Our Story
It started with three phone numbers and a backyard full of moms in 2020. Here's how it grew into Gen16.
The ministry to teen moms in New Brunswick began as Young Lives in 2020. We knew the city was ripe with opportunity to serve because of a day care that served the children of students at the high school. With the phone numbers of three teen moms on a list, Amy jumped in headfirst as a Young Lives staff member that June. In the midst of a pandemic, the ministry looked different than usual, with Zoom camp, clubs, and the occasional one-on-one hangout in the park. Nevertheless, the number of moms we were connected with grew. In March 2021, in the backyard of a volunteer, we hosted our first official gathering — known as Club — for New Brunswick. Eleven moms attended along with a few childcare volunteers, and as they left, they asked if we'd do it again. We planned on it — every month, in fact.
The months progressed, along with various iterations of Club in different outdoor settings, churches, and parks. Our numbers grew in terms of both teen moms and volunteers. We attended our first camp trip with five moms, and three moms gave their lives to Christ. Jacob's Well extended a generous offer to host our gatherings at the church every month. As we continued to meet with regularity, something amazing began to happen: the moms spread the word about the ministry to each other. Soon, moms began to bring their friends, sisters, cousins, and neighbors who were pregnant or had a child. By 2023, our numbers had swelled to 30 moms and their children at Club, making the New Brunswick chapter the largest Young Lives chapter in the eastern region of the country. By 2026, we had served 108 teen moms in New Brunswick and 114 children. We've been fortunate to receive texts announcing the births of brand-new babies. We participated in the baptism of one mom and witnessed the gradual sanctification of many others.
Over the last five years, Amy began to notice the problems faced by the majority of the moms in the ministry. Many faced housing insecurity, sometimes resulting in homelessness. Most experienced food insecurity, or the financial strain that comes with providing diapers and wipes. Many were victims of domestic violence, but felt they had nowhere else to go and remained in unsafe living situations. They all had to choose among continuing their own education, caring for their child, or providing financially.
All were in desperate need of a mentor to walk them through the difficult transition of adolescence to adulthood with a baby in tow.
Mike and Amy began to think about creative solutions to these issues, and to prayerfully consider founding a new nonprofit to move beyond the scope of Young Lives. After seeking counsel from friends, family, and pretty much every person dedicated to the mission of Young Lives, they decided that God was pushing them forward into a new venture to care for young mothers in a new way.
One doesn't need to search much to find stories of God caring for women facing unexpected pregnancies in the Bible — Tamar, or Mary herself. But the story of Hagar, found in Genesis 16, is perhaps the closest biblical parallel to a teenager facing an unplanned pregnancy today. Pregnant not of her own choosing, Hagar finds herself in the wilderness, cast out of her home and rejected by everyone around her. God finds her and draws close to her, and she in turn does something no other person in Scripture does: she gives God a name. She names him El Roi — the God who sees me.
Hagar's story is similar to the stories of many of the teen moms of New Brunswick, who are often rejected by society and their community, living in the most difficult season of their life. We founded Gen16 to be the hands and feet of El Roi. We want these mothers to know there is a God who looks on them with compassion rather than condemnation, who wants to see them flourish.
The ultimate goal of Gen16 remains the same as Young Lives': for every teen mom to hear the good news of God's love for them. Gen16 will also help meet the vast number of material needs of these moms and children through various initiatives. We pray that they can look at the body of believers surrounding them and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is a God who sees them.
We hope that whether through your time, prayer, or finances, you will join with us in this pursuit.
“You are the God who sees me.” Genesis 16 : 13