A Different Take on the Apostles Prison Ministry

by David Whittaker

James 5:19-20 ( TMSG ) My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God.

You might have the impression that the focus of our church's outreach to the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women (NCCIW) is to secure as many "personal decisions for Christ" as possible each time we go into the prison. While this is an important step in the disciple-making process, it is only the first step in a lifelong process of being conformed into the image of Christ.

Most of those who come to our programs have made such a step in their lives. Many come with a good bit of Bible knowledge. The problem is they have let very real hurts pull them into a destructive lifestyle. Our mission to reignite that first-love passion and to help them see their sentence as a time of restoration and renewal. 

We encourage them to become truly penitent before the Holy Spirit and to allow him to do spiritual surgery in their lives. Because our audience is transitory, we seldom see any fruit from our efforts and must trust the Holy Spirit to finish the work he has started.  Our task is to show up. We would love for you to join us in this ministry. For more information, you can contact Mary Jo Hobbs: maryjohobbs@bellsouth.net.