Tonight I participated in the winter conference call of the Prison Congregations of America board of directors. We have financial challenges, as many nonprofit organizations after the Great Recession. But the ministry we support — supporting the creation of worshipping communities of faith within prison walls — is growing.
PCA began in 1984, after a white Lutheran pastor named Ed Nesselhuf was called to serve as chaplain in a women’s prison in Maryland where most of the inmates were black. The Lord, they say, works in mysterious ways.
And so the Lord did. By the work of the Spirit, PCA has grown today to include congregations in 11 states, with a twelfth congregation under development in Montana.
One of my fellow board members is Rich Rienstra, who started a prison congregation in Michigan. He shared with the board news of a new report about the value of visiting prisoners. The report showed showed that visiting people in prison can help reduce reoffense rates after their release.
Rienstra cited Pat Nolan of Prison Fellowship Justice Fellowship as his source for this information. When I googled it, however, I found that the recidivism report was actually done by the Minnesota Department of Corrections. It was released in November 2011.
The title of the study is studiedly objective in tone: “The Effects of Prisoner Visitation on Offender Recidivism.” For Christians, though, the subtext is clearly Matthew 25, where Jesus urges us to visit those imprison and promises to be found there.
Showing posts with label prison ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prison ministry. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Earth Stood Hard as Iron
Tonight my friend Lynne sang In the Bleak Midwinter at 5 o'clock worship. It was very affecting; a beautiful song, beautifully sung.
In the bleak midwinter,
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone.
Christina Rosetti was not writing about prison on a literal level. She was writing about the moment before the Incarnation, before a people in darkness saw a great light.
Figuratively, however, Rosetti's imagery evokes the winter of the heart that prison must be. The isolation and hopeless desperation experienced by many inmates are hard for those of us on the outside to understand. But we should not doubt the depth of the despair within the walls.
Prison ministry seeks to respond to this terrible void, in a place where all seems hard as iron. That is why I serve as a board member of Prison Congregations of America, which works to organize church communities within prisons.
In such a community, centered on Christ, the spirit flows. Water is no longer like a stone, but rather a cup of kindness to each storm-tossed soul.
In the bleak midwinter,
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone.
Christina Rosetti was not writing about prison on a literal level. She was writing about the moment before the Incarnation, before a people in darkness saw a great light.
Figuratively, however, Rosetti's imagery evokes the winter of the heart that prison must be. The isolation and hopeless desperation experienced by many inmates are hard for those of us on the outside to understand. But we should not doubt the depth of the despair within the walls.
Prison ministry seeks to respond to this terrible void, in a place where all seems hard as iron. That is why I serve as a board member of Prison Congregations of America, which works to organize church communities within prisons.
In such a community, centered on Christ, the spirit flows. Water is no longer like a stone, but rather a cup of kindness to each storm-tossed soul.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Reaction to Eric's Forgotten Fifth Entry
The model of prison ministry set forth by Prison Congregations of America is among the healthiest out there. This is not about good hearted people coming in for a revival and then leaving, even though there is a place for this kind of faith expression as well. The PCA model is the difference between the mountain-top and the plain. In prison, there are all kinds of opportunities for the mountain top experience - events with lots of music and energy and food. I remember such experiences in my own life. I remember going to Bible camp and being filled with the Spirit to the point of tears. Then I would come home and within a week some of the excitement had started to wear off - I was tumbling off of the mountain onto the plain. So it is in prison. What happens when the event is done, and the reality of prison sets in? Too often the inmates feel as though, not only have they disappointed people they loved and society in general, but they must also be a disappointment to God because they can't seem to keep the fire burning. In those post-Bible-camp-tumbling-unto-the-plain days of long ago, I found my renewal in my congregation. It was there I was reminded that the Spirit is alive and well in me and in those around me. So it is in prison IF the inmates are lucky enough to have a real denominationally organized congregation to which they belong. The PCA model is healthy and offers opportunities for inmates to build skill sets that will serve them well on the outside, for 95% of them WILL be one day on the outside. For more information about this ministry model, contact me or check out our website, www.prisoncongregations.org.
Monday, September 21, 2009
The Forgotten Fifth
In the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion, Jesus is put to death with a criminal hanging on either side of him.
