Celebrate Recovery

Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centred, Bible-based recovery programme designed to help people address a variety of hurts, habits, and hang-ups.

We meet together weekly in a safe and confidential setting. We work through a 12 step recovery programme which, together with the Celebrate Recovery’s 8 principles, enables us to develop and deepen a relationship with Jesus. Each participant is encouraged to work through each principle at their own pace in their own time.

Celebrate Recovery’s general meeting night includes large group time, open share group and fellowship time. Large group time consists of worship, reading of the 12 step or 8 principles, a recovery lesson or a testimony and the prayer for serenity.

The gender specific open share groups follow guidelines for safe sharing and allow time to share our thoughts about the lesson or testimony and the evening’s principle before sharing more openly about our recovery progress. This is a supportive and caring environment which allows us to open up as individuals and to make changes through developing, with Jesus and each other, new ways to live. This process brings peace, joy and freedom from our hurts, habits and hang up’s.

Some Celebrate Recovery groups are able to offer Step Study meetings in addition to the general meeting night. In Step Study, participants work through the questions in the participants guides.

To find out more, please visit www.celebraterecovery.co.uk.

Prison Hope

Prison Hope is an exciting partnership of denominations, prison chaplains and organisations involved with prisoners, former prisoners and their families. We encourage local churches inside and outside prison to pray and share hope together.

Prison Hope connects people and organisations – encouraging prayer, volunteering and giving. We want to help churches to support prison chaplains and organisations working with prisoners and their families, both in prison and when they leave.

The video of the Rt. Revd James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester, is available to view here.

For more information to get involved, please visit here.

Reflex

According to the Government’s most recent research, 75% of young people sentenced to youth custody re-offend within one year, as do 68% on community sentences.

Youth reoffending is a massive problem in the UK.  Despite the Government’s concerted efforts to reduce the number of young people in custody, during the August riots the youth prison population reached a record high. Rioters had, on average, 11 previous convictions; with 9 out of 10 already known to police.

Most young offenders are trapped in an endless cycle of offending; they must not only convince others to give them a second chance, but they must also overcome their own internal struggles, insecurities and addictions: 1 in 4 have suffered abuse, 1 in 4 have learning difficulties and 70% grow up without a father-figure. Gangs typically prey on these vulnerable young people with low self-worth and no real job prospects.

Reflex are disarming the gangs and giving young people hope for the future, by partnering with churches and charities to place professional youth workers, called ‘Outreach Workers’, in youth prisons ("YOI's") across the country. Reflex Outreach Workers run youth clubs and chaplaincy groups, deliver creative and accredited education programmes and facilitate mentoring schemes; they are specialists in helping young people move forward with their lives, diverting them away from gangs and helping them resettle into society. Using a tried and tested methodology: ‘creative reflection – positive expression’, Reflex help young people reflect creatively on their lives and positively express their hopes for the future. An independent evaluation recently verified that Reflex approach leads to a reduction in offending.

In short, Reflex exist to empower children, young people and young adults to break the cycle of offending and reoffending. In 11 prisons, across 5 regions, they equip young people with the skills, confidence and opportunities to realise their full potential.

To find out more please go to www.reflex.org

Caring for Ex-Offenders

Caring for Ex-Offenders (CFEO), connects people leaving prison to a mentor and support team based within a local church. Please visit the website for more information: www.caringforexoffenders.org

Caring for Ex-Offenders, Social Transformation, Holy Trinity Brompton, Brompton Road, London, SW7 1JA

info@caringforexoffenders.org

T: 020 7052 0332
F: 0207 589 3390

Prison Outreach Network

Prison Outreach Network (PON) is a Christian network of volunteers who have been voluntarily working in HM Prisons, Young Offenders Institutions and Immigration Removal Centres since 1986. PON was founded by and for Christians who have a passion and desire to use their God given gifts and talents to share their faith and proclaim The Gospel in these institutions. The individuals that form the PON family come from diverse social and ethnic backgrounds, generations and churches. Together these individuals use their variety of skills, abilities and competences to share their faith.

For further details please download our newsletter and come along to our end of month meeting (which is free to attend) Please feel free to contact us
 

To find out more please go to http://prison-outreach-network.org/

Christianity Explored - Prisons Edition

The popular introduction to Christianity, Christianity Explored has recently developed a "Prisons Edition" of the course. In April 2013 it was reviewed in Evangelical Now Magazine (read full article here) and has already been trialled in a few prisons. In the following, two Chaplains from Wales describe their impressions of the course:

Why did you consider using the Christianity Explored course?

