Our Programs
The Prisoner’s Journey
Imagine prisoners exploring the Gospel of Mark – learning who Jesus is – asking whether He could really love them…. and for those who choose to, accepting an invitation to meet Him.
It’s The Prisoner’s Journey. This 8-week course aims to introduce prisoners to a fellow prisoner –Jesus. This is not traditional teaching or preaching. It’s about putting the Gospel in front of inmates and giving them the chance to make up their own minds about Jesus.
Art From Inside
Prison Fellowship is specifically concerned with the welfare of prisoners and has developed numerous programmes to this end. It is particularly known for the Art from Inside program, which is available to all prisoners.
Great benefits are to be had by providing prisoners the opportunity to engage with Prison Fellowship as a community organisation, to explore talents that they may not otherwise be aware of, and to benefit from the remarkable sense of achievement by having their art displayed in a beautiful gallery for members of the public to view and appreciate.
Sycamore Tree Project
Sean was a tough prison inmate – a well-known and feared guy within the system. So why was a hardened guy like Sean scared for the first time in his life?
The answer –meeting real crime victims face-to-face.Because Sean was part of the Sycamore Tree Project.
This 8-week faith-based program brings crime victims into prison to meet with inmates. They talk about the effects of crime, the harm it causes and how to make amends.
SLAM
SLAM is an effective way of bringing the Gospel to people who would not be interested in church or other traditional Christian activities. Our SLAM program sends Prison Fellowship volunteers into prisons as soccer or basketball teams to play with inmates. Volunteers build relationships and share the Gospel as opportunities arise. Volunteers can share testimonies of their own experience of God. It’s an informal and non-threatening way of sharing God’s message of love and hope.
John came along to one of our SLAM games. One of our volunteers says: “John saw something different in us with the stories we were sharing.I got talking to him more deeply and got him a Bible in his first language and sent him other Christian material as well.”
Prison Visiting
A man or a woman is in prison. Current popular thinking is – Good! Lock them up and forget them! However, although society may have written them off, or family and friends may not want to know them anymore, God still loves them.Like you and me, he still has a plan and purpose for them.
Despised and rejected, many prisoners are genuinely sorry for their actions. They desperately want to change the attitudes and behaviour that led to prison. But who will walk with them on that journey?
Change On The Inside
Ray was one of those kids who drug pushers love to target.
They’ll come into the local high school selling marijuana. While there, they get to know who’s who among the kids. Especially the ones who are vulnerable.
They find out Ray’s parents have split up. His dad’s gone. There is no father figure. A few “friendly”conversations…. and a lonely kid like Ray feels he is in. Soon he’s pushing drugs himself. Then he gets caught and, as a minor, he starts the cycle of juvenile crime. In detention then out.In and out. Then he turns 18 and the next time he is caught it is the adult prison for Ray. He gets to know the system well…. and it seems his way in life is set. In and out!
Camp for Kids
Tyler had a very short fuse….if teased or frustrated he would hit out. Although still a child he was showing all the signs of becoming a bully and a thug. His mother commented: “He was going down a certain track and I was worried that one day he would have followed in his father’s footsteps and ended up in prison too.” Tyler went to a Prison Fellowship Camp for Kids – a free camp for the children of prisoners and ex-prisoners. He was far from angelic, but he listened and he must have taken in some of the formal and informal lessons and advice he received during his time there.
Angel Tree
On Christmas Day, up to 8000 children in Australia open a present from their father or mother who is not there with them – they are in prison.
Angel Tree is an international program of Prison Fellowship, which strengthens relationships between incarcerated parents and their children.
How does it work? Inmates nominate their child to receive a special Christmas gift. This is where you come in – Prison Fellowship then calls on supporters to donate gifts to be delivered to the homes of the children or given out at a prison Christmas party.
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