LifePath Christian Ministries has been a part of Tiffany Glatfelter’s life since she was a kid. She’d tag along when her mom volunteered, serving food alongside her brother to the men who came in for a meal and a warm place to sleep.
Back then, LifePath went by a different name: York Rescue Mission.
But as Tiffany grew, so did the organization. They branched out into communities beyond York and began looking at how to better serve those communities.
A rescue mission deals with emergencies and crisis. It solves the immediate problem, puts out the fire, and sends people on their way.
But the people at LifePath wanted to do more. They wanted to help others transform their lives — to teach them how to put out the fires themselves, or better yet, to prevent the fires from happening at all.
Transforming lives
Tiffany, who followed in her mom’s footsteps and is now the chief operating officer at LifePath, remembers when the organization changed.
Yes, the name changed from York Rescue Mission to LifePath Christian Ministries. But the bigger change was the thinking within the organization.
“It was more of a culture shift,” she says.
LifePath Christian Ministries will always help provide immediate needs like food, shelter, and clothing. But now their programs really focus on developmental services.
Their life transformation programs are longer term and help people develop the life skills a person needs to succeed while supporting them and helping to break down barriers they may face.
That shift in organizational thinking is only about three years old, and there’s still a long way to go to get everyone — clients, donors, and community partners — on board with the change. But Tiffany says she’s already seeing positive outcomes, and she’s hopeful for what’s yet to come.
“I’m thrilled for the future,” she says. “I think that we’re on the verge of doing some incredible things in our communities and I’m just excited to be a part of that.”
Further reading
– At LifePath, more teaching, less preaching as ministry restructures lives through faith: While the Bible is at the core of the LifePath Christian Ministries program, it is in more of an academic sense, its program director says. Read more here.
– LifePath focuses on mental health in new approach to addressing homelessness: LifePath has partnered with the Rev. David Vatral of Life and Light Counseling in southern York County to make a bigger impact on the mental health aspect of homelessness. Read more here.