Prison Fellowship Ministries is a non-profit, volunteer-reliant ministry focused on one overriding vision:

• That God's kingdom will be manifested as the redemptive grace and peace of Jesus Christ are experienced by those impacted by crime.

Prison Fellowship Mission

• To exhort, equip, and assist the Church in its ministry to prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims, and their families, and in its promotion of biblical standards of justice in the criminal justice system.
  

Chuck Colson has long argued that crime is fundamentally a moral and spiritual problem that requires a moral and spiritual solution.

For example…

• "Offenders do not simply need rehabilitation; they require regeneration of a sinful heart.
• Crime victims long for more than just surviving after a trauma; they crave new life filled with hope and joy.

• Prisoners' families need more than a sprinkling of social services to help them get by; they need to be washed clean of shame and despair, and infused with new confidence to move forward.
• Communities need more than an absence of criminal activity; they need the presence of shalom, a unifying peace and harmony that far surpasses anything the world has to offer."

PCNP has supported Prison Fellowship for many years. Dick Griggs, a member of our congregation and elder is on the PF Board and a volunteer for this ministry.

Dick describes the ministry best:
"About twenty years ago, as a new Christian and a new member of PCNP, I was asked to serve on the Mission Commission. Each of us was assigned one or two mission partners with whom we were to get acquainted, learn their needs and encourage. My assignment was Prison Fellowship.

The weekend "seminars", to which inmates are invited by chaplains, are well planned. The weekend begins on a Friday when a PF volunteer gives a short talk on a Christian theme, then small groups with one or two team members leading discussions are formed. Over the balance of the weekend the team returns to the prison for similar sessions, music (inmate choirs are sensational!), prayer and frequently spirit led testimony from inmates led to the Lord that weekend.

One Sunday morning a young Hispanic prisoner at Trenton State Prison gave a tearful testimony, saying that the Spanish Bible given to him that weekend was the first Bible he had ever owned and that through it he had come to know Jesus as his Lord…that Bible was part of a gift of Bibles from a member of PCNP. Talk about direct result from mission ministry.

Yes, I was nervous when I attended the first time, but, quickly learned that the inmates are sponges for the gospel. I have never left one of these events without thanking the Lord for the experience. More than once, an inmate has ministered to me."

In-Prison Seminars and ongoing Bible Studies help draw prisoners into a vital relationship with Christ that can transform their lives and futures.

Prison Fellowship has other opportunities for ministry.

• You can bring hope, compassion, and the Gospel to a prisoner through the Pen Pal Program.
• Participate in the Prayer Ministry which involves seeking the Lord to demonstrate His protection of and power through the work of PF.
• And many PCNP members have participated in PF's Angel Tree Program each Christmas.

Angel Tree
Currently about two million children have a mom or dad in prison--sometimes both! Angel Tree's goal is to reach every one of these children with the love and touch of Jesus Christ.

Since its beginning in 1982, Angel Tree Christmas has touched a cumulative six million children's lives through the loving participation of thousands of churches. And the numbers continue to grow. Each year PF receives thousands of Angel Tree applications from prisoners throughout the country, thankful for this opportunity to provide Christmas gifts for their children back home. Currently about two million children have a mom or dad in prison--sometimes both! Angel Tree's goal is to reach every one of these children with the love and touch of Jesus Christ.

When you're in prison, the only Christmas trees are watch towers and closest thing to tinsel is barbed wire. Perhaps that's only fair.

• But is it fair that the innocent children of prisoners will also have a Christmas touched by sadness? And feel the shame of their parents' actions.
• Is it right that they will grow up in a broken homes, and become far more likely than other children to end up as prisoners themselves.

It's a vicious cycle which can only be broken by love. That's why Angel Tree was created. To help Churches to reach out to these innocent victims. To let them know they are not forgotten and their parents in prison still love them, but that God loves those most of all. PCNP encourages members to pick a name from a tree which includes the names of children of inmates and purchase gifts, and then deliver the gifts along with the word of God to each child.

Giving out Bibles which were personalized by volunteers is just one of the many touching highlights of this ministry. When you have a verse that is so meaningful and personal, it's so great to share and explain it to a child. To plant a seed, with a hope it will grow.

One volunteer who helped deliver gifts said, "The children were thrilled by the visit, we greeted them individually handed their Christmas gifts with a smile and shared the love of Christ. Not forgetting the people who brought us there, the parents, it was also important to remind them, that they were remembered at this special time."

Chuck Colson's heart is ever with the prisoner. He has clearly never forgotten the promise he made to his fellow inmates during his brief stay in prison: that he would "never forget those behind bars." We also need to minister to those behind bars.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free...Psalm 146:7

Please contact Dick Griggs for information about getting connected with Prison Fellowship or visit the Prison Fellowship website.

Visit the Prison Fellowship Who Is Jesus link for assistance in your own spiritual journey.