Expand Prison Ministry in CT

Expand Prison Ministry in CT

Improve this plan frequently.

Serve these Populations 

  • Prevent prison and focus on youth
    • Shiloh Prison Ministry held its 13th annual Community Prison Awareness & Prevention Gathering October 21, 2023 at Mitchell College, New London, CT.  Flyer  
  • Take the love of Jesus inside prisons for men, for women and for youth
    •  Kairos Prison Ministry trains to establish a Christian community inside prisons by the transforming love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
    • Prison Fellowship aims to Serve All Those Affected by Crime and Incarceration.
  • Serve wives and families impacted by incarceration.
    • Prison Fellowship Angel Tree
    • Kairos Outside
  • Connect reentrants to churches and jobs after release 
    • Second Chance Churches pair a mentor with a returning citizen in relational support to engage in church and community services. 
    • HomeBridge Second Chance Employment in Bridgeport, CT trains formerly incarcerated individuals to become excellent employees.

Develop and accomplish this plan 

  1. Prison ministries partner with prayer and praise movements. Arise-CT
  2. Prison ministry leaders share their challenges and work together. 23 leaders met for the first time, hosted by unityct on Zoom, Sept.9, 2023.
  3. Additional leaders with experience in prison ministry support them. 
    1.  Example: Scott Semple, former commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Correction, Encouraged Volunteers in Prison Ministry in 2020. 
    2. UnityCT Zoom meeting October 14, 2023 included leaders with prior experience in prison ministry.
  4. Volunteer in Prison Ministry in CT describes the many opportunities and roles.
  5. Invite every Church in CT to have a prison ministry.
    1. UnityCT.org emailed about 200 Church Pastors in CT in October 2023.
    2. Visit and speak at churches and ministry fairs.
      1. Black Rock Church, Fairfield, had a Mission Fair for Bridgeport Rescue Mission, HomeBridge, Kairos, and a Youth Camp.
  6. Invite new volunteers for prison ministry.
    1. Have volunteers describe opportunities from their perspective. To be developed. 
  7. Prisoners who have had their lives transformed by Jesus Christ bear witness to others.
  8. Find new ways for the Church to serve prison residents and the CT Department of Correction.
    • Write letters to residents, as members of Oasis de Restauración church have done, by sending them through the prison chaplain in Brooklyn Correctional Institution.
  9. Report successes and opportunities to the public. An e-newsletter.. 
  10. Import successful prison ministries from other states.
    1. Refer Prison Seminaries Foundation to the excellent seminaries in CT and ask if together they could make this in-prison training available in CT.

Overview

Volunteer in Prison Ministry in CT

Existing Prison Ministries in Connecticut. 

What they do in depth, Prison Ministry Reports. 

Email comments to dyerd@unityct.com.