USA (MNN) ― A church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is reaching out to prison inmates with Bible correspondence lessons.
They're discipling ministry covers 10 states, as well as in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. If a student doesn't have a Bible, the church supplies them with an Easy-to-Read English Bible from the World Bible Translation Center.
In 2007, roughly $49 billion was spent on corrections. That's up from $11 billion 20 years before. The national recidivism rate is roughly 75%, with former inmates returning to jail or prison within three years.
How does the Bible help in an arena filled with hard hearts? Crossroad Bible Institute's research shows an interesting fact, says CBI's David Schuringa: "If a person in prison is engaged in sustained study of God's Word and being discipled, the recidivism rates can just plummet."
That dovetails nicely with WBTC's goal to develop partnerships between churches to reach out and impact the world for Jesus. The ERV is written at a third grade reading level so that anyone with basic literacy skills or with little or no Christian background can understand it.
Pray that God's Word sinks deeply into their hearts. Continue to pray too that God stirs hearts to be involved with this ministry.
