You are invited to a time of prayer for prison chaplains across the world on 25th August

Every year on August 25, the International Prison Chaplains’ Association (IPCA) invites chaplains and those with an interest in prison ministry to join together in a special day of prayer for prisons.

You can download our simple prayer guide from the website or from the attachments here. Our very own Revd Bob Wilson serves on the IPCA Europe Committee and is Vice Chair of the Committee in Europe. His colleague, David Buick

who serves as IPCA Worldwide President, send us all a message of encouragement and invitation:

“Preparation of this year’s day of prayer has been made especially difficult by the pandemic and the resulting pressures on chaplains everywhere. At the same time, that is all the more reason for us to pray for each other, for our ministries, and for the prisons in which we serve. The health crisis and related restrictions also mean that chaplains are even more isolated than usual. In view of this, we’ve decided to give you an opportunity to join together online for a short prayer service on Zoom following the prayer outline published here. This will be on Wednesday, August 25 at 17.30 BST.

Not many may be able to join in view of world time differences and the short notice, but we’ll be going ahead no matter how many or how few of us there are. If you wish to attend, please register at this link. We’ll send you a link to the Zoom meeting shortly before the event. Every Blessing, David Buick, IPCA Worldwide President.”

Register here for the prayer event taking place 25th Aug 5.30.P.M.

(cover photo courtesy of Nega at Unsplash)

Prisons Week from 10th-16th October

Join us, for a week of prayer and care, during the month of October, with the support of the inspiring and thought-provoking resources which have been written especially for this time.

Supported by all the major church denominations and the leading Christian organisations in the sector, including the Free Churches Group, Prisons Week has prepared prayer literature for sharing in our churches and communities. For forty years now, Prisons Week has prepared materials to enable the Christian community, through individuals and churches, to pray for the needs of all those affected by prisons: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and their communities, those working in the criminal justice system and the many people who are involved in caring for those affected by crime on the inside and outside of our prisons.

“Prisons Week raises awareness and generates prayer. It motivates volunteers to step forward and give their time and gifts, in prisons and in their own communities. It provides an annual focus and reason for Christians to work together, building capacity and motivation to make a difference for people who are out of sight and often out of mind.”

— Prisons Week

(cover photo courtesy of Tim Hüfner at Unsplash)

Remembering our brothers and sisters in prison...

Will you join with me and Prison Fellowship, to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who are in prison, this Sunday?

As many of our churches start meeting up again in person, we are invited to pray for those in prison, for whom life may not be returning to the normal quite yet…

“Loving God, we pray for those in prison. As our churches in our communities begin to meet in person once more, we pray that we would continue to remember our brothers and sisters in prison.

Lord, in our mercy, hear our prayer.
”

— Amen

You can find out more about the vital and life-changing work of Prison Fellowship HERE.

(cover photo courtesy of Denny Müller at Unsplash)

An awesome hope-filled conversation about a life-changing ministry - sharing the work of Imago Dei Prison Ministry with you!!

Earlier in the summer, I took some time to talk with Tracy who’s the Director of Imago Dei Prison Ministry. It was one of those conversations that filled me with hope and offered me a greater insight into the awesome work that, as people of faith, we can get involved with! Tracy has worked as a Free Church Chaplain in prison ministry for the past ten years, and currently works in three women’s prison. Tracy has a passion to see women from all walks of life, learn their true identity and live out their unique purpose.

Here is a transcript of our conversation - it is not often in our lives that we meet someone as inspiring and grace-filled as Tracy! My prayer is that this inspires you to find out more about the remarkable and life-changing ministry which Imago Dei is engaged with and helps you find out ways that you and your church can get involved too!

So, Tracy, what is your mission at Imago Dei? 

Our mission is to equip women in prison and those leaving prison to live better lives and a better hope-filled future.

That sounds amazing – through what means does your charity help people?

