World Missionary Press, an interdenominational faith ministry, produces 48-page Scripture booklets, Bible study booklets, and New Testaments in 350 languages to send to people in countries all over the world. 

Typically, they share these free Scripture booklets through the mail. Each of the 48-page Scripture booklets costs about five cents to produce and mail out. 

Global events like this summer’s Paris Olympic Games, however, draw spectators and athletes from all over the world to one place, making it an opportunity to hand out these booklets and pamphlets in person to hundreds of people at once. 

“We have groups that focus on reaching the athletes particularly, as well as the attendees, because we have material in so many different languages, and there’s so many different nations involved, gathered, this is the opportunity to share that might not be available within their country, or in wherever they live,” Williams said. 

Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Tour De France draw similarly large crowds.

WMP’s in-person outreach plans don’t stop at the Summer Olympics or sporting events. The biggest rock music festival in Northern Europe, Roskilde, is estimated to gather 165,000 people in Denmark.  

A WMP January blog wrote that young people, especially young men are open to things of God and they are praying for 1,000 souls to be won in Denmark during the days of the festival. 

“It’s just being willing to go out and get into the crowds and do that,” Williams said. “So that’s a lot of what it is for the large events.”

Williams says that in events like these, where they don’t often get feedback through one-on-one conversations, it is hard to say for sure what the results of the outreach are specifically.  

“The results are that the Word went out and was well received,” Williams said. “And then you leave it to the Spirit.” 

Beyond these specific outreach events, WMP has contacts around the globe who use their booklets in their own outreach locally. Some of this type of outreach work happens behind the scenes and is unknown to WMP.

“It’s the free material, and it’s the word of God, and it’s in the heart language,” Williams says. “And that’s what keeps this generated and keeps this moving. And when people recognize that that is available, they’re willing to go use the literature.”

Williams encourages prayers for wisdom, strength, and divine appointment for those who are distributing these booklets, and that those receiving the Word would be directed by the Holy Spirit to follow up. 

“It’s intense for several days or weeks, sometimes, particularly the Olympics and they need to be just encouraged that they’re doing the father’s work,” Williams said.

“The holidays are an incredibly difficult time for men and women behind bars,” says Anne Hamming, communications director of Crossroads Prison Ministries. “They know all the festivities that are going on outside of prison walls and they are not able to participate in them with their families.

“Many people behind bars are parents or grandparents. Many of them have children growing up without them home. So especially for those men and women, the holidays can be incredibly painful to get through.”

Art by Sean Rikers, the cover art of Crossroads’ 2022 Christmas card. (Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

However, God has not forgotten those in prison. Crossroads makes sure prisoners know that by mailing Christmas cards to their incarcerated Bible study students.

This year, Crossroads mailed over 18,000 Christmas cards to men and women behind bars.

The Christmas cards feature beautiful artwork by other prisoners, and serve as a profound source of encouragement.

Hamming says, “To put it in context, many of them get zero mail. They get no visitors. So on top of the ones who feel the pain of being away from their families, others feel the pain of utter isolation and feeling forgotten. Many, many students tell us that our lessons and our Christmas cards are the only mail that they get.”

Crossroads can always use more believers who are willing to volunteer as mentors in the Bible study program. It’s like being a Bible study pen pal with a prisoner.

What better time than Christmas to begin a new mentoring relationship with someone behind bars who needs the encouragement of a Savior?

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Hamming says, “Many of our volunteers can do it at their convenience. Several of them volunteer while they’re having their morning coffee before they get their day started. It’s really easy to volunteer with Crossroads. It’s a small time commitment. It just takes an hour to reflect and if you have some encouragement in your heart that you can put down on paper, it means the world to someone living behind bars.”

Learn more about becoming a Crossroads mentor!

Header image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries.

The report goes up to 2019 and doesn’t yet cover pandemic numbers, but Anne Hamming with Crossroads Prison Ministries says COVID made things even harder for prisoners’ mental health.

