In a corner of a Sydney prison, a large white tub – emblazoned with the number ‘14’ – sits out of place. It is a container whose usual role is to transport inmates’ laundry, but today water is inside; the tub’s holes plugged with duct tape.
Today this tub is being used to baptise six men.
“One hundred percent, the Spirit is on the move here,” says chaplain Tim Johnson, who has been walking alongside the men in this prison for just over four years.
“These guys, they’re thirsty for Jesus. They are growing so much in their faith. There is a real depth to it, and they’re encouraging others. That is what led to the baptisms – these guys wanted to publicly declare their faith in Jesus. And that is not an easy thing to do in jail.”
“It all started a couple of years ago when we were seeing a lot of guys come through Prison Fellowship’s The Prisoner’s Journey course. They were learning about Jesus, about why He came, and what it means for them. But once you go through that, there’s a huge need for ongoing learning and growth. The guys, they all wanted more. So Prison Fellowship introduced The Prisoner’s Journey Continued, a discipleship course based on Philippians. We had 12 guys go through the first course, and we’ve run another four or five since. But still they were coming to me saying, ‘We want to do more!’ So we ran the Sycamore Tree Project [helping inmates understand the impact of their offending] for the first time last year.”
“Maybe a year ago, one of the guys – Brendon* – told me he wanted to be baptised before he left prison. My experience in prison in another part of Australia was that every time I tried to baptise an inmate, systemic challenges shut it down on the day.”
“But Brendon* wanted to be baptised in prison. He wanted to show the guys inside the glory of God, the transformation in his heart.”
“When I first met him, he was in a dark place. He’s an ex-serviceman who has gone to war, so he has challenges with PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder. He leaned into drugs. It got out of control, and he ended up in prison. When we would meet, I think he appreciated having someone present, someone to sit with him in the trenches. He really valued prayer. From time to time, he would attend our chapel services, but it was when he came along to The Prisoner’s Journey that things really started to change. I saw him come from darkness into light. He was learning about Christ for himself, and the Lord just opened his heart. In the following 18 months, he went from strength to strength in his faith in Jesus, and that led to him wanting to be baptised as the last thing he did in jail.”
“He was also encouraging other guys to come along to The Prisoner’s Journey. Because of him and a couple of others, my classes have always been full! They’re out there saying, ‘Come and hear this good news!’”
Prison Fellowship volunteer, Eric Willemse, helps facilitate The Prisoner’s Journey alongside Tim. “Sometimes we’ll have guys attend the course again, sometimes for a second or third time, all because they’re bringing so many others with them,” he says.
“It testifies to the power of God’s work in their lives,” says Tim. “It’s interesting, a lot of guys might not be comfortable coming to chapel, but they’ll come to The Prisoner’s Journey.” He explains: “I think there’s a bit of an association with ‘chapel’ and ‘church’. Some people have been hurt by the church. At chapel it’s a bit more of a formal service, and that’s not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea, either. If you’re not ‘churched’, it might feel a bit strange to stand and sing alongside a bunch of other men. You may not even really be sure who you’re singing to!”
In this prison alone in the past four years, 350-400 men have taken part in a Prison Fellowship course.
“That means that more than 30% of the prisoners have heard the Gospel,” says Tim. It is a massive reach.
“I think one of the reasons why the harvest is so ready in prison is because most people inside realise they have an issue, and they’re crying out for a solution,” says Eric. “They think about things more deeply than they have before. So if they hear about a course from a fellow prisoner or chaplain, they tend to think, ‘Well, I haven’t got any other solutions! Maybe I need to learn more about this.’”
“In prison, you see the brokenness of the world clearer than ever. The thing is, God’s Kingdom challenges that brokenness. Prison is like the frontier between the Kingdom and the world – this is where the Kingdom pushes in and says, ‘No. We have a different solution’. These people could continue to be lost, sinning and sinning until they end up hurting more and more people. Or we can stop it by introducing them to a new path.”
“During a course, you often see prisoners becoming quite emotional. You see the penny start to drop. They go from being quiet, or even slightly cynical or hostile, to becoming quite transparent. They stop blaming others. They become a lot more humble.”
“They often get tearful when they talk about how undeserving they are of God’s grace, how He gives it anyway.”
“That raw honesty, it’s very rare outside prison. Prison may seem like a really hostile, masculine environment, but it’s a very thin veneer, because it doesn’t take a lot to break through.”
