God’s call can start as a whisper, and if we follow with willing hearts and resilient spirits, the possibilities for ministry are endless.
In 2017, Olivia Smith approached the pastor at her church with a vision: To create a place for women recovering from substance abuse who are need of housing. This safe space would include opportunities for healing, learning, work readiness, and other support.
Smith’s dream became a reality, but only with the help of partners. Thanks to relationship building, collaboration, and shared purpose, Healing Housing has housed more than 300 women and served hundreds more through referrals, outpatient programming, and other services.
“Any woman who calls here, if we can’t help her, we are connecting her to a partner who can,” says Tracey Levine, Healing Housing executive director.
The Healing Housing team shares these tips for engaging partners that will grow your ministry:
Build on a strong foundation
Your ministry needs to start somewhere, and often your own congregation is the best place to begin.
Healing Housing is a non-profit organization which began with a group of dedicated volunteers from Brentwood United Methodist Church (BUMC) in Tennessee. The congregation continues to serve as a key ministry partner.
“We met [weekly] for two years and presented our plan to the BUMC Foundation. They supported the plan both philosophically and financially,” explains volunteer liaison Pat Ralls. “Since its inception, the leadership, Foundation, and people of BUMC have been instrumental in turning it into a place of healing and hope.”
With this cornerstone in place, Healing Housing was ready for next steps but knew that their ministry would only grow with the help of the community. Ralls says, “We have broadened our donor base to include additional churches, foundations, and individuals.”
Creativity charts new paths
Healing Housing continually thinks outside of the box when it comes to community outreach, fundraising, and partnerships. In August of 2026, they tried something new: a partnership with a dance company.
“One of the things I'm always called to do on grant applications is to share how I am educating the community and how I am being innovative,” Levine points out. “[Advocacy-motivated] dance can change the way people perceive things and enlighten people to subjects that they might not be aware of.”
After attending a contemporary ballet performance that told the story of chronic pain – produced through a partnership with Vanderbilt University Medical Center – Levine was inspired to explore how Healing Housing could tell its story in a similar way.
With the help of community sponsors who helped to cover the costs, they enlisted FALL, a production company based on aerial dance and movement arts, to create Where We Meet. The ticketed performances were inspired by the resilience and stories of Healing Housing clients.
So that the stigma-reducing message has a farther reach, Healing Housing is creating curriculum that features segments of the performance and a panel discussion of key topics.
Above: FALL aerial artists and dancers share a performance inspired by Healing Housing client stories at Oz Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, in August 2026. Photo courtesy of Healing Housing.
Build relationships
Think big. Get out into the larger community to find people who can teach and encourage you.
Levine suggests attending networking events, reaching out to area churches, and meeting with people who’d like to discuss your ministry – she always gains additional contacts and ideas through these interactions.
“We have to be willing to get out there and take advice from others… My experience has truly been nothing but good. People are willing to share resources. They're willing to share their difficulties, their challenges, and help people not make those same mistakes,” Levine encourages.
Healing Housing might have its roots in a United Methodist church, but they work with churches from a variety of faith traditions to fundraise, find volunteers, support clients’ individual needs, and more.
“Within Healing Housing, we all come together for the greater purpose. There is no division here. And I love that the women see that, because our goal with our spiritual formation is to show that there's nothing transactional here. We want you to find what speaks to you and calls to you, and we will provide this wonderful palette of people who have been moved spiritually through different practices. We want everyone here to feel included,” shares Levine.
Find referral partners
Establishing relationships with other organizations that serve the people you hope to support can bring fruitful programmatic collaboration.
Healing Housing works with a variety of partners to find women who need help, including the Tennessee Department of Correction, court-related programs, sex-trafficking rescue and recovery programs, and others.
“Our referral partners have really grown but all hold to the mission of serving women who are looking at being unhoused when they leave a treatment facility,” shares Levine.
Find ministry partners
Your ministry cannot fulfill every need of the people you serve. Working with partners who can come alongside you to ensure the holistic wellbeing of your clients is key.
“We could spread ourselves really thin or we could stay in the lane that we know we’re best in, that there is a big need for, and practice good neighborly love. We house for the programs that need housing, and then look to others for the areas that they are experts in.
“We have learned what the needs of our community are by listening to and observing the women. The program has really been built on their needs,” Levine says.
Healthcare is a common need. The ministry built strong relationships with non-profit partners who provide dental care, well-women exams, psychiatric care, vision assistance, auditory support, and more.
“Uprise Nashville is our vocational development partner,” mentions Levine. “We have won grants consistently to pay a vocational stipend for the women to go back to school. A lot of them end up becoming medical assistants through Uprise, which puts them through a boot camp training, and they have spiritual direction.
“[Partnerships] only help the mission grow for all of us. It’s very interesting to foundations when you’re applying for grants. They want to see collaborative thinking; they want to see partnerships. I would owe a great deal of our success to that.”
Laura Buchanan works at United Methodist Communications. Contact her by email.
This story was published on August 31, 2026.