“Through the pandemic, especially when the lockdowns were in every facility, [we saw] just despair and loneliness,” says Hamming. “‘I don’t get to leave my cell. I don’t get to have visitors. I can only communicate via mail with my family, and sometimes not even that.’ There were staffing issues, so a lot of inmates didn’t even get their mail through parts of the pandemic because COVID created staffing issues. It was just a huge compounding of issues that added to the isolation, and it was prolonged.

(Photo courtesy of Karsten Winegeart via Unsplash)

“Now, we’re three years into the pandemic and things have opened up, of course, and returned much more to normal. But there still are these conditions that create isolation over and above conditions that already contributed to risks of falling into mental illness.”

Crossroads pairs prisoners with Christian mentors to write letters and go through mailed Bible studies together.

Hamming says, “First of all, we are eyes and ears. So if a student in a Bible study or in a letter conveys some suicidal ideation or some thoughts that cause us concern, our staff immediately contacts the facility where the student resides to make sure that appropriate interventions happen.”

The biggest part Crossroads mentors can play is to provide emotional support and spiritual encouragement.

“That’s the role of our mentors — to pray for the students, to offer them encouragement, and to write them a letter with every lesson. The impact of that is students know they aren’t forgotten. That’s the single largest concern for inmates because the vast majority of them do not receive any mail. A fair number of them receive no visitors, and they do feel absolutely forgotten.

“Time after time, they say, ‘Thank you for remembering me, and letting me know I’m not forgotten. Thank you for letting me know that God loves me. Thank you for letting me know and showing me that God has a purpose for me and that incarceration is just one period of my life. I am not my crimes. I am the person I am now in Christ.’”

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Hamming emphasizes, “We are not mental health professionals at Crossroads, yet we are able to provide some things that would complement mental health services for students.”

If you know someone behind bars who would benefit from participating in the Crossroads program, refer them to Crossroads here!

You can also become a Crossroads mentor yourself. Hamming says, “The beauty of Crossroads is that you can do it anywhere. People who are mentors say, ‘Man, I don’t have to go travel miles and miles and go into a prison. I can have this connection.’ And they’re always surprised at the connections that they make simply by writing a letter and walking through a Bible study with a student.”

Finally, pray for men and women in prisons both in the US and around the world to know the hope they have in Jesus Christ.

Header photo courtesy of Ye Jinghan via Unsplash.

And even if someone does send a prisoner a Christmas card, it’s not guaranteed to reach them. Doug Cupery, church mobilization director with Crossroads Prison Ministries says, “An increasing number of facilities are not allowing Christmas cards to even come into correctional facilities.

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

“What prisons have been saying is that there’s increased contraband coming in through the mail, whether it’s liquefied drugs into the paper and just different ways that people can get contraband in through the mail. So yes, we are just now starting to have to navigate a world where there may be increased digitizing of it. They may be photocopying it so that the prisoners do not get the original piece of mail into their hands.”

That’s why Crossroads’ annual Christmas card program exists – to send prisoners Gospel hope and let them know they aren’t forgotten.

Cupery says, “This year, we’re going to send in over 12,000 English and Spanish Christmas cards to our students. But an added thing that we’re doing this year is we’re going to be sending in over 4,500 Christmas letters to offset the closed doors to Christmas cards for those facilities.”

It’s a major project. But worth it. Prison at Christmastime is incredibly hopeless and lonely.

“The Gospel, number one, it brings truth,” Cupery says. “It brings hope. But it also brings a reminder to them that they are made new. The worst thing that they have ever done does not need to define them. They are indeed a new man or a new woman. And if they can just hold on to that, to carry it in their heart, that can change your whole life.

The responses to Crossroads’ Christmas cards reinforce the importance of this ministry. Cupery says, “Every year, oh my goodness, we get so many words back from our students about, ‘Thank you for remembering me. Thank you for being a light in this dark place.’

Christmas cards going out to men and women in prison. (Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

You can get involved in serving men and women in prison with Christ’s love! You can donate to support Crossroads outreach programs like the Christmas cards. Or you can even become a mentor and write letters with a Crossroads Bible study student in prison.

