National Free Church Prison Chaplains' Training, 7th - 9th May 2024

Photo by Wan San Yip on Unsplash

“Our Reason for Hope”

Venue: Eastwood Hall, Mansfield Road, Eastwood, Nottingham, NG16 3SS

Price: £350

The theme for this year will be “Our Reason for Hope”, and our main speaker will be Rev Dr Joe Boot who runs “The Ezra Institute” .

“Rev. Dr.Joseph Boot (M.A., Ph.D.) is a Christian thinker and cultural apologist, Founder and President of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity. He is adjunct instructor for culture and apologetics at Bryan College, Tennessee. He also served as the founding pastor of Westminster Chapel, Toronto, for 14 years.

Now resident home in Great Britain, Joseph has worked in the fields of Christian apologetics, worldview education and church leadership for over twenty-five years on both sides of the Atlantic. He has spoken and guest lectured globally at numerous university events, seminaries, churches, colleges, and conferences. He regularly addresses pastors and Christian leaders as well as academic, medical, legal, and political professionals and has publicly debated leading atheistic thinkers and philosophers in Canada and the United States.”

Registration will start at 11:00.for lunch at 12:30, and the Opening Session at 13:30. The event will finish on the final day at 14:00.Price included the cost of each event is two nights’ accommodation and all meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

For more information, please contact Bob Wilson at bob.wilson@freechurches.org.uk

Prisons Week 2023 – Look Up!

Prisons Week is a week in October where people all over England and Wales join together in prayer for everyone affected by imprisonment. That includes prison staff, probation staff, prisoners, prisoners’ families. It includes victims of crime and communities affected by crime. It includes magistrates and politicians. There are so many of us who know someone who either lives in, works in or has been damaged by someone in prison that it probably means that we are being prayed for too! We encourage prayer for all of these people, but we also want to encourage all affected by imprisonment to pray too.

Since the 1970s, for one very special week Christians have put aside theological differences to both raise awareness and generate prayer. Since 2011 the FCG have been supporting actively this work and so are delighted to have been involved in developing materials for this year on the theme “Look Up”. The following resources can be obtained from the Prisons Week web site

-          The Prisons Week 2023 film; “Look up Child” featuring music by Lauren Daigle)

-          The Prisons Week “explainer” animation; “Why?”. This will help those new to Prisons Week or wondering why it is important to think especially about those affected by imprisonment in our prayers

-          The Prisons Week prayer poster can be used to pray during the Prisons Week and consistently use the prayers on the prayer poster throughout the year.

o   English Version

o   Welsh Version

It can be so easy to be confused, distracted, conflicted, feel alone, angry or even abandoned when we face the unique stresses of working or living in a secure environment. Psalm 19v1 encourages us to see the glory of God in the heavens. But to do this we need to look up! Looking up is a choice, and often a hard one to make. But this is at the heart of our prayers. This year our prayers have all been written by the people we are praying for and with.

In Prisons Week we would love every Christian in the country to spend some time in prayer. Will you join us at some point in a busy week to pray for others like yourself … or maybe those not like you, but who are also affected by imprisonment. Will you pray in Prisons Week that we might all look up, and together see the glory of God revealed in the most unlikely of settings! Why not start by praying the Prison Week prayer quietly as you read this now!

“Lord, you offer freedom to all people.

We pray for those in prison.

Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist.

Support with your love prisoners and their families and friends,

prison staff and all who care.

Heal those who have been wounded by the activities

of others, especially the victims of crime.

Help us to forgive one another.

To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly together with Christ

in His strength and in His Spirit, now and every day”

Amen.

Prisons Week is supported / sponsored by

Welcome Connections, 11th October, 7:30pm to 9:00pm, online

An evening to encourage and resource faith communities who are committed to welcoming prison leavers.

Is your faith community supporting people who have left prison? (Or do you want to?)

Join The Welcome Directory's multi-faith Welcome Connections event: sharing stories, hearing from someone who has left prison and learning about how the work of connected organisations can support you.

This session will feature Rev'd Bob Wilson sharing about Prisons Week, and the organisation Shewise, who supports vulnerable and marginalised women, including those affected by the criminal justice system.

In this session you will:

Hear the first-hand story of a prison leaver who has been helped by a faith community.

Gain an awareness of how various organisations support people who are in and have left prison, and how you can partner with them in your own work with prion-leavers.

Have opportunity to share stories, insights and ask questions about working with prison levers.

Register your place HERE.

The Welcome Directory is a multi-faith charity that has a simple yet powerful vision: to help faith communities become places where people who leave prison find acceptance. A place to belong that not only nurtures faith but also offers appropriate practical support.

Annual National Free Church Prison Chaplains Training, Fire Service Training College, Moreton in Marsh in the Cotswolds from 23rd - 25th Nov 22

The National Free Churches Chaplains training will be held at the wonderful Fire Service Training College, Moreton in Marsh in the Cotswolds from 23rd through to 25th November. Registration on Day 1 will start at 11 am, with departure after lunch on Friday.

Our theme this year will be “For when I am weak …” from 2 Corinthians 12:10. We all know how this scripture ends, and how the apostle Paul says that he delights in his trials. However, there are times for many of us where we are so very weak that we are unable to experience that which we know to be true.

Image from Youversion

This year, the National Free Churches Chaplains’ Training will be focusing, with the expert help of Dr. John Andrews, international speaker, author, and motivator, the practical support of the HMPPS wellbeing team, and the grace of God we experience in our fellowship with one another, on getting back some of that spiritual resilience in our lives. We will have a fairly full programme for the prison chaplains to engage with over the three days (48 hours) we have together, but for me, it is crucially important that you find the time in the training to recharge spiritually in a way that is appropriate to each individual. This event is for all who are endorsed and serving as prison chaplains from Free Churches traditions, whether paid or unpaid, sessional or contracted.

This event will count as 17 hours of Spiritual Development CPD. Spiritual Development CPD is an endorsement requirement for all Free Churches Chaplains.

It is now 5 years since our last National Free Churches Chaplains event. This one is shaping up to be the best yet!

To register, please visit the Eventbrite site here.

Please cascade this information to your regional prison chaplaincy contact as you feel is most appropriate.

Revd Bob Wilson

Secretary for Prisons Chaplaincy

Thank you from Bob and I and from all at Prisons Week!

It’s a heartfelt and prayerful THANK YOU from Revd Bob Wilson and I from FCG (pictured below) and from all of the sponsors of Prisons Week for joining hundreds of us in a wave of prayer throughout the week of prayer for Prisons Week.

You can continue to pray, view and share the Prisons Week materials throughout the year and we look forward to praying with you all again in October Prisons Week 2022.

Revd Bob Wilson sharing at Prisons Week event

Revd Sara Iles, at a Congregational Federation church, Bethlehem Blaenavon (CF are members of FCG)