We have 3 umbrella projects working with this vision:

ID Prison Ministry

ID Prison Ministry currently goes into 3 different women’s prisons in the South-East and equips and resources chaplaincy departments. Our teams facilitate a variety of courses and provide mentoring and pastoral support, prayer, Worship and Sunday services for the women in prison. The courses we offer cover topics such as Identity and Worth, Parenting, Understanding Loss, Victim Awareness and Understanding Forgiveness.

ID Grace House UK

Grace House seeks to offer housing and life skills training for up to 12 women leaving custody who may otherwise be homeless. Our goal is to provide the support and training needed to help all residents integrate well back into society and reduce the re-offending rate. Grace House is in the process of being set up.

ID Essence

ID Essence work with young offenders aged 18-25 years holding courses in prison based on subjects and themes that young offenders themselves have expressed an interest in, such as Managing Emotions; Relating to Others; Independent Living – Independent Growth; and Money.

We also offer mentoring, pastoral support and through-the gate chaplaincy for the women leaving prison.

We are currently working regularly in 3 women’s prisons in the South-East, Kent, Surrey, and South London. A fourth prison will also refer women to our Grace House project. In addition, we work with women in the local community who have been recently released, mainly back into London.

Thanks. It’s great to learn about such a variety of projects, both within prison and on release. I would be interested to find out more about why do you do what you do, Tracy?

From the first time I went into a women’s prison and had the opportunity to sit and listen to the circumstances and reasons behind various women’s situations I realised I could so easily have been in that situation myself. I had a pretty dysfunctional childhood myself and realised that if it hadn’t been for my Church youth leaders investing time in me as a 15 year old, and accepting me as I was, drawing out the gold in me as an individual I really don’t know where I would have ended up. I was given a chance to change my ways and found acceptance, love, and support – we all need and deserve that. After 5 years of being a chaplain I set up ID to do just that, to draw out the gold and the unique potential in the women that we get the privilege to work with. I want to help them deal with their past issues - often the root causes of their offence and to be healed and whole ready for release into a hope-filled future.  

I appreciate you sharing this so openly, Tracy. I have to say that as an adult, feeling rather lonely, adrift and newly single in my late twenties, church was a place a great welcome and support to me, where I found a place of real welcome too… what kind of things have some of the women said about the impact of your work on their lives?

Here is some feedback from women who have participated in our FLOURISH courses:

“I realise that I can still go on and achieve my goals and not let my past define my future.

I now believe in myself. This course has been a great help to me.”

“The whole course has been extremely helpful to my self-confidence,

I never thought about how unique I really was. It was very enjoyable.”

“I realise now that I am unique!”

“The whole course has been great. I didn’t like myself at first, but now I do.”

And I would also like to share some comments from a prison leaver about the support she had received during her sentence:

“I wouldn’t have got through my prison sentence without the chapel in there, to be perfectly honest.

It’s what got me through my sentence.

All the courses that I done within the chapel are the courses that I still use to this day –

information that I learnt and things that I’ve been taught….

Even just about me as a person. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have got through it.”

Wow! What a difference your ministry is making to so many women. Real life-changing work that gives women hope and a renewed sense of identity and direction… could you tell me a bit about how you work with partner organisations and other groups to make your work happen?

We support and are partnering with Prisons Week and their week dedicated to praying for people involved in the Criminal Justice System each year.

We are also connecting with other charities and organisations who do similar work, through our #SheMatters campaign – uniting those who believe in each individual’s true value and worth and who are working with the same vision to support vulnerable women.

We have good relationships with PACT in one of the prisons and they refer women to us for our Parenting Course (PACT: Prison Advice and Care Trust).

In the process of setting up Grace House, we are gaining many contacts and links with other projects, sharing expertise and resources. 

It is wonderful to see that you have such a great working relationship with other groups and that these networks are growing all the time. So what about your team of staff and volunteers. Why do they work with Imago Dei Prison Ministry and could you tell me what impact being able to serve in ministry with ID makes to them?

