At this year’s Christian Prison Resources (CPR) open day, 130 people gathered to celebrate what has been achieved by God’s grace, and to look ahead with faith to what can be achieved in partnership with local churches.
There are currently 136 prisons in England and Wales, with an overall prison population of over 85,000 people. The fields are indeed white for harvest.
Only five years ago, CPR began as a ministry to detainees in prisons, youth offenders institutes and detention centres. Now it visits over 40 prisons, providing chaplaincy care and leading expository Bible study groups, with over 60 prisons making use of the correspondence Bible courses provided by CPR.
Open day speakers included managing chaplains who benefit from CPR’s support or partnership and ex-prisoners whose lives have been transformed by an encounter with Jesus Christ. David Fortune, the Director of Ministry, reminded those present of the calling, shared by all, to know Jesus Christ and to make him known to others.
Tracy Sickel, working amongst some of the 4000 women prisoners, spoke of the desperate need to connect these women with Christ through his Word, and of some of the challenges faced, with busy schedules of activity in prisons. News was heard concerning correspondence courses and the plan to almost double these to 12,000 a year, as well as a new Acts study written by Gerard Chrispin.
