I was living my life in a way that could have got me into prison. Little did I know I would end up choosing to go into prison – but this time through God’s direction in my life.
Many of us have read the stories or personally know those that have had dramatic conversions from self-destructive lives to becoming a new creation in Christ. These stories can be a powerful witness to lives transformed and restored.
Before Christ, my world was wrapped up in achieving the next fix of the particular drug that happened to take my fancy at that moment. My mind constantly flittered around from whatever new spiritual fad seemed most appealing to a worldly mind attempting to find a spiritual path to some kind of higher reality. I was captured by a cycle of addictive behaviour and unable to find a path to freedom. What I had not understood was that, in Biblical terms, I was dead and in need of a Saviour.
I came to faith through the guidance of my now wife and a series of intense signs (there is nowhere near enough space here to go into detail about these) that left me without a shadow of doubt in the reality of the resurrection. Through this time the Bible came alive to me, and I found myself gripped by every word, every paragraph, every chapter. By the grace of God this remains the same today. As a result, the new love I found compelled me to want to serve others and help them find that same release from captivity.
Investing in me to invest in others
My story could have had a very different outcome. Addiction and drugs have destroyed countless lives. Instead, through Christ, I wanted my life to count for His kingdom and I realised that I needed training. I needed to strengthen my own theological understanding and gain confidence so that I could be useful to those I felt called to help.
Training in ministry at Moorlands College equipped me with the right tools to interpret Scripture effectively and has had a fundamental impact on both my personal Bible reading and in my ministry to others. The emphasis on applied theology demanded that I get involved in a practical ministry placement. For me that was to serve as a prison chaplain, which very much affirmed my calling for this work. It’s a privilege each week to sit with a prisoner in their cell hearing their story and then being able to share the story of redemption and God’s love for them.
Freedom for captives
Following graduation, I was given the possibility to serve through the charity CPR (Christian Prison Resourcing). CPR is dedicated to equipping people to enter prisons across the UK to share the truth of the gospel. Alongside this, CPR has created a Bible correspondence course to ensure that prisoners are receiving faithful teaching to help shape their faith. The course takes prisoners through a series of studies increasing in difficulty, culminating with a deep-dive look at systematic theology. There are around 80 CPR associates serving in 60 out of the 120 prisons across the nation, engaging men and women with the truth of Scripture and encouraging them to continue their worship of the Lord through engaging with the course. In one women’s prison there are 30 women attending group Bible studies each week and 15 of them are currently steadily working through the course. Roughly around 400,000 people come in and out of the prison system each year and a chaplain has to meet each one when they arrive. As you can see the harvest is plenty.
My role is to help prisoners in their resettlement – linking them with a church on release.
This is a great passion of mine because I know that my own new-found faith needed nurture and fellowship to thrive. I never tire of the profound transformations we see week by week. But it is good theology, and the fruit of training, that has helped me develop and support those transformed lives over the long haul. I have seen those labelled by society as monsters humble themselves before the cross, repent of their sins, and discover a new identity in Christ. With the words of Jesus in mind, I have seen prisoners set free.
