For some time, the House of Prayer has grown in the number of people that are being reached through its compassion ministries. It has also expanded into new areas of ministries to show people in need that God loves and cares about them in practical ways. As a result of its growth, the House of Prayer is in need of a larger, easy access, handicap compliant facility to accommodate more people and additional ministries. The House of Prayer is not only a place to meet God personally, but it is developing into a multi-faceted compassion ministry for both individuals and families. There is need for additional space for more people in the chapel, kitchen, dining/multipurpose room, food pantry, resource closet, restrooms, storage closets, entryway, as well as a nursery and instructional rooms for children, youth and adults. Dining and worship service space will more than double to allow for safer and larger gatherings.

The House of Prayer has been offering free full course, sit down, hot meals to less fortunate in Chillicothe and Livingston County since the early 1980’s. There is also a food pantry available for folks to take canned food, dry goods, toiletries, etc. home for additional nourishment and personal care. The House of Prayer Rescue Mission seeks to maintain a friendly and caring atmosphere where staff and volunteers can get to know the guests better, encourage them to participate in the various ministries and seek to reach their God given potential. As a result of its growth, the House of Prayer is in need of a larger, easy access, handicap compliant facility to accommodate more people and additional ministries. The existing facilities present challenging access into the basement and chapel for the elderly and those who struggle with mobility. As the number of people ministered each year has grown, the current facility has gotten smaller and harder to facilitate the amount of people that seek to enjoy the meals, as well as accommodate the supplies necessary for the weekly meals served, staff, volunteers, guests, administration, instruction, food pantry, etc. With new classrooms, more effective hand up opportunities such as mentoring programs, life and job skills training, faith-based parenting classes, mental illness/addiction counseling and support groups will be available for those in need.

Established by Robert A. Jackson, the House of Prayer was organized to extend Christian compassion to all people, regardless of denomination, race, or origin by reflecting basic Christian beliefs as taught in the Bible. Since the early 1980’s, the Mission has been offering free full course, sit down, hot meals to the less fortunate in Chillicothe, Livingston County and beyond. The House of Prayer strives to be a positive influence to those who struggle in life and strengthen children, youth and their families through relationship building, community gardening, free meals, free access to canned goods, dry goods, fresh produce, toiletries, clothing, life skills education, advocacy in the community, mentoring and other living necessities to those in need through an open-door Christian environment. All these long term focused, hands up ministries allow the guests the opportunity to volunteer with staff and positive volunteer role models in a safe, caring, accountability environment, as the House of Prayer seeks to help people realized that they are loved by God, that they have a purpose in life and the Lord will help them to reach their God given potential.

The new House of Prayer facility will provide a larger, easy access, handicap accessible building that will better accommodate more people and additional ministries. The new facility will have easier availability for the elderly and those who struggle with mobility, which are a significant percentage of the guests and volunteers at the mission. The larger kitchen and dining room will allow for additional people in need to enjoy volunteering and the free sit-down meals, as well as provide a greater possibility to increase the frequency of the free meals that are offered at the House of Prayer. A long-range goal is to offer three free meals per day, seven days per week, and the game plan of reaching this ambitious goal is through strategic meal increases, as funding, resources and personnel become available. The new facility will help assist the continued growth of multi-faceted compassion ministries for both individuals and families. The additional space for more people in the chapel, kitchen, dining/multipurpose room, food pantry, resource closet, restrooms, storage closets, entryway, as well as a nursery and instructional rooms for children, youth and adults will enable the House of Prayer to grow its friendly and caring atmosphere where staff, volunteers and guests can get to know each other better, encourage the less fortunate, mentally ill, addict, felon, etc. to participate in the various compassion ministries, life skills development plans and seek to reach their God given potential.

Over $600,000 dollars have been raised already for the new one million dollar building and hopefully ground breaking and construction will be this spring. Any gift amount will help the project become a realilty.