Ministries Making a Difference

Ministries helping people overcome addiction, poverty, and homelessness

VITA volunteers / Photo via FB @Avenue of Life

Avenue of Life in Kansas City, Kansas, is hosting the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for households earning $65,700 or less in 2024. VITA volunteers will book appointments through April 11. Avenue of Life—which has 5 stars, an “A” transparency grade, and a donor confidence score of 100 in the MinistryWatch database—works to end student homelessness by helping low-income families become self-sustaining.

Every third Wednesday of the month, Crossroads Mission in Arizona hosts its “Just For You!” community outreach. The “day of compassion” is focused on providing essential items like tents, pillows, food, and hygiene items to people in need. In summer 2024, the outreach doled out over 20,000 meals. Guests also receive vouchers to the mission’s thrift store, where they can pick up clothing, outfits for job interviews, and even furniture. Volunteers and staff invite recipients to its shelters and long-term recovery programs. Crossroads Mission has 5 stars, an “A” transparency grade, and a donor confidence score of 95.

Ha Giang, Vietnam /Photo by Minh Triet / Unsplash / Creative Commons

The North Vietnamese village of Sin Suoi Ho showcases the transformative power of the gospel when an entire community embraces the teachings of the Bible. Once drowning in poverty, addicted to opioids, and oppressed by fear of evil spirits, this isolated village is now a thriving tourist destination that shares both their native traditions and their firm faith. They first heard the gospel through a radio program from Far East Broadcasting Company before being discipled by nearby pastors. Angela Lee Fulton with Christianity Today details the journey the community’s residents went through to embrace the gospel, burn their altars, and detox from their addictions. Far East Broadcasting Company has 4 stars, an “A” transparency grade, and a donor confidence score of 100.

Photo via FB @Bethesda Mission Community Center

Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, recently took students to Messiah University in nearby Mechanicsburg, where they joined a scavenger hunt and ate at the dining hall. Bethesda Mission fights homelessness in its community by providing short- and long-term care for men, women and children in need through overnight shelters, recovery programs, medical care, a food bank, and clothing drives. It also oversees a community center for at-risk students that includes Bible studies, after school care, and facilitates professional internships. Bethesda Mission has 5 stars, an “A” transparency grade, and a donor confidence score of 95. Messiah University has 3 stars, a “C” transparency grade and a donor confidence score of 65.

TO OUR READERS: Do you have a story idea, or do you want to give us feedback about this or any other story? Please email us: [email protected]

Access to MinistryWatch content is free.  However, we hope you will support our work with your prayers and financial gifts.  To make a donation, click here.