Ministry History

Rescue Ministries was born in 1903 in Fort Wayne, IN with the help of area Christians who were concerned about the inner city’s poor, hungry, homeless, and unchurched. The original Fort Wayne Rescue Home and Mission was located at 118 East Columbia Street, near where the City-County Building now stands. Incorporation occurred in 1908. The Mission moved to 343 E. Columbia Street in 1915.

In 1922, the ministry also became a social service agency when it joined eleven others in forming the Community Chest (now United Way of Allen County). During the early years, the Mission provided housing, food and religious services for both local and transient homeless men, as well as many youth programs and Sunday School activities.

In 1964, the Mission expanded its housing and feeding ministries when it moved to 301 West Superior Street. The Mission’s Women and Children’s Division was added in 1985 with a 16-bed facility at 710 West Superior Street.

In 1990, the Mission opened a large multi-purpose room for classes and worship services, offices and an on-site thrift store at its headquarters. In 1992, an anonymous donor gave the Mission a building on Lafayette and DeWald Streets, which was developed for use as a second thrift store not only to bring in revenue to fund the Mission, but also to provide clothing and furnishings to the Mission’s residents and offer low cost goods to the city’s poor.

Vowing not to charge for its services or accept government funding, in 1989 the Mission began to use direct mail to raise funds, increasing the services offered. An early beneficiary from the increased funding was the educational program. In 1993, a state-of-the-art computer Learning Center opened at 326 W. Superior to provide men and women with the opportunity for educational advancement, lost memory restoration, adult literacy and computer skills, and GED exam preparation.

With more reliable funding, the Mission in 1994 was able to begin hiring a professional ministry and management team to face the double-edged challenge of a homeless population that had grown increasingly younger (thus making their rehabilitation a major goal) and who came to the Mission with more complex problems.

January 1995 saw the beginning of the intensive, residential six month program that required the participants pursue the program full-time to effectively deal with whatever issues had resulted in their homelessness. The outcome goal was to produce graduates who would be able to be “fully functioning members of society,” as well as develop their relationship to a loving God. Later, long term and transitional programs were added.

The Women and Children’s Division’s reputation as a caring and loving place caused the facility to be outgrown. In 1996, a building at 533 West Washington Boulevard was purchased and renovated to accommodate up to 42 women and children for both emergency housing and restoration programming. It was given the name Charis (meaning Grace) House.

In 1999, remodeling expanded the Rescue Mission’s computer learning center, class rooms, office space and handicapped accessible rest rooms.

In March of 2001, the Rescue Mission facilities were expanded again to accommodate the influx of homeless men who found themselves on the street due to the economic recession, doubling its Emergency Program capacity to 42 beds and ten cots for those needing housing for up to 30 nights.

In 2001, the Mission incorporated Fort Wayne Rescue Mission Ministries Foundation as a nonprofit endowment to insure the long-term financial viability of the ministries. The Board of Trustees of community leaders began approving grants to the ministries from the income generated by the Foundation’s investments.

Wanting to reflect the ever-broadening ministries to a variety of audiences, the name was changed in 2004 to Rescue Ministries, encompassing the ministries of The Rescue Mission, Charis House, Bargains Galore, and other initiatives the Lord may open in the future.

Rescue Ministries works collaboratively with other organizations that provide a variety of needed social and medical services to the homeless and indigent population of Allen and surrounding counties. These Christian-based ministries welcome people of all faiths as well as those with no religious background. Approximately 45% of the total staff were once a residents at Charis House or the Rescue Mission and are now helping others change as they did.

Rescue Ministries has a bed capacity to serve 154 men, women and children per night. The Rescue Mission and Charis House serve hundreds of different residents annually, who now fill over 42,000 bed nights. Approximately 190,000 free meals are served to those in the community who come for lunch and dinner seven days a week, and to those who stay as residents.

After one hundred years of service, Fort Wayne Rescue Ministries still exist “to provide, through the power of Jesus Christ, a home for the homeless, food for the hungry, and hope for their future.”