Prison Ministry

Prison ministry is certainly not a high profile ministry, especially in the setting of this third world nation. Yet it has been one of the most rewarding of our ministry experiences. Under the most adverse situations imaginable we find we can do all things through Christ Jesus just as He promised us in Philippians 4:13.

Poverty, poor education and severe physical abuse finds them vulnerable to a survival of the fittest creed. Everything completely wrong becomes completely right in their eyes. This includes everything from prostitution, the making and selling of brew (alcohol), stealing and killing if need be. That’s where we meet them—in the eye of their justification of a world that has offered them nothing. We do not go into the prison with pointed fingers, we go with open arms. We tell them simply about Jesus’ unconditional love and how His love did not change when they committed their crime. They soon learn we did not come to condemn but to save!

They are real people with real stories and real hearts that have been broken since childhood. Many have not been loved or accepted by mothers. Most are sexually abused by relatives and rejected throughout life. One of the mamas told me she had never been kissed and had four children.  What does this tell you about relationships in Africa.

And Tell me…        What does that do to the core of your soul?