“I would encourage those that are listening to remember what Jesus said: That when we visit the prisoner, we are actually visiting Him.”

Cupery says, “If we believe that, if we can grasp on to that, through Crossroads we have the opportunity to visit the prisoner. We have the opportunity to bring biblical truth. But we also have the opportunity to bring that hope, that encouragement that these men and women are longing for.”

Header image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries.

Not all prison mail is able to be processed digitally, including the Bible study booklets from Crossroads Prison Ministries.

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Normally, Christian mentors with Crossroads correspond with prisoners through mailed Bible study booklets along with a note of encouragement. But the new digital mail scanning process in some prisons won’t allow their booklets to get through.

John Byrne, Curriculum Development Director with Crossroads, says, “We have about 50 facilities that have not let our lessons come in because we send in the lesson booklet. It’s just unauthorized because the mail system cannot handle it.

“In some instances, it will prevent our students from being able to continue participating in Crossroads. That’s an issue. Obviously, we’re going to have to get ahead of that curve and figure out new ways to be able to send lessons in.”

The problem extends beyond Bible study booklets too. It has unintended but severe consequences.

“There are some concerns about wellness and mental health,” Byrne says. “[With] letters from families that are handwritten, you can’t overestimate the importance of holding a letter from one of your loved ones in your hand.

“If I’m in prison, and my four-year-old daughter in preschool made me a birthday card, colored ‘Happy birthday, Daddy,’ [and] sends that into the jail or the prison, now that kind of mail will no longer be allowed to come in.”

(Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Byrne says, “Also, what they do is they typically will digitize pictures. So if a family has a family gathering [and] they want to send in a family picture to their loved one in jail or prison, it gets scanned. Typically, the quality of those photos, once they get scanned, is really poor. In fact, a lot of men and women say they can’t even really make out who is in the photo because of the process.”

One of the bigger reasons why prisons are moving towards a digitized mail system is to prevent illegal drugs from getting into the facilities.

However, Byrne says contraband getting into prisons isn’t necessarily a supply problem, but rather a demand problem. And taking away access to physical mail won’t stop that.

“The Marshall Project did a study with the Texas Tribune in Texas. They found that even during COVID when visiting was restricted and they were scanning mail or they were sending out mail to be digitized, there was not a reduction in the amount of drugs coming into the prison.

“What they determined is that the majority of contraband that comes into the prison comes from staff. The correctional officers union, one of the unions in Texas, said that the reason is low pay for staff. There’s a lot of incentive to smuggle things in prison… Even by digitizing the mail, it’s not really going to solve the problem.”

If you want to help in some way, Byrne suggests contacting your local state and county legislators and voicing concerns about digitized mail in the prisons.

(Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Also, Byrne asks, “Pray for us. We’ve seen this as an attack from the enemy as well… Right now with COVID, in most states, volunteers have not been able to come into the prisons for well over a year, almost two years in some states. So there’s limited access to religious studies and religious materials without chapel services and volunteers coming in for Bible studies.”

Finally, pray for the men and women behind bars who currently cannot access Crossroads Bible studies.

“The men and women inside that are believers, they’re the ones doing the evangelism. They’re the ones that are providing the witness. They’re the ones that are praying for the needs of the men and women they live with,” Byrne says. “It’s really important to pray for the men and women in prison, especially the believers and the ministry that they’re doing day-to-day.”

To learn more about becoming a Crossroads mentor, click here!

Header photo courtesy of Liam Truong via Unsplash.

Because of COVID-19, visitors to prisons are restricted; Crossroads Prison Ministries was even worried that the mail system would be shut down. Crossroads connects men and women in prison with Christian mentors through mail-in Bible studies.

(Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

However, Brenda McGowan, Crossroads’ Vice President of Programming says, “Thank God we are still able to deliver the Bible studies because we rely on the US Postal Service with our program model being mail correspondence. What we’ve experienced is that there has not been a decrease in our programming on the U.S. side.”

Also, McGowan says, “We have reinvented and responded to the distancing by engaging our mentors virtually through video conference call platforms. Over the last…six or seven weeks, we’ve had a number of weekly virtual community gatherings and have engaged over 1,000 mentors in conversations, discussions, [and] lots of prayer.” 

