A Home Away from “Home”
Excerpted and adapted from an article written by Gatehouse Founder Dave Kronbach
Gatehouse Ministries was established in 1999 when missionaries Dave and Janet Kronbach reentered the United States from Africa to help their sons settle into college life. “…we had a growing awareness that there were important gaps to fill in our sons’ preparations to navigate American culture by themselves. Our concerns for our sons’ transitional needs were confirmed over and over again by adult MKs (Missionary Kids) and MKs just entering college.” The Kronbachs obtained a large home near Simpson University in Redding, California, and opened for residents in the fall of 1999.
Since then, each school year, the Gatehouse creates a family atmosphere in which up to ten International Students (ISs), including MKs and other Third Culture Kids (TCKs), live together and learn from one another. Our residents are young adults emerging into a journey of discovering who they really are. As the Resident Directors, we are here to facilitate that journey.
The Gatehouse is a place of spiritual, emotional and physical guardianship at a vulnerable time in a young IS’s life. As ISs leave the protection of their parents’ home and move to the US, they can be spiritually vulnerable. They may be emotionally fragile as they process the grief of farewells and separation from family and lifelong friends. Some also need physical care.
As ISs transition into the US, they need new healthy relationships, and access to resources that are found in the broader culture of America–especially in the Christian community. As Gatehouse residents connect with their new environments here, especially churches of their choice, they find a deeper meaning and purpose in their faith in Christ. Some local churches have become more aware of the unique challenges facing ISs and their families. Church members are excited to assist with our residents’ practical needs, such as building friendships, helping with a car search, assisting with finding a job, and so forth. Sometimes opportunities are available to minister in a local congregation.
The Gatehouse fees for each semester are much lower than college dorm costs, so everyone has household chores which serve the home, and remind each person that meeting his or her responsibilities affects all the residents.
By the age of 18, ISs have seen and done things that most of their American peers have never experienced. In fact, some ISs have spent much of their lives in several varied cultures. However, their international life experiences may not have included skills that we in the US take for granted, such as using an ATM, understanding American traffic laws, filling out a job application, or even doing their own laundry! The Gatehouse leadership helps ISs learn such mundane tasks, which build skills as well as strengthen self-confidence.
At the Gatehouse, our relationships with our ISs build a level of trust, allowing us to speak into these precious young lives. ISs have an amazing ability to see things from more than one vantage point. They may understand diversity more clearly, and have a breadth of experience in cross-cultural situations and language learning. But while the worldviews of ISs may be broader, some find difficulty in relating to the American cultures they see, which are new to them. The Gatehouse serves as a bridge of understanding, an entrance from one set of cultures to another, as well as from teenage into adulthood.
We welcome ISs from all over the world. Some years, no two residents are from the same nation! But they share certain common joys, fears, concerns and needs. The Gatehouse is a place of refuge where ISs can gain perspective on life in the United States. The Gatehouse is also a place of challenge from which they are launched into the adult world. And it is a place where they are safe, where they are understood, where they are loved.