Dear friends,
I want to share with you all over the next few weeks my Blog on the topic: “A BIBLICAL BASIS FOR PRISON MINISTRY”
These insightful scriptures will help increase your mission and vision for Prison ministry. Each week I will share a principle and scriptures.
This resource provides the biblical foundation to guide you in the development of a prison ministry in your church and community. We pray that the Lord will use His living and active Word to build your vision for this important ministry.
Prisons are just a symptom and result of sin in this world.
The prison system is the only “business” that succeeds by its failure. Prison populations grow larger and larger. Often, people come out of prison worse than when they went in. Many commit more crimes, return to prison, and get stuck in the cycle of recidivism, the “revolving door” of crime, prison, and release.
The answer to this is not more prisons. It is not locking people up and throwing away the key. It is not even the death penalty, as studies have shown that even this does not effectively deter crime. The answer is the good news of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which can set them free from the bondage of sin!
Prisoners need regeneration not just rehabilitation–and Jesus has commissioned His followers to reach beyond the barbed wire fences and steel bars to touch the lives of men and women bound by the shackles of sin.
God has given us the Church, the Body of Christ, the message of hope and salvation. We call it the good news of the gospel of the grace of God. That gospel is the cure for sin!!
Last week we looked at PRINCIPLE 1: REDEMPTION – All things are redeemable through Christ.
This week we will look at PRINCIPLE 2: SERVICE – The Body of Christ is called to minister to those who are imprisoned or oppressed.
Unlike any other organization or ministry, the Church has been ordained to be God’s instrument of grace and ministry in this world. The act of serving prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families in the name of Jesus is both a ministry and a means of worship and spiritual growth.
2 Cor.5:20. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
God needs an ambassador to your local jail and prison. Who will go? He has chosen us to be his ambassadors, to be his mouthpiece and given us the ministry of reconciliation.
The following verses were written to Jewish believers and not the Body of Christ but indicate the Lord’s heart toward the prisoners and the need to reach them with the good news!
- Hebrews 13:3Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
- Luke 4:16-19 … he [Jesus] went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “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, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
- Matthew 25:40-43 The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.” Is Jesus waiting in your nearby jail for a visit? Who will visit Him this week?
For more info or help, please contact Pastor Dwight Anderson- 612-423-3457 or email dwight@prisonmission.org