Crossroads has still been affected by the pandemic in other ways. At their main office in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Crossroads closed their office to staff and approximately 140 volunteers. Those serving with the prison ministry now do what they can from home.

Then there are the chaplains that Crossroads works with across the U.S. Their chaplains serve as religious programming managers in prisons and normally have an army of volunteers to help deliver programming to prisoners, manage classes, and build relationships.

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Unfortunately, McGowan says, “They’ve lost those volunteers. They are the only persons who the inmates have access to deliver religious programming. So we spend a lot of time praying for our chaplains [and] for our corrections officers.”

In the early stages of the pandemic when its effects were still just showing up, Crossroads took preemptive steps to make sure they didn’t leave their students in the dark.

“We wanted to make sure that in the event that the mail service was delayed or ceased, our students had some Word devotions that they would be able to rely on for a couple of months,” McGowan says. “So we partnered with Our Daily Bread to send over 20,000 students a devotional. We are able to continue to send the mail and so they have both.

“We’ve received lots of communications from our students saying thank you. They are grateful, hopeful, [and] they’re sharing with other inmates in the prisons.”

Crossroads Prison Ministries VP of Programming, Brenda McGowan (Photo courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Right now, Crossroads’ biggest needs are your support and prayers. When you give to Crossroads, you are telling men and women in prison they are not alone and they are still thought of and loved by Jesus.

Click here to support Crossroads!

You can also learn more about becoming a Crossroads mentor here!

Then, please pray for Crossroads’ students in prison to sense God’s love at this time and share His love with others. Pray for the staff and volunteers at Crossroads to be spiritually encouraged as they continue ministry.

“We have equipped the men and women in prison to grow the Church behind the walls.

McGowan says, “While we can’t go in, we have done as was said in 2 Timothy when Paul said to Timothy, ‘You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.’

“So for many years, we have entrusted the Word of God to men and women in prisons and now we are trusting them to be reliable in that they’re going to be able to teach and minister to each other.”

Header image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries.

Bill Passons, COO of International Ministries with AMG International notes that rapid changes in technology necessitate changes in missions strategies.

“Truthfully it affects every aspect of an organization,” he says. “And we try to use technology and leverage technology to stretch our resources, to be better stewards, from the stuff we do in the home office all the way to the field office.”

New software, changes to social media platforms, updated audio technologies, all effect missions work.

Technology and Media Evangelism

One of the areas most impacted by technological change is media evangelism. From its start, AMG utilized media outlets to share the Gospel, but now those formats are changing.

Passions explains, “Back in the day, 50 years ago, AMG was really famous for putting newspaper ads in the newspaper and then getting a whole bunch of responses by mail, filling out and starting a correspondence that way, and eventually leading people to get engaged in a local church through those ongoing correspondence.”

(Image courtesy of AMG International)

The letters were personal and answered questions each individual had about the Gospel. By the nature of the tool, the communication was deeply personal and required concerted effort. However, times have changed and while AMG still uses newspaper correspondence to answer questions about Christ, they have broadened their approach.

Keeping a Personal Connection

The reach of physical newspapers is decreasing. Now people worldwide use social media and online news sites to get information. So AMG reaches out on those platforms while still offering a tailored experience to people seeking Christ.

“Technology now has made that communication so much easier, but one of the things that can be lost is that personal connection. So [we’re] trying to figure out ways in which we can use technology, leverage technology, to deliver things more effective, in ways people want to get it and easier for them to respond, but not lose that personal connection.”

The goal of salvation and connection to the local body of Christ is the same, but AMG is updating their approach to reach more people. Passons explains that this isn’t the only area of their outreach that technology has changed, but it is an example of how the world is changing.

Same Goal, New Format

However, not everything can change. Passons emphasizes that in media outreach as in other areas, the format of Gospel presentation may be modified, but the Gospel must remain the same.

“It doesn’t really change the heart. The heart is still to be able to share the message of the good news of the Gospel and to have people hear and respond. But you have to do that in ways that actually are applicable to the times.”

