I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.
Ezekiel 22:30 NIV
The Pathway Project was founded in 2013, but the idea has been developing for a number of years, growing out of the specific desires of a group of people to serve the young adults leaving the City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico. The City of Children is an amazing place that houses, raises, and cares for around 100 children, most of whom have been placed there by the Welfare Department. Most of the children have been either abandoned, abused, or neglected, and the home provides wonderful care for physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. The children are well fed, well loved, and introduced to Jesus Christ. If a child can’t live with his/her paternal family, there is not a better place to be than the City of Children.
Unfortunately though, the welfare laws in Mexico don’t allow the children to experience much outside the walls of the City of Children, and the laws only require that children have to stay under the care of the home until they are 18. At that point, many of those teens want to have extended freedoms they can’t have while under the care of the City of Children. When they decide to leave and begin life on their own, they leave full of dreams about what they can make of their lives. However, many of them quickly find that there is a a gap — a gap between the life lived at the City of Children and the tidal wave of freedoms, opportunities, and temptations they encounter as soon as they leave.
The Pathway Project wants to stand in that gap, to serve those that are ready to leave the City of Children to begin their next phase of life. They will be at least 18 when they arrive, and they will stay until they are able to care for their own needs. Just like 18 to 20 year-old people in the United States, they are still growing up and have physical, emotional, and spiritual needs that need to be met, and those needs look differently than they did when they were children. They don’t need their meals cooked or their clothes washed for them, but they do need financial, social, and spiritual guidance.
We are going to continue the work done at the City of Children and are going to care for and love these young adults as they continue to grow while we help usher them into adulthood. We are going to “build up the walls” and stand in the gap for these young people, and we invite you to join us on that journey.