The December 2009 issue of the GLEANER features an eye-opening look at prison ministries. Who is engaging in prison ministries? Who are they ministering to? What is the effect of their ministry. These questions and more are answered in the feature article.
But what say you? We want to hear youraccounts of prison ministries. How has this ministry touched your life? Have you participated in prison ministries. Share your thoughts and comments and watch for them to appear in an upcoming issue of the GLEANER.
STONE TOWER - I Expected
We entered though a metal gate. Our guard showed us down a hall, on a long ramp with surveillance windows all around. We passed through another metal gate which opened and clanged. Our identification was taken and our hands stamped. Someone talked to us through a glass window, and another gate opened and shut, and another. We entered an inside yard. Men walked about in blue, stamped clothing. Then our guard showed us to the left and up a stairwell.
Elder Loewen and I climbed the long stairs of Stone Tower – “exactly 66 steps” he said “ - one for each chapter of the Bible.” Sunlight streamed onto the cement stairwell, a bird sang just below or above – another reminder we were - on the INSIDE. “This is the oldest prison in Oregon and Ellen White visited here once,” said Elder Loewen.
The stairwell opened and we went down a corridor to a conference area , much like an empty church Sabbath School room.
Whatever I was expecting to find in Stone Tower – I didn’t. Instead of the stereotypical “wife-beating, toothless, un-attractive members of society I expected,” I found ─ clean-cut, nice-looking, bright, well- read, happy men.
The inmates began our church service by leading a rousing song service. They “raced” through choruses, words and notes, much like excited Pathfinders leading hymns around a campfire . I had to pinch myself to remember I wasn’t sitting beside a fire –but the metals on the windows, brought me back. I saw men, who had been incarcerated for 30 years, smiling, laughing and talking about their hope in Jesus. One man showed me a key to his cell (a status symbol among inmates, denoting an internal honor role). He showed it to me, much like a young boy with a new set of car keys. Another commented he read my articles in the GLEANER. A third expressed concern and care for Kathy (Elder Loewen’s wife and fellow prison ministry volunteer). Some inmates even worried about OUR safety on the OUTSIDE. I am ashamed to say, the inmates can locate their Bible texts faster than even people at church, and many can recite whole portions of the Bible. I have never seen men pray so earnestly. I have never seen such hope and I have never seen so much pride about being princes of the Most High God.
And whatever I expected─ and didn’t see,
The thing that continues haunting me;
Is … and forever will be,
Those people in Stone Tower —–
Are people just like you and me!
Cindy R. Chamberlin, 2009
Why I Volunteer in Prison Ministries
By Pattric Parris
The Prison Ministry Leader at the church where I attend asked if I wanted to go to the Juvenile Facility to put on a program the next Sunday. I said “yes,” but really I didn’t have a clue as to what I was in for. We arrived at the Hillcrest in Salem, Ore., were given visitor’s badges, and then escorted through two gates, and walked a short distance to the “chapel.”
When the youth came in, I was instantly shocked by the innocent faces of the first group who were young ladies. Some looked 20 and many more looked like they were only 11 or 13 years old. These young ladies come from unstable homes, many had been abused both physically and mentally, and some were from violent gangs and began abusing drugs and were forced into selling their bodies to survive. Then the young men filed in, leaving me with the same impression as the ladies. The blank looks, the hopelessness in their young eyes, the small in stature, ─ these were timid and afraid, yet showed a “toughness” I was not use to seeing.
What should I say to these broken “children”─ not yet adults and some not even teenagers? This wasn’t the youth class at church; this was not Vacation Bible School. They were not going to hear the word, sing a closing song, pray and go back to a delicious “Sabbath” meals in comfortable homes. They were going to return to their “rooms” with many beds, eat at certain times, follow a time-driven routine and might not hear about Jesus again.
I realized I must bring Jesus to them in a way they could understand: 1) In spite of finding themselves in these walls, God loves them and He is watching out for them. 2) He wants to save them and take them home to live with Him forever. 3) He has forgiven them. So when it as my turn to speak, yes I was the speaker for the session “Surprise.” I simply told them Jesus has not forgotten them and we are going together to discover just who He is and what He can do for them in their lives right where they were.
In Matthew 25:36 Jesus said” “Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” I first went in, in 1996 and I am still going to Hillcrest today. I have just recently completed a class allowing me to go in any time during the week to give Bible studies. Those young ones who were there in 1996 hopefully have gone on to live productive lives.