Healing communities

We believe the power of Christian love can—and will—change the world

By developing strong leaders and equipping passionate disciples, American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) sets the stage for increasing the numbers and the impact of healthy, transformed and transformational communities through engaged Christians who develop ministries that make connections, raise consciousness, build bridges and encourage action. These high-compassion communities across the United States and Puerto Rico—spiritually grounded in Christ and committed to discipleship lived through action—are fully engaged in the world around them.

The Healing Communities team is passionate about enabling American Baptists to join with diverse communities in engaging existing resources, expanding their understanding, and nurturing community healing that encourages mutual transformation. These collaborations are important opportunities for individual churches, ABHMS, American Baptist Churches USA and interfaith groups to collaborate to achieve a single aim that can, ultimately, become a defining moment illustrating the best about what it means to be Christian.

Today ABHMS continues a legacy of ministries committed to healing communities that began decades ago. Refugee Resettlement efforts, launched following World War II in collaboration with Church World Service, have resettled more than 100,000 displaced persons from across the world, and Community Outreach Ministries Centers that care for underserved children and families have been ministering in urban settings since the early 20th century.

For more than 40 years, ABHMS has been formally mobilizing volunteers across the United States and Puerto Rico; and groups of volunteers have been sent to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward to nurture and heal that hurricane-devastated community through “Home Mission: ’Til the Work is Done” since 2006. Additional Healing Communities’ programs include Disaster Response, Justice for Children, Disabilities Ministries and Socially Responsible Investing.