“I think one of the most painful things about spending time in prison, is seeing women come in, and hearing their stories from very, very painful backgrounds. Pain and situations that most of us can’t imagine. And to watch them grow. Just from having a safe space really. Just from having 3 square meals a day, and a bed often. To see them full of hope. Coming off drugs, full of hope for what meets them on the outside, for the future… And then sadly, to see them come back – very, very quickly. Sometimes within 2 or 3 weeks. Broken. Defeated. The cycle just goes on and on and on. And so I would like to help women break this cycle. That’s why I support #SheMatters and ID Prison Ministry.”  ID Volunteer who has also been in prison herself.

 “ID Prison Ministry does amazing work and makes a huge difference as we pray for and work with women in prison. And personally, I can’t wait to see Grace House open and see what God does to change women’s lives.” – ID Grace House Project Manager

“Working with women in prison and seeing all the hard work they do almost goes to waste because they go back to the same situation they came from, or worse - life on the streets, has given me a passion to see change.  So many of the statistics around women in prison and as they leave are shocking – something has to change!” – ID trainer who works in prisons

I can see how much difference the work that you are all doing makes to women in prison and to help them as they leave prison. I appreciate you sharing these comments with me.

I am wondering if you could tell me a bit more about the statistics linked to women in prison to help us all to better understand why this work is so vital, Tracy?

Every year around 4,000 women are sent to prison.

·         53% having suffered emotional, physical, or sexual abuse during childhood

·         46% having suffered domestic violence

·         Nearly half of women prisoners (48%) report having committed offences to support someone else’s drug use, compared to 22% of male prisoners

·         Children in care were five times more likely to be sanctioned for an offence than children in the general population in 2016

·         Around 31% of women in prison have spent time in care

·         57% have the expected literacy skills of an 11-year-old

·         Out of all adult prisoners released in 2018, 67% of those who slept rough or were otherwise homeless went on to commit another crime within a year

·         Nearly half of women (49%) left prison without settled accommodation—around one in 25 (4%) were sleeping rough on release in 2019–20

·         Women are generally more positive than men about the benefits of purposeful activity in prison in helping them on release. However, just 4% of women were in paid employment six weeks after release from custody—compared to 10% of men

These are such thought-provoking and challenging stats…  If someone is unsure of supporting prisons work, what would you say to them, Tracy?

Once you have been in a prison and sat and listened to someone share their story, seen a life transformed, you will be impacted and want to help out more – it is so rewarding. It is contagious! Everyone deserves a second chance – why not help them believe in themselves and be a part of their journey?  We will chat later about how you can get involved and be part of that transformation….

So what challenges are you facing, in your ministry right now?

Due to covid there is still a lot of ‘bang up’- people confined to their cells for long periods of time and no usual regime back up and running. We are waiting to be able to recommence courses which will obviously be socially distanced and in smaller group sizes which means our waiting lists will take longer to get through.

Also finding the right property for Grace House and the funds to move the project forward. 

So how can our member churches help you? Through prayer, through volunteering and through making donations to your work – could you tell us a bit more?

What can we do? How can we help?

Actions

Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date with our projects and events.

Join us and learn more about our events here

Want to join our volunteer team? Email: admin@idprisonministry.org.uk

Prayer

Sign up to our prayer email here

Pray for the women coming up to their release date, that they may have somewhere safe to go and receive the support they need.

Pray for the women in prisons who are taking part in our courses, may be encouraged and built up.

Pray for wisdom for Tracy and the Trustees at Imago Dei Prison Ministry as we continue to grow. May we continue to reach more women, so more lives can be changed for the better.

Pray for prison regimes to reopen up safely and well to protect residents and staff alike

Pray for God to reveal himself to those He is seeking, healing and transforming through our courses once they restart next week and for his help as we facilitate groups

We also invite to you all to pray for:

Ongoing funds to maintain the work of ID and all our projects including Grace House

Wisdom for our Trustees as we consider new projects and future growth

Wisdom for our Council of Reference overseeing the Grace House project – so we can progress the project forward

Amen

Giving

Donate Buttons are found on our websites or on our Giving page

ALL DONATIONS AND SUPPORT ARE GRATEFULLY RECEIVED!

