We've been working in the prisons now for a couple of years, but this year we felt God calling us to go deeper in all the base ministries. We restructured our system into four main ministries...youth, family, church and prisons.In the prisons ministry, the team took time to seek God's heart for this year. What was his vision for the prisoners and the prison community? Were we on the right track in what we were already doing, or was there something more or different?
Showing "The Passion" in the prison community (prisoners in yellow)
As we listened to the Lord, He showed us that we needed a two-handed approach in the prison ministry...
1 John 3:16-18 says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
We prayed some more for ideas of what that love in action looked like, and came up with a number of things, but for the sake of this post, I just want to highlight 3:
1. Provide English as a Second Language and Literacy training for prisoners
2. Connect released prisoners with Vocational Training programmes to help rehabilitate them back into society
3. Run the Alpha Course with the various groups within the prison community, including, prisoners, Prison Warders, and Prison Warders' spouses (mainly wives).
There were other objectives we felt God put on our hearts, but I highlighted these 3 because of a newspaper clipping I saw about a week after we had drafted our prison ministry proposal.
This is the clipping...pay special attention to paragraph 2:
This article seemed to confirm exactly what God had already been speaking to us. It was as if He was saying, "See! You are hearing right from me. We're in this together."
What an unexpected blessing, and valuable affirmation of what God is doing in the prisons.
To top it off, our team went for our regular Thursday discipleship time at Giligil prison, and one of the prisoners handed us a rolled up newspaper. After having it checked by the Deputy Officer in Charge, we found that inside was a hand-painted batik of two women dancing under a coconut tree.
"It's a picture of women giving glory to God," the prisoner, Simon, said. "You people have been coming here for long, now, and caring for us. This is just a small token of our appreciation for all you people have done for us prisoners."
For the first time ever, we received a gift from a prisoner. Not that it is about getting anything back...it's not! But it was especially touching to us that this prisoner, who has nothing and lives in challenging circumstances, would give us something. We were so humbled. What could we say? Thank you didn't seem sufficient.
And this is why we labor there...because every one of these men, women and children in the prison community is made in the image of God, and He calls them 'son' and 'daughter.' They are our brothers and sisters, and Jesus has shown us the example, that we must lay down our lives for our brethren.
That is what love is...God's love in us flowing out to bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. May His love be more abundant in us as we follow His lead.
And may the glory be His alone.
********
Opportunities: If you have a heart for prison ministry, ESL or literacy training, vocational training or teaching the Word of God, please pray about joining hands with us in YWAM Arua.
'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.'
We would love to hear from you! E-mail us at: ywamarua at yahoo dot com
This article seemed to confirm exactly what God had already been speaking to us. It was as if He was saying, "See! You are hearing right from me. We're in this together."
What an unexpected blessing, and valuable affirmation of what God is doing in the prisons.
To top it off, our team went for our regular Thursday discipleship time at Giligil prison, and one of the prisoners handed us a rolled up newspaper. After having it checked by the Deputy Officer in Charge, we found that inside was a hand-painted batik of two women dancing under a coconut tree.
"It's a picture of women giving glory to God," the prisoner, Simon, said. "You people have been coming here for long, now, and caring for us. This is just a small token of our appreciation for all you people have done for us prisoners."
For the first time ever, we received a gift from a prisoner. Not that it is about getting anything back...it's not! But it was especially touching to us that this prisoner, who has nothing and lives in challenging circumstances, would give us something. We were so humbled. What could we say? Thank you didn't seem sufficient.
And this is why we labor there...because every one of these men, women and children in the prison community is made in the image of God, and He calls them 'son' and 'daughter.' They are our brothers and sisters, and Jesus has shown us the example, that we must lay down our lives for our brethren.
That is what love is...God's love in us flowing out to bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. May His love be more abundant in us as we follow His lead.
And may the glory be His alone.
********
Opportunities: If you have a heart for prison ministry, ESL or literacy training, vocational training or teaching the Word of God, please pray about joining hands with us in YWAM Arua.
'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.'
We would love to hear from you! E-mail us at: ywamarua at yahoo dot com
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