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Access Prison Ministries

Ministering to the Inmates

You may feel inadequate to minister to prisoners, but if you are committed in your relationship with Jesus and committed in your relationship with them, then you will do just fine in Prison Ministry.
So What Is Prison Ministry
   Prison Ministry is about a fellowship, mentoring, listening, teaching and caring from the heart with a passionate desire to simultaneously meet Jesus, and demonstrate Jesus to jailed and imprisoned inmates. Access Prison Ministries is offering encouragement, comfort and exhortation to people who have all but lost hope. We are exhibiting the love of Jesus. The men in these places may be society's outcasts, but Jesus died to save them too. Our job is to allow the Holy Spirit to demonstrate God's love in and through us toward them. Most prisoners who are Christians are able to spend most of the day in the Bible, in prayer, and in fellowship. And most welcome the opportunity to share what they have learned. Perhaps you will find their level of understanding even surpassing your own. In some instances, the men may just need a facilitator so they can share testimonies. Your being there allows for that, if the institution approves it. You may feel inadequate to minister to prisoners, but if you are committed in your relationship with Jesus and committed in a relationship with them, then you will do just fine in Prison Ministry.

So... You Want To Minister To Prisoners?

Just as there are only certain individuals who are called to the mission fields of the Amazon Jungle, not every Christian is going to have the desire to minister to prisoners. And that's ok. But for those who are the called, there is a passion that wells up from within that draws you inside prison walls - past the barbed wire, past the concrete walls - to share the love of Jesus Christ to a generation of men and women who are desperately hurting to know and experience that love. Why Minister to Prisoners? In the New Testament there are a couple of verses we can look to for an answer: Matthew 25:31-46 describes Jesus separating the nations at His return and at that time he mentions to those about to inherit the kingdom, "I was in prison, and ye came unto me" (v. 36). But then the nations ask when they had gone into the prisons to minister to Jesus, He answers, "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (v.40). Hebrews 13:3 finds the author of the letter admonishing his readers to, "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." These verses aside, the book of Acts shows Peter and Paul both imprisoned. Several of Paul's letters close with a list of men who either have ministered to him while he was in prison, or were still there ministering to him while he was in bonds.
The Present Problem with Prisons in America Prisons in America have a growing population problem. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1980 the national prison population was about 320,000 people incarcerated. In 2007 that number jumped to more than 1.5 million incarcerated. With the current economic downturn, states have been cutting funding to programs that assist in the prisoners' rehabilitation efforts, so now prisons have become little more than warehouses for disgruntled individuals ... and 95% of those individuals WILL be getting out.
 According to a June 2002 report, the 1997 national average of recidivism in America was 46.9%. After an incarcerated individual comes to know Jesus on a personal level, with support and fellowship from strong men and women of faith, that number reduces to about 8%. What is Prison Ministry?Before we look at what Prison Ministry is, let's examine what it is not:Prison Ministry is not a means for you to practice your preaching technique to a captive audience. You should enter the ministry with a polished presentation. It is ok to be nervous, but the people you are going in to see are people, not guinea pigs. They are worthy of the best that you can offer. If the best you can offer is to stand there and nervously deliver a word, that is ok - IF you are doing the best that you can do. Think about how you would feel if you went to church and saw a guest speaker standing at the podium reading his message from his notes. You would feel like the speaker did not care enough for you that he would properly prepare.Prison Ministry is not a way for you to feel good about accomplishing your "good deed for the day." Most, if not all, inmates are able to spot a fake with little effort. If you are not sincere in your commitment to Christ, then these men and women will be able to tell and you will lose all credibility with them very quickly. Word about a bad service travels fast among inmates. If you are not there with a sincere desire to help these people grow and develop into mighty men and women of God then you will find yourself speaking to empty rooms very quickly.Prison Ministry is not a tool for you to bless others. This might be a bit of a shocking statement, so let it sink in for a moment. In most of the prisons that I have been, volunteers told the story of how they expected that they would come intending to bless the men, but the reality was they themselves received the bigger blessing.