International (MNN) — Imagine life in a third-world prison. What would it mean to have an active, growing church within those walls?
The good news? Don Szolomayer with Prisoners for Christ says almost every prison they’ve served over the years has some form of a church.
“[It] may not be in a building. It may just be a handful of inmates that gather periodically. On the other side of that, it may be a full-blown, active church with a building, with structure.”
These churches need support. Prisoners for Christ offers an International Bible Institute program that disciples inmates in their faith in Christ. (More on that here.)
Another strategy is to connect believers outside of the prison with those inside.
Representative picture of a small prison cell. (Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash)
“When we go to various countries…we go into their prisons and we model how to do services and things of that nature, but then we’re gone. Who’s there to carry over? So one of the things we do is we try to find local churches and that to take on that responsibility,” says Szolomayer.
He encourages pastors around the world to view prison churches as part of their own congregation. Looking ahead, Prisoners for Christ hopes to see many inmates serving as chaplains within the facilities where they are incarcerated.
“You have someone in that prison that’s there, 24/7, that can share, that can mentor, that can disciple, that can evangelize on the spot, as needed, as things occur — that’s really the church in action in a prison setting,” says Szolomayer.
Please pray as Prisoners for Christ develops their ministry model to plant more churches and strengthen the ones that already exist. Rapport with prison officials is opening the way for church-planting.
“It’s almost like starting from scratch every time you go to plant a church in a prison, because the variables are just all over the place,” says Szolomayer.
Header photo: Representative stock photo from Iran courtesy of Mashid Saberpour via Unsplash.