You can given us all lots of ways in which we can help your work and get more involved, so just before we conclude our time together, could you tell me why you love what you do?

One thing I love about my job is the variety, you never know what you are walking into each morning when you are a chaplain.  And, seeing someone learn to believe in and value themselves, overcome their fears and their past circumstances, learn to set goals for their future and be given the opportunities to walk into those are some of the most rewarding things any job can give. I wouldn’t want to do anything else with any other group of people – women in prison are some of the most resilient, strong, incredible women you will find and to be involved in helping them is a true honour and joy.

—

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me, Tracy. I have been so inspired to get involved in your work and I hope and pray that through sharing more with our FCG member churches that we all find ways of supporting your work. I pray God’s blessing on you and your team and all those you serve. By way of a sign-off for this heartfelt and inspiring interview together, may I share this affirmation from Scripture to you and all your team!

“Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people,

I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”

Ephesians 1:15-16

In the name of Jesus, Amen!

Interview with Tracy, Director of Imago Dei Prison Ministry with Sara, FCG Media Support Officer

(cover photo courtesy of Bruce Hong at Unsplash)

Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you - learn more about the vital work of The Welcome Directory!

The Free Churches Group, with other partners, pioneered the beginnings of the The Welcome Directory which was set up as an independent charity in 2016. The Welcome Directory 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. The Welcome Directory works with faith communities to address the barriers facing those leaving prison and to help prison leavers with faith to identify welcoming faith communities to support beyond the gates. We want to help communities like yours to welcome prison leavers, the way Christ has welcomed you!

Since it was established as a charity 5 years ago, we are delighted to report The Welcome Directory has gone from strength to strength - there are now nearly 200 faith communities (including dozens of churches) who have committed to offer a warm welcome to those leaving prison! What an awesome achievement! We thought it would be a good time to share a bit more about their vital work in supporting faith groups across our communities to give a warm welcome to people leaving custody and to help you to find out more and see how your church could get involved in this important work!

Last month, I took some time to talk to Serena, from The Welcome Directory, who works as their brilliant Communications and Fundraising Officer - and as part of their amazing wider team led by Emily Green (Project Manager). I am grateful to Serena for the wide ranging and encouraging conversation we had and so I am sharing these reflections with you; I have always been greatly moved and inspired by the work of The Welcome Directory and I hope and pray that after reading this thoughtful and touching piece that you will feel moved to get involved too…. Let’s hear all about it, right from the heart of the work of The Directory!

Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you

Love. Forgiveness. Acceptance. Empathy for those who struggle... These principles underpin so many of our faith teachings, but how do they translate into our daily practices? We’d all like to believe we have these qualities in abundance, but how do we measure up when we’re challenged to accept people we perceive as ‘other’?

In Matthew 25:31–40, we are called upon to feed the hungry, to welcome strangers, and to visit people in prison. Time and again the Bible shows how Jesus embraces the marginalised and forgives those who stray. We must strive to follow in this example, and to love and welcome one another as warmly as we would welcome Jesus himself, for: “whatever you did for these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

However, when it comes to welcoming people who have left prison, this can be easier said than done. It is estimated that only 20% of prison leavers with faith feel able to join new faith communities upon release, and we may not be aware of the invisible barriers that exist within our own communities.

The Welcome Directory works with faith communities to address such barriers and help prison leavers with faith to identify welcoming faith communities to support beyond the gates. We want to help communities like yours to welcome prison leavers, the way Christ has welcomed you.  

We are a small multi-faith charity, working to maintain a directory of faith communities that are committed to welcoming and appropriately supporting people who leave prison. The Welcome Directory is used by prison leavers and their support teams to develop positive plans for release, and to overcome the prevalent fear of rejection.

