This week is Prisons Week, a week where Christians across the country pray for those living and working in prison, as well as their families and their victims. Join us in praying for our prisons teams as they come alongside people in prison, and for those they’re working with as they discover more about how loved they are by God.
Today, we wanted to highlight some of the amazing stories of lives transformed by God in prison.
Prisons worker, Elisha, has been seeing God do amazing things through Ian’s life. She first met him on a Peacemakers course she was running in the prison. When Ian started coming along, he was known as a very violent, high-risk person. Over the course of the programme, God has changed him, and Ian is now so peaceful, and he hasn’t caused any violent incidents.
Recently, Ian’s teenage son also went to prison, at the same age Ian was when he was first given a custodial sentence. This prompted Ian to find Elisha for a chat and together they prayed about how Jesus can change things for him and his family. Ian said, ‘I’m going to keep praying for my son to meet with Jesus in prison and I want to make a change in my life so that my cycles don’t repeat in the next generation.’ How amazing!
As well as running faith-based courses, prisons worker Abi has been running a drama group to build relationships with the women she works with. Freya had been coming along and, as they got to know each other, Abi invited her to an event where Nick Shalavi was performing a spoken word and sharing how God’s transformed his life. As he shared the gospel, three women gave their lives to Jesus.
Whilst Freya wasn’t one of these, she said she wanted to join the4points course and came along to every session. At the end of the course, Freya asked for a Bible and then went up to Abi and asked if she could come to Alpha course she was running. As she came to each session and asked her questions about faith, she decided that she wanted to follow Jesus! Abi got to pray with her as Freya gave her life to God.
Not only do our teams support men and women whilst they’re in prison, they’re also on hand for every step of their release and resettlement, providing support and discipleship.
During his time in prison, Message in Prisons worker Emma journeyed with Joshua, regularly meeting up with him to talk about the Bible and answer his questions about faith. Joshua told Emma, ‘I’m so grateful for you working with me. You’ve helped me find my faith!’
After his release, despite facing some difficulties including homelessness, Joshua decided to go along to the church that Emma had connected him in with while he was in prison. Since then, he’s got stuck in with church life, grown in his faith and told Emma, ‘I wouldn’t be where I am today without my church. They’re my new family. Now I’m living with my mum again and our relationship is so much better. I’ve even got a carpentry internship that I’m loving. It feels like I’m learning the trade that Jesus did!’ It’s amazing to see the transformation in him and how much his faith is growing and influencing his life.
Another lad who’s continued growing in his faith since leaving prison is Kev. After our team connected him in with a local church, he’s been going along every week to find out more about Jesus and is plugged into discipleship. Kev’s grown so much in his faith and love for God that he’s now doing evangelism training and will soon be heading out on mission to Nepal to share the good news of Jesus with others!
These are just a snapshot of the stories coming out of our ever-growing prisons ministry across the country. In just the last year, the team have seen 231 people respond to the gospel and give their lives to Jesus. Please do be praying for our prisons workers, and those they work with, as they continue to share the love and hope of God.
