Phases
Phase 1: Intervention and Compassionate Care
The multi-faceted nature of abuse and persecution in the Middle East necessitates evaluating need on a case-by-case basis, but the intervention phase essentially entails providing for immediate physical needs such as food, clothing, medicine, and even hospital visits for victims of extreme abuse. More moderate cases often mean helping women identify abuse and understand their self-worth. Many do not realize their relationships constitute abuse, and CHB offers guidance in the form of a biblical perspective on a person’s inherent value.
In severe cases, CHB removes women from their situations and temporarily shelters them at the CHB center. The team then secures apartments for women to live in or finds families they can stay with for the long term. Some extreme cases have even required CHB to evacuate women from their home countries.
Phase 2: Counseling and Discipleship
As women continue to receive necessary physical aid, they also receive guidance in coming to terms with their reality and need for holistic healing. In severe cases of abuse, CHB sends women to other organizations that can offer more intense counseling and trauma therapy. For most cases, however, the CHB community creates a safe place for women to talk about and process through their pasts.
The team members share with women how the good news of Jesus Christ can redeem these pasts – as well as the women’s futures. Many women come to Christ during this process of healing! Unfortunately, new believers often face immediate persecution, so CHB provides discipleship largely centered on helping women grow in their faith despite opposition. Christian women who come to CHB specifically because of persecution also participate in this discipleship course.
Phase 3: Education and Training
With continued help from CHB, women can start taking more responsibility for moving forward with their lives. For those who have been relocated, CHB helps find new jobs and new communities so they can begin life anew. The team encourages women under eighteen to finish their high school education and those over eighteen to pursue higher education or a trade school of their choosing and skill set. This critical phase allows women to learn to integrate into society and live independently.
Phase 4: Graduation
Established in a new community with employment, financial security, and safety from their abusers or persecutors, women in this phase no longer rely on CHB’s counseling or financial support. These women often become multiplying disciples, using their own experiences to minister to women in similar situations and share the marvelous hope of Christ.