We help empower faith communities to welcome prison leavers, and offer a free Prisons Awareness Course to shed light on the experiences of imprisonment and release, and to address any concerns which might prevent communities from welcoming, accepting and supporting people who leave prison

“We have benefited greatly from being part of The Welcome Directory. It’s equipped us to better serve ex-prisoners and to welcome them in our church community. We can offer welcome, and support people who wants to rebuild their lives. If more churches connected with The Welcome Directory, there would be a great impact upon ex-prisoners’ lives and reduce reoffending.” - Jubilee Church hull (registered church)

The power of faith

“Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds” the apostle James says (James 2:18).

The Christian faith is most clearly demonstrated in our interactions with our fellows. We aim to help faith communities to live out their faith teachings and enjoy the blessing of connecting with prison leavers who can enrich their congregations.

Within the prison walls, faith can be a lifeline, offering hope when it is needed most. During a sentence, individuals are guided by supportive chaplaincy teams. Beyond the gates, faith communities could offer similar support, as they offer a unique sense of belonging, connection and acceptance, and inclusion within them is shown to reduce reoffending and help people to enjoy a truly fresh start.

Sadly, often these connections are not forged, leaving prison leavers to navigate the tumultuous transition of release alone... We work to overcome the barriers and facilitate such connections, inspired by stories like the ones below.

Real-life experiences

After years of searching, Richard described the life-changing moment when he finally connected with a welcoming faith community:

“I felt this love, this peace and this joy just washing through me. I felt like I’d been born again; in that moment I felt like I was freed from my addictions” he went on to describe how: “The members of my church were like the arms and the mouths of God to help me, to feed me and guide me on my path. If I didn’t have the support of my faith community, I don’t think I’d be around today.”

Likewise, we asked Samman, a prison leaver of Muslim faith, how his journey would have been different without his welcoming faith communities. He said:

“Without the support of my community I would have been lost. I would feel like I’d been rejected, which would be devastating because my faith means a lot to me and sharing that with other people is so important.”

These moving stories show the difference we can make when we choose to welcome and love one another in friendship, just as gracious Christ lovingly welcomes us.

What we hope to achieve

Our goal is to reach the stage where our resource can be used to help all prison leavers with faith to identify a welcoming community in their area, wherever they are, whatever they believe.

Right now, our directory represents over 190 faith communities (including churches, mosques, gurdwaras and more), but there is still a lot of work to be done. There are geographic areas and numerically smaller faiths which are presently underrepresented in our directory. We are working to improve representation in these areas, and you can help us achieve this. How can you be involved?

We invited you above to reflect on the ideas of love, acceptance and compassion for those who struggle. If you’ve been inspired from reading about our work and the difference you could make for prison leavers like Richard, I invite you to reflect on the following...

Register with us

If you believe that your faith community has the loving heart and practical understanding to welcome prison leavers, you could apply to register with us today. For more information on what that would mean, visit our website HERE.

Join our Prisons Awareness Course

If you’re interested to learn more, we’d love to welcome you to our free Prisons Awareness Course. This comes with no obligation to register; it is simply a chance to learn more, ask questions and reflect on whether registration is right for you. For more information, click HERE.

Spread the word

The more communities and individuals we connect with, the more we can encourage people to open their hearts and consider welcoming people who leave prison. We warmly invite you to share our name and story with your friends and acquaintances, and encourage them to make contact.

Join us in Prayer

Finally, we are a prayerful organization and believe in the value of lifting our hearts, and asking our loving God to bless our work and guide those struggling on their journey towards peace. Therefore, in closing, we invite you to join us in prayer.

“Loving God, we thank you that you welcome all people who come to you.
We thank you that despite our own failings, you have set us on a path of transformation, helping us to become more like the people you would have us be. Lord, help us to reflect that openness of heart, showing care and compassion for all who are in need, wisely offering a hand up to those who may have stumbled, humbly drawing on your strength to do this. May we know your peace, and your power as we walk alongside those leaving prison so that together we may see the transformation that you have in mind for us all.”

— Amen

Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you

Sara Iles, FCG Media Support Officer (in conversation with Serena Bailey from The Welcome Directory)