“Often in the beginning, it’s all about them. But you start to see a softening; they start being a lot nicer to each other. At the course graduation, we bring food in to celebrate. And you’ll see them gathering snacks for each other, saying ‘Look, I got some of these for you!’ That’s the kind of thing you wouldn’t see at the beginning. It’s beautiful to see.”
“When a course is ending, we encourage the men to keep meeting anyway. To pray together. And they do – they start to study the Bible together. There’s a real community of Christians growing here, and they’re making a real difference to the place. More than once I’ve heard people say, ‘I’m behind bars, but I am freer than I’ve ever been.’”
“The devil hates us coming here. You can see he’s saying, ‘This is my domain. I’ve enslaved these people – they are mine. I am telling them there’s no hope for them, that God can’t possibly forgive them, and that’s how I like it. Full of despair, without hope. And I’ll take them to hell with me.’”
“When we come in, we are his ‘enemy’. One guy, quite a well-known inmate, started coming to a course, looking really nervous every time. He told us, ‘Every time I go back to my cell, the demons come. They tell me not to come to this course’. We told him, ‘Well, we keep praying for you to come back!’ It is definitely a spiritual battle. Another time a prisoner was threatening to beat up a chaplain, five minutes before the course. We hear about it through other prisoners, and so we pray. He comes in, sweet as pie. We have no problem.”
“These guys, they’re in a place where there is typically no hope – it’s darkness,” says Tim.
“But the bars can’t keep God out. They can’t keep Jesus out.”
One of the guys who was baptised, Alistair*, he found God in another prison when he was isolated with COVID. He was transferred here, and I began to see him in chapel, beaming from ear to ear. He enrolled in some of our courses and just flew through them – so engaged. So when Brendon* said he wanted to be baptised, Alistair* said, ‘I want to be baptised too! I want to glorify God!’ From there it just kept growing. At first I thought we were going to baptise two guys, then three, and then we actually ended up baptising six!”
“A lot of people might not like to admit it, but they’d be happy to see some of these guys damned to hell for what they’ve done. But that’s missing the whole point.”
“I keep looking at Jonah’s story. He was sent to a place he didn’t want to go. The people in Nineveh were into all sorts of wickedness. But God sent him, and he begrudgingly went. Why did God send him? Because He loved those people, and He wanted to give them an opportunity to turn back to Him. And they did, at the first moment they heard of God’s saving grace. It’s like the passage that says, ‘How lovely are the feet of those who bring good news!’ Without prison ministry, where is the hope for these guys? Where is the good news?”
“The baptism took place in front of about 30 other guys. Some brought mates along who aren’t Christian, who don’t go to our programs. They wanted them to be part of the journey, to testify Christ to them.”
“Tim shared about the meaning of baptism and Steve Farr, Prison Fellowship’s State Manager for NSW/ACT, gave a short sermon,” says Eric. “One of the other volunteers, Tim Konise, brought a guitar, so we were able to sing as well. And then one by one we immersed the guys, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
“During a baptism,” says Tim, “When people come up from the water, sometimes they might glisten. But these guys, their faces looked brand new. They had so much joy, they were glowing. Every single one of them had a peace in their heart as they proclaimed Jesus as Lord. It was absolutely beautiful.”
“There was a lot of cheering, a lot of hugs,” says Eric. “Afterwards, we gathered round and put our hands on them to pray. Even the other prisoners did that. It was quite amazing.”
“Afterwards, one of the guys watching came over to shake my hand,” says Tim. “He said ‘Look, I’m not Christian, but that was really good.’ I said, ‘Mate, my door’s always open if you want to chat. There’s chapel, and if you want to do one of these programs, we’d love to have you along! No pressure, do as you see fit.’ This guy has been inside for a while, but that was the first time I had met him. Now every time I see him, there’s just that little bit more of a relationship being built. Sometimes these things take two weeks, two months or two years, but he was curious.”
“I’ve come to realise that when I’m with these men, this is my church. They are my brothers. And my prayer is to see revival here. We’ve got a core group of inmates who are strong believers – great encouragers and disciplers. We are so grateful for the access this prison allows, and if we keep praying for more doors to open, we can see this continue to grow. Three years ago, we were getting five to 10 guys to a service, and now we’re getting up to 40. And since the baptisms, three more guys have put up their hands to be baptised, too. It’s a big prayer… but we are already seeing glimpses of it.”
*Names have been changed
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