Prison Ministry
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42: 6b-7
God has called us in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all nations and many have gone out into the mission field to do this, but sometimes the mission field is nearer home here in our own nation, and for some of us in King’s Church that mission field is in our local prisons.
Over the last year a small group of King’s Church members have been going into a young offenders institute near Warrington to share the gospel with young men who by their own actions have found themselves confined at Her Majesty’s pleasure. These young men range in age from 18 to 25 and many have already been in prison more than once.
One Sunday each month, working alongside a group of like-minded believers from churches across Greater Manchester, we host a morning service in the prison chapel. The response to the lively praise and worship and punchy but challenging gospel that is preached has been amazing, and we have seen many young men respond to the message of hope that Jesus brings.
There have been some open air water baptisms this year where a number of the young men have been able to publicly display their new found faith in front of the whole prison community.
In February we began a discipling class on Tuesday evenings and this has provided a forum for some challenging questions, particularly from among the Muslim inmates who occasionally come along. In fact we have had one or two who have made a decision to follow Jesus, praise God.
We have also begun a drop-in session on Tuesday afternoons where the guys can come along for a one to one chat. These sessions are really valuable as many of these young men have never had the opportunity to just talk and be listened to. Some of the toughest-looking characters are really broken on the inside, but when the Holy Spirit begins to move upon them you can almost see them changing in front of you.
We recently spent nearly three hours talking with two guys sharing all kinds of deep stuff and then at the end of the session they were both prayed with for Baptism in the Holy Spirit. When they came back for the evening class you could already see the difference in both of them.
We thank God for the opportunity to do this wonderful work and for the blessing of seeing lives changed as they encounter the love of Christ.
Robert Herbert
