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Focus on the Prisoner From 50 Ways You Can Be Prolife By Tony Campolo and Gordon Aeschliman
We have often been trained to view the prisoner as some kind of animal that is best locked away. Locked away because he [or she-Ed.] deserves it and locked away because society needs to be protected from him [or her]. There are a few such persons. But they are not typical of all prisoners. Christians have reason to feel a unique bond with the prisoner. Our faith was birthed in persecution and imprisonment. Thousands of innocent men, women and children were thrown to the dungeons or the lions for no other reason that they publicly professed Jesus as Lord. And throughout the history of the expansion of the church, millions of believers have gone through the same unjust treatment. The New Testament calls us to care for the prisoner. This activity is equated with following Jesus. And in Matthew 25 the writer tells us that one way God will separate the sheep from the goats in the end of time will be to ask the question, "Did you visit those who were in prison?" Without twisting that passage into a theological prescription for salvation, we have to acknowledge that caring for the prisoner must be close to God’s heart. The life of a prisoner is marked by fear of other prisoners, fear of the guards, fear of the justice system, loneliness (absence of friends and family), impotence (inability to provide for family) and shame (the label of society). Many prisoners have a short record of crime that started with robbing the grocery store of $30 or stealing a stereo set from a car. Bad decisions and wrong behavior became the slippery slope to destruction. Christians understand this process. And we understand that most of our sins---equally weighty before God---do not receive the same harsh judgment in the eyes of society, nor do they separate us from loved ones, nor do they leave us frozen by fear. Our sins include malicious talk, impure thoughts, jealousy and envy, bitterness, the private affair, lack of compassion and a host of other "personal" sins. We are fortunate to come back each time to a Savior who loves and forgives us. Society is not so kind. We highly recommend volunteering with the work of Prison Fellowship as a means to begin caring for those in prison. This ministry, founded by onetime White House criminal Chuck Colson, is expert in its focus on those behind bars. . . . Or you may find a chaplain at your nearby prison who will be delighted to get some help with a good program he or she is already carrying on. Services you might offer to prisoners include visiting them, visiting their loved ones, writing letters to them, writing letters for them to their family, donating used books and magazines, leading a Bible study, organizing a Christmas party---and, if you are qualified, counseling, legal help, and advocacy at governmental levels. Some individuals cannot contribute time at this point in their lives but can give money to a prison ministry.
(Published in 1993, 50 Ways You Can Be Prolife is now out of print. Used by permission of the authors, 9/27/01.)
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