(Image courtesy of AMG International)

Technology continues to broaden its reach. Around the world people are becoming more and more connected through the internet. People from every walk of life and almost every community are impacted by the connectedness of technology.

For AMG this is exciting. Newspapers, online forums, and social media can go where traditional Christian workers cannot. However, the implications of far-reaching technology mean there is a lot to consider and steward wisely.

Passons asks for prayer for leadership at AMG. “We would love for people to be praying for AMG. One, that we would continue to see all the data that’s out there and see all the trends and be able to be good stewards of the relationships, the finances and the opportunities that God has placed in front of us.”

Please pray for AMG as they bring God’s Word to new places through technology. Pray that God would give their leadership wisdom as they evaluate new means of communication. Please pray also that AMG would continue to know how to bring personal touches to each conversation about Christ.

Learn more about the ministries of AMG here.

Header image courtesy of AMG International

Lisa Blystra, President and CEO of Crossroads Prison Ministries explains, “We have discovered over the last few years that we had a significant number of students that were really dropping out of our program very early on. Even those that had journeyed with us for a while would begin to drop out. The primary reason that we were hearing from students was that they simply could not afford to put a stamp on their completed Bible study lessons in order to get them sent back to us and then forwarded on to their mentor.

“Because of a postage stamp, a lot of our students were not continuing on in their discipleship journeys and that was just very alarming to us.”

The staff at Crossroads prayed about the issue and looking into how much it would cost to provide postage for their students in the prison system.

“The Lord really prompted us to move toward doing what we knew was right,” says Blystra. “In January, we began providing the postage through a business reply mail option for students to no longer have to put stamps on their Bible study lessons.

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

“We knew it would make a difference – but wow. It has made an incredible difference.”

Now, Crossroads is facing a new problem with the influx of Bible study students – they desperately need more mentors.

“We have to have a mentor [who] is receiving those completed Bible study lessons that then goes through the lesson and writes back to the inmate student. [They are] evaluating and speaking into their understanding of theological concepts, but then also writing a letter of encouragement back to the student.”

Crossroads sent out an urgent call to their volunteers. Current mentors were able collectively to take on 500 more students. However, it is still not enough.

What about you? Is God laying it on your heart to mentor a student in the prison system through Crossroads?

Blystra says the interactions between mentors and students are well monitored and supported as they go through structured Bible study lessons together. “The student receives the Bible study lesson from our office, they complete the lesson, they return it back to our office, there are some things that we do to process the lesson to track the progress of the student, [and] then we wrap that completed lesson up and we mail that out to a mentor somewhere in the United States.

“Basically, you read through the lesson, we ask [mentors] to put a comment on each page of the lesson just really affirming the student’s effort, maybe sharing some examples where a particular concept of biblical truth has had meaning in their life, and just put words of encouragement on the Bible study lesson.”

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries via Facebook)

“Then what we find really serves as the solidifying piece of our ministry is the mentor is asked to write a letter of encouragement back to the student. We do provide some guidance in the type of things we want you to talk about. But we are not looking for people to necessarily preach to the student…. We really want people to remind students that there is somebody in the free world that is taking a moment to think about you today.”

Mentors have a great support system through Crossroads. The ministry staff members are available to assist if a student is really struggling with a question. They also provide training for the mentors and ministry envelopes so mentors don’t have to give out their address.

“With less than 12 percent of the general population in prison having any connection to the free world, you can never underestimate the value of just a simple word of encouragement.”

If you would like to learn more about becoming a mentor with Crossroads Prison Ministries, click here!

Blystra also encourages, “It will really heighten and strengthen your own relationship with the Lord because you will find yourself digging deeper into Scripture yourself.”

Crossroads’ executive director Lisa Blystra explains, “Contraband was starting to be introduced into the prison through the mail. The biggest challenge really for the Department of Corrections was that narcotics were starting to come into the prison and they were hidden in colored ink. So the department’s response to that was in September they put a block on all incoming mail that had any colored ink on it.”

