Mission

The mission of House to House (H2H) is to rebuild and strengthen homes on the under-resourced west side of Montgomery, Alabama - both the physical structures and especially the families who live in them. In authentic relationships with each family, we are teaching life skills and work skills with a Biblical foundation and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Vision

House to House seeks to demonstrate the kingdom of God in Washington Park so that everyone we connect with - construction volunteers, mentors, donors, and the families we serve - will be drawn to a closer walk with Jesus. The love we will show our neighbors will begin with living next door and working to understand their needs and earn their trust. As needs become known, we will work with our neighbors and their strengths and resources to address these needs. We will ask God to help us find the solutions and, when we can’t, we will trust God’s sovereign power and grace to move according to His plan. In addition to problem-solving, we will seek to share the abundance of the kingdom with our neighbors and celebrate the good news that Jesus is the Christ. We will enjoy fellowship, the fruit of the Spirit and reconciliation. We will live in Christian community.

House to House (H2H) is a Christian mentoring ministry in Washington Park, an under-resourced neighborhood on the west side of Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 2009 as a part of Common Ground Montgomery, a youth development ministry, we began by building relationships with the parents of neighborhood youth. Learning the tremendous the need for decent, affordable housing, we purchase and renovate abandoned homes. We do this to address the need for affordable housing but also to have a legitimate reason to engage in authentic relationships with neighborhood families.

Most of the houses we purchase for renovation appear to be ready for the wrecking ball. These are the houses that contribute the most to the homelessness and despair felt by our neighbors. These houses send a sad message: nobody cares about this neighborhood. When we defy financial logic and, with the help of countless volunteers,  gut the house to the bare studs so that we can replace all the wiring, plumbing and fixtures, add new central heat and A/C, new insulation, new appliances including a washer and dryer, new flooring, a new roof and whatever else it needs, our neighbors receive a new message: God cares. He sent some broken but willing people to bring hope. They have moved into the neighborhood and they want a beautifully renovated house to stand as a symbol that there is no person in the neighborhood who is beyond hope. There is a God who created them in His image and He wants to transform them into the person He designed them to be. 

As one of the qualifications to receive an affordable home, we teach Bible-based classes on household budgeting, how to find and keep a better job, parenting, nutrition, anger management and other critical life skills. These classes allow us to facilitate Christian mentoring relationships. Mentors are trained by H2H staff to walk alongside our students sharing the love of Christ with their family and helping them grow into future mentors. Mentors learn for themselves that in our common brokenness, we all suffer from certain types of poverty and our poverty may be revealed to us in this relationship, giving us an opportunity to repent and find peace in this foreign culture.

In 2011, we became a separate not-for-profit ministry. As an independent ministry, we have continued to focus on the importance of relationships as the best long-term solution to persistent poverty.  As we continue to provide affordable housing, we are now working to bring jobs to the people of our neighborhood. As Warren Cole Smith and John Stone street explain in their 2014 book Restoring All Things, “The poor don’t need handouts. Rather, they need opportunities to participate in the most effective anti-poverty program in the history of mankind: meaningful and dignified work.” Mentors can become part of the critical social network that makes it possible to reinforce the importance of a good work ethic, to know when companies are hiring, and to put in a good word on behalf of the candidate. 

We are moving into the neighborhood, walking alongside our neighbors, sharing the good news of the gospel, teaching life skills, providing affordable housing and helping each neighbor find meaningful and dignified work.  We are witnesses to the power of God moving in our neighborhood.

Christian Community Development

When we think of how to address the problems of under-resourced neighborhoods, one of two things usually comes to mind: government assistance or relief-style hand-outs. Both are well-intended but each has the same affect: they undermine the dignity of the person receiving “help” and they keep the person in their need.  Lifting a person out of their need is such a difficult task that most people simply do not know where to begin. Some may also know that they will never have the time and resources to commit to this oftentimes messy work.

We believe that one very effective way to “love our neighbors as ourselves” is to go to where they are and live in community with them. If your first thought is to quickly dismiss this idea as naive, reckless or simplistic, consider that, in contrast to the secular definition of poverty as a lack of money or material things, a Christian definition of poverty focusses solely on the broken relationships beginning with the Fall in chapter three of Genesis that keep the poor in poverty. Rebuilding and restoring relationships results in stable homes, stable marriages, better employment opportunities and many other benefits which add up to poverty alleviation. Our best human relationships are marked by mutual indebtedness. We are all sinful. There is only one Savior. And we learn about our own prejudices - that we have as much to learn, if not more, from our neighbors as they from us.

Most of the problems in an under-resourced neighborhood are sin-related (from within the neighborhood and outside) and cannot be solved without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The opportunity to share Christ with others is more available to those who have already shown their commitment and their humility in other ways first such as moving into the neighborhood and building affordable housing. Once their relationship with Christ begins, a very intentional discipleship (mentoring) relationship is needed to keep Satan and the world from pulling them back down.

It is not enough for ministry staff to offer their friendship and do housing renovations. There is more work to do than a small staff can ever hope to manage. It is necessary that the work be distributed among as many people as possible to help finance or rebuild homes or become mentors. C. S. Lewis reasoned that “Christianity, if false, is of no importance and, if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important”. We believe Christianity is true. We want our neighbors to know its infinite importance.

House 2 House | Staff 

Click on images below to see staff biographies

Board of Directors

(TOP) MIke Bunce, Ken Austin, James E. Wilson, Jr.

(Bottom) Alan Reid, Mary Averhart, Ben Blanchard, John Steiner