God is moving in prisons. As our team share the love and hope of Jesus with those in prison, they’re not only seeing lives transformed but men and women becoming so desperate to share their new faith that they’re telling others about God, and seeing even more people are coming to know him!
We caught up with prisons worker Emma, and heard just a couple of the stories from the past few weeks.
‘I’ve been getting to know Davi* who’s been coming along to our Bible study group. He’s recently got a peer job within the prison, which allows him to meet many prisoners like him on the wings. His main role is to direct men to different support that’s available to them and it’s a very respected role in the prison. When talking about it with him, I encouraged Davi that in his new role, he should pray about how God could use him and ask him to give Davi opportunities to share his faith. Within a couple of days Davi, came up to me and said he’d been able to share his faith with a man on the wing and it was a brilliant conversation. He was so excited that God had used him and he’s hoping the other prisoner would come to Alpha!
‘I just love seeing disciples making disciples and this is what’s been happening with Oliver and Jerry. I was recently chatting with Oliver about his faith and encouraged him to be bold and share the gospel with others. I mentioned that I’d been chatting with another lad Jerry about faith too and he seemed interested, so I gently encouraged Oliver to strike up a conversation with Jerry so that they could chat about Jesus together.
‘I ran through the4points with Oliver which explains the gospel in easy steps and he asked me, ‘Can I share it with Jerry in front of you so that I can get it right?’ I said that it isn’t about the right thing to say, but just grabbing the opportunity to say it. After that, he seemed excited and ready and just as I was leaving the wing, I could see Oliver approaching Jerry!
‘I later found out that Oliver had shared the gospel with Jerry, and given him a Bible. As he’d done this, Jerry responded and gave his life to Jesus! How amazing. I caught up with Jerry and he told me, ‘I can already see a change in me. Usually, I’m really negative and always think the worst-case scenario. This week my cell mate was anxious about something and where I’d normally of catastrophised the situation, I was peaceful and positive and assured my cell mate that it would all be fine’.
‘The next week, I wasn’t able to come into the prison to do the usual Bible study on a Wednesday but found out that Oliver and Jerry ran it themselves, inviting along some of their mates to hear about Jesus too – wow! Even better, two of those who came along were Pete and Rhys who were new to the prison. Pete told me that he’d been sharing his faith with Rhys who’d recently also started reading his Bible and now all four of them were excited to come every week to Bible study to find out more! I can’t wait to see what God does in the lives of these lads.
‘Do be praying for them as they continue to grow in faith and share about Jesus with others. And please pray for our Alpha course that we’re running in prison in South Wales. We have 18 people coming along and are having great conversations!’
