am new to Prison Fellowship. While I have been following them and their stories for over two years, it has only been about two months that I have officially been involved.
We are called to these places. The great commission was never meant to be easy. And going into the uttermost parts of the earth includes going into the prisons. But the very real and exciting truth about prison ministry is the reality that God is moving. He is moving in mighty and powerful ways in the least of these.
Prison ministries is not one of the more glamorous ministries. It is rough, and messy and it involves messy people who are broken. It is people who have chosen a path that has hurt themselves and others. It is the downright ugly. It can be the worst of the worst. And yet, the cross also bled for them.
It involves people, that by all accounts, are easily discarded. People that cause us to pause and question humanity. People that challenge us. They are the ones we don’t want to think about, and the ones society can easily toss aside. And I get it.
These folks have been removed from society and are set apart from the general populations for a reason. Lawbreakers. criminals. Men and women who have abandoned the boundaries that have been put in place to maintain and protect society. They have been tried, convicted, and are serving a sentence that has been deemed fair and just. They are paying their required debt to society. They are set apart for any given length of time depending on their crime. Many are sent away for years, decades. Many are sentenced for life.
It is a prickly place because where there is crime, there are often victims. And being a victim changes a person. Regardless of time, healing and even counseling, lives are never the same. Often, many walk through each day just trying to survive. My heart does break for those people who have been victimized and I would never minimize the pains endured.
The power of the fall is something we will never fully comprehend. That power works through the hearts of mankind to destroy and our enemy uses people to achieve his plan. My prayer is for ultimate healing and restoration. I will always stand in the gap for them.
But for many that are incarcerated, the labels they wear are ones that bear an image of a person they long to escape. They are permanently attached to their past even when they are released. They are tethered to decisions and choices they can’t erase. Their identity is solidified, and the guilt, shame and stigma of their crime is the bubble they live. And that is the reality for those behind the wire.
Yesterday was April 30th. For most folks, it was just another day in a month on the calendar. But for Prison Fellowship, it ended their annual monthlong campaign. April is a significant month. A month of hope. April is Second Chance Month.
What is Second Chance month? Second Chance month raises awareness and improves perceptions of people with a criminal record. It encourages second chance opportunities and drives momentum for policy change throughout the country.
It is a beautiful thing when second chances are given. Bringing hope to the hopeless through second chances restores humanity to those who have long existed as just a number.
Second chance is also the story of the Bible. From cover-to-cover, it is God’s redemptive plan for a fallen debased people. It is God’s redeeming and restorative gift wrapped in the blood of Jesus. It is God making beauty out of ashes. It is God restoring what the locust have eaten. I believe in second chances. I think we are all in need of second chances whether we are behind bars or not.
Prisons are called rehabilitation or correctional facilities. But in my opinion, I don’t think there is a lot of correction that happens behind the bars. I think it is an entirely different world that most of us don’t want to know about. As much as we want to believe these folks are being prepared for reentry, I don’t think that is a priority. Like many systems, it is broken. And I get it, prisons are understaffed and over-populated. They do the best they can with what they have and hope it works….
But where the prison system is failing, Prison Fellowship is succeeding. There are men and women committed to their mission of restoring those people behind bars. There are folks determined to bring the hope of Jesus to the least of these. There are committed to bringing the Word of God to these dark places. They believe in second chances. They see the ones nobody wants to see.
The Gospel is being preached. The word is going forward. Men and women are being discipled. They are growing in Christ in every possible way. Lives are changing and families are being restored. They are learning discernment as they study the word. They are learning the meaning and power of repentance and how they need that in their lives. They worship. They lead worship! The restorative healing and power that only Jesus Christ can offer is spreading throughout these unlikely places and revival happening.
The work being done through Prison Fellowship is making a powerful difference. And that difference is spilling over as they leave and reenter into society. Society is a rough place too. For many of them, it is far more dangerous than prison. The chains cut by Christ pose a great threat to his kingdom and Satan is determined to finish what he started in them.
But Prison Fellowship is determined otherwise. They are bringing to the surface the dire need for reentry care. Isn’t this what we are called to do?
Second chance month isn’t really just a month. As Christ mercy is spilled over with second, third, fourth chances we are called to extend that same opportunity for change. After all, but for the grace of God Go I …..
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