I recently had the opportunity to hear a speaker talk about prison ministry. I can’t remember his name, but his presentation connected with what I knew about prison ministry through my work with Angel Tree Camps in NC and The Department of Juvenile Justice and prisoner packets in SC, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. The thing is: he didn’t just talk about prison ministry. He talked about ministry in general. And life. And he was very real. And his words gave me a lot to consider. Maybe they will do the same for you?
Prison ministries need prayer. The system is messed up. It is broken. We need prayer to fix it. It’s the only thing that can, actually.
One of the things that persons in prison don’t often get to do is give. Giving prisoners the opportunity to give is life giving.
Reentry is tough. Nationwide, up to 2/3’s of persons released from prison will return to prison. The transition from prison to life is shocking. A lot of times, when persons are used to community living (like jail/prison), it’s hard to transition to individual living. A lot of people don’t know how to make this transition. Furthermore, in some people, the fight or flight instinct is so developed that it’s their go-to. A lot of freed prisoners aren’t sure how to act when they return to the work and educational settings of society—if they are even granted those opportunities. As a result, many persons shut down, fight, or leave. Unfortunately, persons who work in rehabilitation are not valued—especially with funding. This is where the church must come in. We must work in areas of prevention, treatment, and mediation to first keep persons out of prison and to second help persons who have been jailed slowly transition back to society. The church has the unique ability to succeed in prison ministry by continuously showing up. We have the unique ability to provide the structure and routine that so many people need. This may be difficult. And it may get messy. But the church can make a huge difference in helping persons live truly free.
It’s difficult to see people not cooperating. It’s difficult to listen to people complain about one another and not know when/how to speak. Yet sometimes in the ministry, we treat others as adversaries—especially when it comes to the issues of funding and volunteers. Sometimes in ministry, defenses immediately go up when someone talks about the needs of his/her ministry and we become protective of our own. Yet. God cooperates with all who seek to follow God’s plan of redemption for this world. And. God does not try to coerce or guilt us into joining God’s mission.
In every class, there are five students who love us, five students who hate us, and twenty-five students who are neutral. We, as teachers, must show up for all of them, yes. But we must show up especially for the twenty-five who are neutral. The ones who love us probably don’t really love us so we can’t allow them to falsely boost our egos. The ones who hate us probably don’t really hate us so we can’t allow them to falsely tear us down. The ones in the middle are the ones who willingly journey with and learn alongside us. The ones in the middle are the ones who balance out the extremes and keep us sane.
One of the biggest challenges we face in ministry is being a differentiated self while remaining connected to the system.
Everyone is trying to survive. We never know what’s going on in people’s lives.
Even when it seems that God is not working, God is. There is always hope in God’s redemptive story.
We must experience a lot of Good Fridays and Holy Saturdays before we arrive at Easter.
Often, it’s the sighs and groans from the Spirit that remind us that we’re here for a reason. Sometimes all we can hear and all we can give are the sighs and groans.
Peace isn’t part of the gospel. It is the gospel. It’s what Jesus, Prince of Peace, called us to. It is assumed in Christianity: We are peacemakers. Yet. We can all be very violent in ways that don’t involve hitting or shooting one another. And peace is not the same as complacency. Sometimes peace involves action.
Only speak if what you have to say will add to the silence.
At this time in your life, which of these points resonates most with you?
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