The problem was Crossroads had recently started including colored graphics and elements into their Bible study lessons. Students had voiced a desire for more color as a way to engage the materials.

“So what had never been a problem for years all of a sudden became a problem and we learned that none of our lessons would be getting into the students in the State of Michigan, which was very concerning.”

The ban on colored mail in Michigan prisons went into effect in September, and Crossroads started seeing mail returned around the middle of October. With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, it made the timing even more concerning since the holiday season can be incredibly lonely for inmates.

“It really was heartbreaking for us to think that none of the mail we were sending to them — coming either in the form of lessons or, we always have a large Christmas card project — that none of that was getting to the students,” shares Blystra.

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries via Facebook)

“We just really embarked on an aggressive prayer campaign. We engaged all of the mentors that are a part of Crossroads across the United States.”

Additionally, Crossroads met with the Department of Corrections officials in Lansing to explore a solution.

“Certainly they were sensitive to our concerns but also pointed out they have a huge responsibility as it relates to safety of the prisons as well as safe custody of the inmates that reside within those prisons.”

Eventually, they had good news. On March 1, a new prison mail policy was implemented that meant Crossroads’ Bible study lessons could now get through to Michigan inmates again.

“The biggest change is they have loosened up the restrictions on colored ink and [are] allowing printed items to come in that are printed on a color copier, which should significantly reduce the rejections including our Bible study materials that are coming into the prisons,” Blystra says.

“I am glad to report that just in the last couple of weeks, we are very encouraged and we are starting now to see evidence that our mail is, in fact, getting to the students. They are completing their Bible study lessons and they are coming back to us. So we are pretty certain that the new policy is having the effect that we had hoped for.”

Crossroads is still evaluating the changes of this prison mailing policy update. Mailroom staff across Michigan are being trained on new policy procedures, so it may still take awhile for the ministry to see its fullest impact.

“We have a ways to go. We are still in the process of having conversations about some other things that we publish and produce. They made some different rules about weight of paper that they will accept and just some other things that we are going to have to continue to try to work around.”

Moving forward, Crossroads staff feel positive about the mailing process and, ultimately, what it means for the spread of the Gospel among incarcerated men and women.

Blystra reflects, “I think what this was such a reminder of to me was that we are in territory that the Devil doesn’t really like, the work we are a part of. I never would have dreamed that sending in mail could have become a problem, so I don’t ever want to take for granted the amazing opportunity that is before us if the doors to prisons stay open to the faith-based community. So we would just covet prayers that that would continue to be the case so we can continue to…bring the hope of the Gospel to men and women behind prison walls.”

(Image courtesy of Crossroads Prison Ministries)

Crossroads is also looking for more Christians to get involved in prison ministry! It doesn’t require going into the prisons either. By becoming a mentor with Crossroads, you can facilitate a Bible study lesson for a student and correspond with encouragement that they are not alone in their faith journey.

“As the ministry continues to grow and flourish, we have a growing student population and we also need a growing group of volunteers that are available to be correspondents to our students who are in prison. So [we] are always looking for people who would join us.”

To learn more about becoming a mentor to a prisoner, click here!

Send hope through a card.

Int’l (MNN) — There are many around the world who will be spending this Christmas season incarcerated. Hebrews 13 encourages us to “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them.”

David Schuringa says, “At Crossroad Bible Institute we have a Send A Card Program. We invite people to get involved in this. Sunday school groups, prayer groups churches, and schools and families [can] write up a personalized Christmas card and sign just their first name, of course; then they send that to us and we include that with [our Bible] lessons to the people in prison.”

Schuringa excitedly says, “I can’t tell you [that] many of our students will say, ‘This is the only Christmas card I have received. The only one.’ They save them. They put them on the walls of their prison cells. And it is such a concrete way to remember people in prison.”

Sending a simple Christmas card to someone in prison can make the deepest of impacts. Pray that the lives of many in prison will be touched this Christmas and will be transformed by Christ. Also pray for the leaders and pastors in prison to find hope and encouragement through God’s Word and the prayers of His people.