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!!
PRINCIPLE 1: REDEMPTION
All things are redeemable through Christ.
Crime is fundamentally a moral problem. It is a result of man’s rebellion against God. It is secondarily a socioeconomic problem. The solution is in the person of Jesus Christ. It begins with repentance and the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is accomplished through His power to sanctify and transform individuals and the community.
Prison ministry needs to include a presentation of the Gospel and emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christian’s life.
No one is ever beyond redemption. We don’t give up on people even when it seems they will never change. Instead we pursue and continue to encourage those God brings to us.
- Romans 3:23-24 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.
- Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
So the first principle is REDEMPTION. We all need to be redeemed. We all deserve hell. We all are in the same boat.
You only redeem things that have value. G9d loves each of us and wants to redeem everyone. So each of us have that intrinsic value. God sees your value and wants to redeem you no matter what you have been through or done if we put our faith in Christ as savior and Lord. So those in jail and prison are also to be offered redemption as Christ died for them too!