About Us
Mission Statement
Living into the loving presence and life-changing reality of Jesus Christ.
Our Purpose
Reality Ministries is a community-based non-profit with an emphasis on holistic education and collective transformation. Staff and volunteers are committed to developing meaningful relationships with at-risk youth, as well as teens and adults with cognitive impairments. Our goal is for the Reality Center to be reflective of God’s heart for humanity, a safe place with no margins where everyone is accepted and valued.
Reality Scriptural and Theological Grounding
History of Reality Ministries
Reality Ministries Inc. was born in December 2007, birthed by a vision for all participants to know that the deepest reality of our lives is God’s love for us in Jesus Christ – that together we might grow in grace to personally know the Lord to whom we all belong.
From its inception Reality has focused on the overlooked and under-served populations in Durham, beginning with the cognitively impaired. Tuesday Night Live (TNL) has been a weekly fixture of Reality programming from the beginning.
In May, 2008 Reality purchased an old church building on the edge of downtown, across from a public high school. The building was newly christened The Reality Center and upfitting began in preparation for the coming school year. Our first TNL Day Camp took place at The Reality Center in August of 2008.
A few weeks later the RC doors were flung open to receive our first after-school students. After-school programming originally took the form of recreation in the game room and on the basketball court; a fledgling tutoring program was started, as were some optional small group Christian leadership gatherings – Real Leaders and Beauty of the Spirit (precursors to Real Men and Real Women).
It didn’t take us long to realize that Reality’s ministry with Durham’s overlooked was undergoing a significant adjustment to include not only those with disabilities but also disadvantaged youth from the inner-city who were flooding into the RC every day.
Relationships between staff and volunteers and our friends of all types unavoidably deepened through all the shared experiences at the Reality Center; this was enhanced by off-site programming in the summer, beginning with the Reality Road Trip of 2008. The next summer saw the launch of our camp trips for our special needs friends (River’s Way) and the first Experience Reality Camp for the after-school students followed in 2010.
2010 was a year of expansion for Reality Ministries, as an official decision was made to waive the upper age limit for our special needs participants (now called Real Friends). The program doubled in size as group homes began to bring more and more older participants. Additional weekly options for Real Friends like Pass the Peas and small group Bible studies help to distribute the increasing numbers.
Another edge of growth in 2010 was the folding-in of New Horizons Academy under the Reality Ministries’ organizational banner. New Horizons is our independent, tuition-free school housed upstairs at The Reality Center. It serves students who for whatever reason have not succeeded in public high school and provides them a nurturing environment and a “last chance” opportunity to earn a high school diploma.
Education has always been a vital emphasis for Reality in its mission to grow our participants holistically into all that God has created them to be. Besides New Horizons, other Reality drop-out prevention programs are gaining traction, namely initiatives with Durham Public Schools to serve teen moms and students on short-term suspensions. Most recently Reality added an enrichment program, Daytime at the RC, for adults with developmental disabilities. It is a joy to welcome local artists, musicians and others to lead classes.
We are grateful to have hundreds of volunteers who are dedicated to sharing the love of Christ with our participants, and we will continue to do everything possible to collaborate with others in Durham who have a similar calling. As the Lord leads!