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.

Prisons Week 2023, Look Up! (8th - 14th October)

Look up!

This year we invite you to remember that the heavens declare the glory of God, and to look up.

Please share the film with your family, friends and church, and, with the leaflet available to download below, join us each day as we pray for all those affected by crime and imprisonment.

Visit HERE for more information and to download the prayer leaflets. 

Big Give Christmas Challenge, The Welcome Directory

The Welcome Directory is taking part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge and is looking for supporters of this incredible work to pledge a minimum of £100 for which Match Funding will be sought. Emily Green, Welcome Directory Project Manager recently released the following information about pledges. Please do consider how you might be able to support this charity, started by the Free Churches Group in 2014.

We are excited to announce that The Welcome Directory has applied to take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge - the UK’s biggest match-funded campaign!

We are raising funds for our project ‘Christmas Connections’ to combat the loneliness and social isolation that people so often experience when stepping beyond the prison gates.

To take part in this challenge, we are looking for key individuals to support us by making 'Pledges’, which will be used as match funds to double online donations made to our charity during the Christmas campaign period. We cannot take part in this challenge without you.

We are aiming to raise a total of £1,500 in pledges to take part in the campaign. Could you pledge a minimum of £100 to help us reach this target? Your commitment to funding will also help us to secure additional match funds via a Champion (sourced by the Big Give).

You can make a pledge by simply completing the online form by the 30th of August.

What is The Welcome Directory?

The Welcome Directory is a non-profit, multi-faith organisation, dedicated to supporting the resettlement and social inclusion of prison leavers by building a network of welcoming and supporting faith communities beyond the gates.

Our work helps to combat loneliness and social isolation amongst prisoners in the post-release landscape, supporting positive mental health through faith-based social inclusion for reducing rates of re-offending.

The release period for prison leavers is an extremely challenging time, with an estimated 44% of adults reconvicted less than one year after leaving prison, which can prove devastating to an individual’s mental health. Connecting a prison leaver to a faith community can make all the difference – especially at Christmas. Our YouTube video 'Beyond the Prison Gates' captures, through the voice of prison leavers, the long-term impact that TWD can make to an individual’s release journey.

Whilst a small charity, we are highly regarded within the criminal justice sector, working in collaboration with HM Prison and Probation Service.

 The Welcome Directory has been acknowledged in both the House of Lords and the Church of England’s General Synod and has increased engagement by 187% since the end of 2020.

What is the Big Give: Christmas Challenge?

For seven days, the challenge offers supporters the opportunity to double their donations. This makes an extraordinary difference to the lives of prison leavers. One donation, twice the impact!

When our online supporters donate during the campaign period at Christmas, their donation is matched by your generous pledge. So, £50 from a member of the public is immediately doubled and becomes £100 directly to support the resettlement of prison leavers. Watch their video here.

• The fulfilment of your pledge is conditional on us receiving the appropriate online donations during the campaign. You will only be required to pay a pro-rata amount of your pledge if we don’t hit our online target - it's our guarantee to you that we are committed to raising additional donations.

• Please note that if you pledge to The Welcome Directory, you will not be able to make an online donation to us during the campaign period in December because your pledge will be used to match these donations.

We are incredibly grateful for your consideration. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with any questions about our Christmas Connections campaign.

Hello I'm Andy Kerr

Hello, I’m Andy Kerr, Managing Chaplain at HMP Ford Open Prison in Sussex.

Open Prison, I hear you say, what is that? Well, it’s a prison where instead of taking away someone’s liberty we start to give liberty back to them. It’s a very different prison from Cat A, B or C prisons, which appear mostly on our TV screens through dramas or documentaries. For example, a third of the people detained at Ford are working in ordinary jobs in the community, engaging with you or me every day: forklift truck drivers, office workers, gas fitters, crane operators and retail workers. We also release people home for 2 days a month and 4 nights once a month to rebuild family relationships, start parenting again and resettle. Onsite education and a college provide maths and English, with business studies, painting and decorating, engineering, drywall lining, and bricklaying courses amongst other opportunities.

How did I get to work in Prison?

I started out in life as a baker/confectioner, went into retail, delivered cars all over the UK, worked with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, spent years working on a housing estate in the Midlands that BBC had unhelpfully entitled ‘Estate from Hell’ in their documentary, was called into Baptist Ministry and led a couple of churches. It was whilst leading a church in the South that I found many of the people I met on the streets swigging lager or smoking cannabis seemed to have offences in their backstory. Some had spent a long time in prison and some were in and out more regularly.

I was struck early on in my ministry by Jesus’ manifesto in Luke 4.

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

If we the church are Christ’s body, then the ‘me’ in his manifesto becomes ‘us’! It really is that simple. So I left my church and started working at HMP Ford before going full time at HMP Lewes, and then finally coming back to HMP Ford in 2021.

Can I encourage you as churches to embrace His manifesto as well? I have found no greater delight, than to see the Holy Spirit of God working in prisoners’ lives, and the opportunity to join in with Him is a profound joy and a humbling experience.

Lastly a thought: the other day I met a young man in London who had been at HMP Ford. He said to me ‘how are you my brother?’!