The two criminals’ responses were very different, according to Luke (23:39-43). One of them derided Jesus, taunting him and mocking his unwillingness to come down from the cross if he were truly the Messiah. The other criminal − called Dismas (or Dysmas) in Christian tradition − answered the first, pointing out Jesus’s innocence.
After this exchange, Jesus turned to Dismas and said "today, you will be with me in Paradise."
Fittingly, ministry to and among prisoners has embraced the Dismas name. One group engaging in this important work is Prison Congregations of America, which helps to develop congregations within prison walls. Several of them have taken the St. Dismas name, including congregations in Maryland, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania.
In July, I had the chance to spend a few days at Outlaw Ranch in the Black Hills with Ed Nesselhuf, a Lutheran pastor who was instrumental in founding Prison Congregations. He spoke movingly of how prisoners are so often “the forgotten fifth” among the injunctions given by Jesus to his followers in Matthew 25:
Feed the hungry
Welcome the stranger
Clothe the naked
Care for the sick
Visit the prisoner
Inmates, in other words, are an integral a part of Jesus’ ministry. They have been right from the start, when Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in his hometown of Nazareth and chose a passage proclaiming release to the captives.
Last year, my friend Mary Mortenson took over as director of Prison Congregations after Ed Nesselhuf retired. The challenge is not only to create congregations inside the walls, but also to link them to those outside the walls to renew and make strong the body of Christ.
Dear reader, do you feel called to get involved in this profoundly Christian mission? Contact Mary at Prison Congregations to ask how you can get involved.
The two criminals’ responses were very different, according to Luke (23:39-43). One of them derided Jesus, taunting him and mocking his unwillingness to come down from the cross if he were truly the Messiah. The other criminal − called Dismas (or Dysmas) in Christian tradition − answered the first, pointing out Jesus’s innocence.
After this exchange, Jesus turned to Dismas and said "today, you will be with me in Paradise."
Fittingly, ministry to and among prisoners has embraced the Dismas name. One group engaging in this important work is Prison Congregations of America, which helps to develop congregations within prison walls. Several of them have taken the St. Dismas name, including congregations in Maryland, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania.
In July, I had the chance to spend a few days at Outlaw Ranch in the Black Hills with Ed Nesselhuf, a Lutheran pastor who was instrumental in founding Prison Congregations. He spoke movingly of how prisoners are so often “the forgotten fifth” among the injunctions given by Jesus to his followers in Matthew 25:
Feed the hungry
Welcome the stranger
Clothe the naked
Care for the sick
Visit the prisoner
Inmates, in other words, are an integral a part of Jesus’ ministry. They have been right from the start, when Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in his hometown of Nazareth and chose a passage proclaiming release to the captives.
Last year, my friend Mary Mortenson took over as director of Prison Congregations after Ed Nesselhuf retired. The challenge is not only to create congregations inside the walls, but also to link them to those outside the walls to renew and make strong the body of Christ.
Dear reader, do you feel called to get involved in this profoundly Christian mission? Contact Mary at Prison Congregations to ask how you can get involved.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Where Two or Three or Gathered - In a Cuban Prison
The Cuban government has decided to allow group worship for Catholicis and Protestants in its prisons.
How long will it take before other groups are allowed to organize as well? Even in Cuba, after decades of repression, religious expression surely takes many forms beyond Catholic and Protestant. If Will Herzberg's Protestant, Catholic, Jew, a notable book of the 1960s, were to be updated today, it would need a much-expanded title: Protestant, Catholic, Jew - and Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Native American, Animist, Wiccan, and so on.
For me, the opportunity for dialog that this religious diversity represents is welcome. As Peter Hodgson noted in Winds of the Spirit, it is one of the important challenges of our time.
How long will it take before other groups are allowed to organize as well? Even in Cuba, after decades of repression, religious expression surely takes many forms beyond Catholic and Protestant. If Will Herzberg's Protestant, Catholic, Jew, a notable book of the 1960s, were to be updated today, it would need a much-expanded title: Protestant, Catholic, Jew - and Sikh, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Native American, Animist, Wiccan, and so on.
For me, the opportunity for dialog that this religious diversity represents is welcome. As Peter Hodgson noted in Winds of the Spirit, it is one of the important challenges of our time.
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