Our amazing team of regular and part-time volunteers are committed to helping others.
We take our convictions and turn them into action.
1
In the summer of 1997, four co-workers (Carolyn Whitelaw-Whitney, Kimberly Phillips, Debbie Clark-Beecham and Sheryl Fleming) came together by the leading of the spirit through Carolyn Whitelaw-Whitney to start praying together in each other’s homes. Each of us had experienced some form of trauma in our lives which we had not really trusted ourselves to be transparent in the past about. As we gathered and prayed for one another we shared our stories with other women with different life struggles. We began expanding our circle and recognized the real purpose of becoming transparent with one another. As a result, we gathered our funds and introduced to a group of women Sisters in Christ prayer meetings.
2
Our prayer meetings were the catalyst for bringing hope and love to women whom we met. A prominent greater KC OBGYN, Dr. Sharon Harris-Baugh, who also knew and understood pain and trauma referred and identified several young mothers which needed a mentor and support system to encourage them on their journey. As we began to connect with these women, we found women much like ourselves, single mothers battling with low self- esteem, drug & alcohol abuse, depression, and hopelessness. During the process with these ladies, we heard their exhaustion with living with their pain so we continued to hold monthly prayer meetings and mentoring touch points through the fall of 2000. We are still in contact with the ladies we mentored during our initial walk of faith.
3
Over several years the team experienced life cycle changes from marriage, starting a family, career changes, divorce, the death of a spouse and the list goes on. However, the seed that was planted back in 1997 was still working. Even though we went our separate ways for a season, Carolyn shares the Vision remained alive in her in an incubated state. She and six other women walked around a building in 2009 which she believes today is the Sisters In Christ’s Headquarters (The Sanctuary). She shares as they walked around the building seven times in one of the worse rain storms she has ever experienced in her life. She recalls feeling like Moses, if she just kept one foot in front of the other, not lose sight of the purpose for Sister’s In Christ the Vision would come to pass.
4
Even though there were times while in the incubation stages, Carolyn kept her faith and hope active by continually sharing the Vision with women from all walks of life. She would talk with professional women, continued to have Sisters in Christ’s Conferences just to keep the Vision alive. She admits there were times when it did not look like anything was going on but big changes were happening on the inside of the incubator of Sisters In Christ. In 2013, Carolyn and Kimberly reconnected, and the baby started to leap. The core team began to grow with the additions of Patsy Ybarra whose was one of the seven women who joined her faith with Carolyn to walk around what they believed one day would be the Headquarters for Sisters In Christ.
5
Marilyn Butler a church member and friend joined the team and Tyrone Smith, Sr. came to team initially to help with computer service. He found out quickly his commitment to the organization was for all the women in his life, his mother, daughter, sister, nieces and grand-daughters. In March 2015, Sisters in Christ was established as a 501c3 non-profit organization. Through a property donation Sisters in Christ afforded the opportunity to rehab and open our first sober living house for women on January 6, 2017. In 2015, Carolyn was afforded the opportunity to visit Haiti at which time she met over 100 Haitian women. During her seven days stay there the incubator expanded to an International component being introduced to the Sisters in Christ Vision.
6
After five years of service Sisters in Christ is a trailblazing not-for-profit organization. We currently serve 50-60 women per year through our Transitional (Faith Based) Living Program. The program manages (3) houses, Carolyn’s House of Faith, Serenity House and Habakkuk House. We operate as a federal 501c (3) and state of Missouri not-for- profit entity. In the Transitional Living Program, women encounter a trauma free environment and sisterhood that catapults them into their intended purpose and best self. We teach healthy coping skills and strategies to minimize substance abuse, strengthen their relationships, and cope with life’s stressors, challenges, and disappointments. We also ensure the women share in the decision making process of their recovery and remain actively involved in setting personal goals.
7
The women are encouraged to increase their spirituality for total healing and wholeness in their lives. They are shown how to turn impossibilities into possibilities and to be the best in spite of what they have experienced. We provide an enrichment network of equipping women with tools for empowerment and transformation into a rebuilt life of purpose. It is the mission of Sisters In Christ to encourage women to rewrite their narrative onto a new page of life. We have come to believe with the right support and treatment, women can overcome substance abuse and mental health issues, reclaim her authentic sense of self, and create a new track for their lives... Sisters in Christ is driven by the support of the community.
8
Our success has been all about Women investing in Women. It takes courage, transparency, strength, compassion, and love to master the healing process. Sisters In Christ is willing to embark upon those tough conversations which creates true respect for the women we have been assigned to serve. Sisters in Christ, over the years, have identified its Purpose, Mission, and Vision for serving women through the Lenses and Process of Metamorphosis. The trauma experienced in the population of women lives we serve are in comparison like the Caterpillar undergoing a remarkable Transformation, called Metamorphosis, to become the Chrysalis the old body parts of the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly. Sister’s In Christ Commitment and Investment is to position women to a place to flourish and succeed, from the natural process to the supernatural process in their lives.