A Pathway Out of Poverty

Every day as I drive through Washington Park I see the ravages of poverty in West Montgomery. I see a once-thriving neighborhood now in shambles. I drive past the once-busy doctor’s office and see now a vacant building. I ride through a street lined with once-prominent houses that stood stately and welcoming and now see boarded up, lifeless buildings in disarray.

And then I turn onto Council Street. 

I see what was once a shack in disrepair, without life, now a thriving home of love for our neighbors. I see the growing flowerbed under the Mercy House sign out front. I see three previously abandoned lots full of dangerous holes now a safe and clean backyard for our children to be kids. I see a building forgotten by history and untended by people now restored to a vibrant house of worship. And I see what was a house left abandoned, full of holes in the floor and as many snakes and feral cats, now a bright yellow beacon of hope- the Pathway House.

For years now, we’ve taken these buildings that seemed more of a liability and a risk, poured love and care into them, and seen the beauty of life restored. We’ve seen this most recently with the Pathway House.

The Pathway House was formerly the home of our board member Mary Boone’s Uncle John, back when this community was healthy. When we first turned our sights on this home and saw the vision of what it could be, Mary Boone was the first to help us reclaim the property. After the gifts and sacrifice of many and the diligent hard work of even more, that vision is a reality.

While important and significant work, Mercy House is more than serving a hot meal each day and bringing groceries to a food desert; it is a place where we walk side-by-side with our neighbors out of homelessness, poverty, and suffering. The Pathway House is our newest addition to that mission.

We are filling the Pathway House with programs and tools that provide a pathway out of poverty. One way to break the bonds of generational poverty in our neighborhood is to bridge the opportunity gap faced by those who grew up in poverty, and we’re working to do that through literacy, education, access to technology, and skilled jobs. We’ll soon be introducing you to our library and our community business center. We’re setting up the GED program and skills-training classes our computer lab will soon provide. We’re cultivating a path each neighbor who comes into contact with Mercy House can take, tailored to them, that walks with them to acquire skills, knowledge, and tools to move from a life in poverty to a life of stability and financial independence. We’ll see an investment in each person walking out of poverty pay dividends in the community moving out of poverty and the next generation staying out of poverty. It’s not something we will see, but something we are seeing.

We are seeing buildings turn from abandoned to abundant in their housing of hope and life. We lay the bricks to these paths at Christ’s direction, and because of that, we have a confident hope in His ability to restore lives to Him as we restore these buildings to life, one-by-one.

We’d love for you to come see this too, please contact us about a visit. We always welcome guests at the Mercy House, and now, at the Pathway House as well.

God Bless,
Pastor Ken Austin