Prisoners for Christ ministering to captive audience of incarcerated terrorists
Not even terrorists and other prisoners are beyond God’s grace – especially when they are serving time in prison.
“What better opportunity to share the love of Christ with some of the hardest of hearts that are bent on evil and having them come to know the Lord, getting released, going back to their communities and sharing the love of Christ?” said Greg Von Tobel, president of Prisoners for Christ. “When we talk about third-world prisons, there are a lot of terrorist groups that have found themselves in prison.”
The ministry helps believers behind bars start churches in prisons across the developing world. For terrorists, these church gatherings often are the first place they hear about Jesus. Many inmates enter prison churches simply out of curiosity.
“And it says, ‘This is a safe place,” said Don Szolomayer, director of international affairs,. “This is a place you can come, you can ask questions, you can learn, you can grow.”
Sharing the gospel is only the beginning. Von Tobel stresses the importance of building up new believers in the faith during their incarceration. “We have to have the discipleship piece — feeding and growing inmates that are babes in the word of God, watching them and growing them into great warriors for the cause of Christ,” he said.
He encourages Christians to pray for extremists in prison to turn to Christ and become warriors for God’s mercy and truth. Pray also for believers who lead these prison churches, that God would equip them with wisdom, courage and perseverance as they disciple new Christians behind bars.
Prisoners For Christ has reached across the United States and more than 25 other countries to share the gospel with inmates of jails, prisons and juvenile institutions since 1989. The ministry supports chaplains with free resources to serve inmates, including Bibles and Christian literature for prison chapel libraries. It also has produced video programs for prison Bible studies and church services.
Inmates also can enroll in Prisoners for Christ’s Bible Study Correspondence School, with more than 16 units and 130 lessons about the Bible. The school serves approximately 2,300 students. Volunteers review each student’s lessons, write encouraging notes and pray for them. The ministry also supports thousands of more inmates with a pen pal program and its Yard Out newspaper. For more information, visit www.prisonersforchrist.org.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
