Mercy Ministries

Mercy Ministries is an evangelical ministry supported by Hillsong and Gloria Jeans.  It has chapters (financially separate entities)  in a number of countries, most notably the US, Australia, UK, Canada and New Zealand.  Nancy Alcorn, the President of Mercy Ministres of America acts as a figurehead world wide.

It  runs residential homes for women from all walks of life.  It offers a one size fits all approach to the varied problems of teenage/unwanted pregnancy, eating disorders, drug addiction and mental illness.

They first came to my attention in March 2008 when three very brave survivors spoke out about the shocking treatment that they recieved at the hands of Mercy Ministries Australia.  The resulting bad publicity I believe contributed to the closure of an unviable home in Queensland and the eventual closure of all Mercy homes in Australia.

Mercy Ministries Australia was found to have engaged in misleading conduct by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission relation to advertising a free service while insisting clients sign over their social security benefits.  The directors involved at the time( ie that is before they were caught out and ceased the practice) have been ordered to publicly apologize and pay token compensation amounting to $118,000.

Despite their public apologies it seems that at least privately some directors show no remorse or understanding of the harm they have caused.

Mercy Ministires continues to operate unhindered in many other countries.  Their current area of expansion is in helping the victims of sex trafficking – a worthy cause, but considering their past efforts one must question whether they have the skills, qualifications or the clients welfare foremost in their mind.

For a summary of the 60 posts that I wrote over 2008 please go here.  To get the latest information though its best to search on the term Mercy or the Category Mercy.

Until very recently Mery Ministires used the Restoring The Foundations program  on all girls regardless of the reasons they came to be in the program.  This peice of right wing christian twaddle would be laughable only that people take it seriously and it has in my opinion caused very real damage to clients attending Mercy suffering from mental health issues.

Imagine if you will all the worst of the Fire and Brimstone preaching mixed the exorcism fad of the 70′s and you are somewhat close.  John Weaver of Against Biblical Counselling has a number of post where he comments on the training manual  a section at a time.  It’s a good read if you can stomach it.

The blog also houses some stories of other women who have attended the ministry and survived, search under the x-mercy category for those.

I continue to be amazed by the stories of women who have survived Mercy Ministries, despite the closure I still receive emails from Graduates(those Mercy Claims have been set free by the lord and their program) who are battling with their issues.

The survivors have a website www.mercysurvivors.com if you are a Mercy Survivor in need of assistance.