About Us

Learn more about Hagar's Sisters

Hagar's Sisters Vision

Hagar’s Sisters Vision: ending the cycle of abuse through the transforming power of God

Mission: Motivated by God’s lovingkindness, Hagar’s Sisters cultivates the emotional and spiritual healing of women impacted by intimate partner abuse, empowering them through care planning, education, and compassionate community.

Intended Impact: Christian women in Boston and beyond affected by intimate partner abuse are empowered to establish a safe and spiritually vibrant life within the context of continuing and lasting healing.

Hagar's Sisters Board of Directors

Katherine Peterson, Board Chair
Joyce Shetler Holt, Founding President, Executive Director
Susanna Lennox, Treasurer
Rev. Ruth Richards
Stuart Williams
Nancy Torti
Merrill Noble
Rev. HoJin Yoo
Dr. Jocelyn Gainers
H. Harold Lee, Esq.

Our History

The Early Years

Hagar’s Sisters began after five women from a single church met together and realized they each experienced abuse from their Christian husbands. As the years progressed, more women were invited to join their search for information, education, and wisdom from God. What started with a few, grew to include hundreds of women meeting together in two Boston-area locations to encourage each other, learn, and heal.

In Recent Years

As word about Hagar’s Sisters spread, more women from beyond the Boston area wanted to attend. After much prayer and discussion, leadership took a bold step to pause services, develop, and transition the program to a revolutionary online platform called the Sister Portal. Since the launch in 2020, women from 22 states and 3 countries connected with Hagar’s Sisters. As we look in 2025, plans are unfolding to reach more women than ever before.

Who is Hagar?

In the US, nearly 20 people are abused EVERY MINUTE. That’s 10 million people per year.

This woman could be your neighbor, pours your coffee at the local cafe, or even sits next to you in church.

Abuse isn’t new. Over 4,000 years ago, a story told in Genesis 16 reveals a woman named Hagar, a maid of Sarah, who was forced to sleep with her husband, Abraham so he and Sarah could have a child – Hagar’s child. But when Hagar got pregnant, Sarah became jealous and abused her. So, Hagar ran away.

It was in the desert stopped where an angel of God found her. He called her by name and asked, “Where have you come from, and where are you planning to go?” She told him she was running away. Then the angel told her “You’re pregnant, and you need to go home. Trust me: I am going to give you many children and many descendants, so many you won’t be able to count them!”

Stunned, Hagar experienced God’s care for her – a woman, a slave, a foreigner. God saw and saved her. The Bible tells us she named him El Roi, The God Who Sees. He cotninues to see and save women who experience abuse today.

Too often, those who experience domestic violence feel like no one sees them. Or worse, they wish no one did. It’s easy to feel unlovable and inconsequential when the one closest to you routinely mistreats you.

Our name serves as a reminder that we see these women because  many of us are them, women who experienced abuse by someone they love. That’s why we call women who receive our services “Sisters”. We are committed to help women break free of a life of fear and abuse where they know that God sees them, too, and wants to give them hope and a future.