Our History
New Jerusalem Missions is a ministry of compassion and community development. Our goal is to show the Love of Jesus to people by providing physical, emotional and spiritual support. We serve the lost, those rejected most by society, homeless, sick, addicted, those starting over from incarceration, and those in need of a hand up. We once were a mercy ministry of Youth with a Mission and now we love being relationally connected to YWAM. We pioneered a project in S. Africa -Ukukhanya Life Care Centre in a township outside of Durban. We usually do a South African outreach in the summer that is either serving our AIDS hospice or taking children (from the community who are orphans or vulnerable with sick parents) to camp.
New Jerusalem Missions
Someplace Else
As Penny and team were searching for a location, people would respond, "What a wonderful idea, but do it someplace else!" The name stuck. Located in the historic midtown of Wichita, Someplace Else was created to provide for and minister to those infected with AIDS.
For those who resided at Someplace Else, it was a place they could call home -- a housing alternative where they could receive physical, emotional, and spiritual support 24 hours a day from the Christian missionary staff. The vision was to establish group homes like Someplace Else worldwide! With HIV infection spreading to epidemic proportions, these homes would give the Christian community the opportunity to minister the love of Christ to those affected by the virus.
New Jerusalem Missions raised the Word of God as the standard for Someplace Else. Provision came from fund-raisers, rents collected, and donations. Willing, loving people gave of their time, talents and finances to make Someplace Else a real home for those living with AIDS. Someplace Else closed in 2000, but what had been built there became the model for the expansion of New Jerusalem Missions on a global level.
YWAM Roots
From 1995-2005 New Jerusalem Missions was also known as YWAM Kansas, as we became a ministry of Youth with a Mission. Here we received some training from other YWAM bases and tried our hand at being a base. After a few Discipleship Training Schools, we realized our call was to the HIV/AIDS community. We learned how to do schools but realized it wasn't really our calling. Out of this season, however, came many good relationships and an HIV/AIDS short course-- four weeks of teaching to equip the church, missionaries in YWAM and others wanting to know more of God's heart and response to HIV/ AIDS. Wayne Jacobsen would teach on The Unconditional Love of Jesus, Penny Dugan would teach a week on God's compassion and heart for those dying with AIDS and how to reach them with His Love, and Jonathan Hunter of Embracing Life Ministries would teach on support to those with life- defining illnesses, and How to Break Free from the Spirit of Death, a powerful revelation and support group material. The fourth week would be HIV/AIDS basic 101 education: Transmissions, medications, dispelling judgments and care of the AIDS patients. This four-week course was run annually in Kansas and once in South Africa. We are grateful for the teaching we received from YWAM on how to run a school. The course or portions of the course can still be brought to churches or YWAM schools to help with the equipping of the body for responding to the AIDS pandemic. In 2005 New Jerusalem Missions went back to its original vision but still remains relationally connected to YWAM.
The Dwelling Place
2002-2007 saw the development of another ministry. The Harvey County Homeless Shelter was pioneered by New Jerusalem Missions in response to the homelessness seen in our community after 9/11 affected the aircraft industry. We saw more homeless coming to our doors. A space in our building (The Dwelling Place) was allocated, and we built the shelter and began to engage the community in responding to the less fortunate in our midst by showing the love of Jesus and providing temporary, safe and secure housing to those finding themselves in need of such shelter. New Jerusalem Missions gave birth to the vision, mobilizing the community and giving them an arena in which to serve and bring their gifting, eventually turning it over to the community of believers in Harvey County to continue development and operations. It has been amazing to watch God knit the hearts of the community to love, nurture, and minister to the homeless and downtrodden in our community. An amazing group of people formed the board of directors and oversaw the operations of the shelter, which was housed in The Dwelling Place til May 2014.
Africa and Beyond
In 2004 New Jerusalem Missions began building relationship and taking outreaches to Ntuzuma, (Durban), South Africa, at the invitation of Good News Ministries to help them develop a hospice. In 2007 Ukukhanya Life Care Center was formed to show the love of Jesus to those affected by AIDS through a hospice and home-based care, much like Someplace Else. The goal is for Ukukhanya to develop and eventually be run by the local community of believers in South Africa, with New Jerusalem Missions being supportive care and advisory.
