, tea and cookies hoping the women behind the windows would invite us in. They often did and after a short conversation would ask for prayer. It was not uncommon to see the Holy Spirit settle upon them restoring their health and drawing them closer to Him.

One of the greatest deceptions the women and girls have is that they can walk away from this lifestyle anytime they desire. Even if the women are not pimped, demonic hooks keep drawing them into this behavior and only the power of Christ can truly set them free.

We have also ministered to women and girls in the slums of Lucknow and to the women in the SEEMA Project in Rapadia, India. Even though prostitution is illegal in India, it is not hard to find a woman or
girl for sale. Ministering alongside Lady Care, a pro-life outreach to women and girls in the of 10-40 window, we saw many healed of emotional and physical wounds.

Training

To equip the body of Christ to work with and mentor trafficking survivors, RM provides training on a three month format. The program is open to both men and women and participants will meet once a week for dinner and discussion based on a film, book or guest speaker. They will commit to ministering at the detention center twice a month then other activities per month; i.e. monthly prayer meeting, movie night, girls program, women’s program, johns’ school, or street outreach for practical experience and exposure to those who are trafficked.

This format allows volunteers to slowly digest and process the material and integrate them into the different arenas where survivors can be found. Sharing a meal is breaking of bread together which is a biblical concept and very important in building trust and friendship with those who are ministering together. Smaller gatherings will allow a more open sharing of struggles and victories and times of prayer for each other and those we are serving.

This course is not designed for those who want to gather information, learn more about the issue or those who want to “try it out”. It is rather a hands-on teaching tool for individuals who are called or have a strong interest in ministering to trafficking survivors. The cost is $100 plus materials.

There will be three three-month trainings per year:
          Fall: Sep-Nov
          Winter: Jan-Mar
          Spring: Apr-Jun

Requirements:
         Be a believer in Jesus Christ
         Pass a criminal background check
         Strong desire to minister to trafficking survivors
         Be at least 21 years of age
         Cost is $100

Contact RM to register

Women's Programs

RM hosts a weekly therapy group at the DC Jail for adult females who have been incarcerated for solicitation charges. Because prostituted women are lumped in with other vices and their particular issues are rarely identified or addressed, it is important that we offer them a support group that is specific to their needs.

The outreach is centered on building self esteem by making the women aware first of all of God's love for them and His glorious purpose for their lives (I Peter 2:9). Secondly, it is a practical look through therapeutic group process at how low self esteem and poor self esteem sets us up for defeat but how self esteem can be raised with the results of liberation from lifestyles that damage and defeat our lives.

Our purpose is to build trust with the women while they are incarcerated with the hope to continue with them once they leave the jail.

Long-term Goal

The long-term goal of Restoration Ministries is to establish a safe house or residential facility for trafficked women (17-30) and their children. This will be a multi-phase, multi-year program that is holistic and centered on Christ. It is important that faith be integrated into every aspect of the healing process and only then will her life be truly transformed.

One of the key components of the program is that every women, as soon as she enters the program will be given a mentor in a local church. This mentor will stay with her through-out the recovery program and slowly integrate her into the community helping her to build a new support system in the body of Christ. When she completes the recovery program, her mentor and church will help her transition into the community and the church will become her primary source of help and RM secondary.