“All my time of being a chaplain you are looking for new courses to share the gospel, like Alpha. When CE came along it looked good material and relevant for HMP Cardiff, so we decided to give it ago.”

“An excellent introduction to Christianity”

What would you say is good about the course?

“The course is at a level that prisoners get, its not academic, it meets them where they are and then they are taken on an encounter with Jesus without getting overwhelmed with the 16 chapters in Mark’s gospel”

“It teaches prisoners how to read the Bible, Mark is a great place to start”

What have been the positive effects, if any, of running the course for chaplaincy here?

“Since running CE. I have noticed that there have been more prisoners attending Sunday worship and prisoners who are or who have been on the course wanting to be at Sunday worship. We can average about 60 prisoners before we started the course 4 yrs ago we were below 50. The course gives prisoners a positive focus and allows them to be more in depth. It’s something that chaplaincy can feed prisoners into, as chaplains have an already busy schedule. Chaplaincy is a team effort, CE is a good part of that team evangelizing and helping them come to know more about Jesus from Mark’s gospel. Mark is a good place to start because he is very immediate in his message.”

“It has helped us build a sense of community. The group has grown in numbers and has grown together.”

Have you seen any significant changes with participants who have sat through the course and what are they?

“Obvious changes have been more baptisms. Some of the prisoners who do the course want to be baptized. The course inspires them to make a Christian commitment, which implies that there has been a change. I now get 4 or 5 prisoner wanting to be baptized every year whereas before the course was used in Cardiff it was 1 or 2 baptisms a year.”

“The group has helped some members to grow in confidence. One member is now so confident he is even willing to speak and read in church.”

Would you recommend other chaplaincies running the course and why?

“I wholeheartedly recommend the course because the practical origins of the prison edition have been shaped in the prison environment, tested and shaped for over 4 years with the problems that the prison regime can throw up. We have living proof that the course has had a positive influence upon prisoners who go through the course”

“I would strongly recommend this course to all my colleagues” 

www.ceministries.org/prisons

prisons@christianityexplored.org

Clinks Directory of Offender Services

Clinks’ Directory of Offender Services contains information on over 1000 organisations working with offenders and their families throughout England and Wales.

It's also completely free, so whether you're looking for housing support in London or volunteering opportunities in the North East, the Directory of Offender Services is a great place to start.
 
Search the Directory
Search the Directory by organisation name, location, type of work done and target group, and read a brief summary of each organisation to quickly work out if they can offer the support you and your service users need.

Start searching the Directory here: www.clinks.org/directory
 
Add your organisation
If your organisation is not already registered, then join up today. Registering should only take a few minutes, and you can find instructions here: www.clinks.org/registrationinstructions. 

You can also edit the information displayed for your organisation to ensure that it’s as up to date as possible. 
 
We've added some new features to the Directory too, so you can now:

• Add your organisation’s logo
• Indicate whether your organisation takes on offenders as volunteers
• Specify which local authorities your organisation works within
• Advise if your organisation works with immigration detainees

 If you require any further information please contact: luke.martin@clinks.org

Junction 42, Durham

From the Clinks Website ...

"Junction 42 is an established charity proving education, mentoring and Christian faith support to offenders both in custody and in the community. This support focuses on reducing social isolation, building community, addressing chaotic lifestyles and removing barriers to employment and family stability. We work with a large number of offenders, ex-offenders and other young people, (including dedicated women’s services) who face serious life style stability issues and significant barriers to employability"

Junction 42 has close links with "Connect" in Durham. Peter Grant of Fresh Expressions wrote recently of how a church has developed from long-standing work among young offenders.

"The ministry of Reflex, as part of Youth for Christ North East, ran for 15 or 16 years but changes in the prison system relating to young offenders brought changes in the ministry too. Such a lot of great work was being done but things had to develop in a different way to serve the needs of those coming out of prison so, just over 12 months ago, we set up our charity - The Junction 42 Foundation - to develop our work with ex-offenders, their families and friends in the community.

I've been working with men involved in issues of offending and domestic violence for over 20 years and what we started to see were real openings with the gospel in prison but it all broke down when the men were released and tried to get into the community through church. It just didn't work because the cultural difference was too great to make that step.

As a charity we started to run a couple of groups in the community, one for men and one for women. We also set up some mentoring training and got some people involved from local churches. The guys' group had around 10-12 people coming along; some were just out of prison while others were mature Christians, some with an offending background in their past.
 

... to read more of this exciting development, and how this project of hope is developing, go to the Fresh Expressions website here

Time for Change Ministries

New Bible Study resources available from Time for Change Ministries 

Time For Change Ministries offers 3 new Bible Study series, on Luke’s gospel, Romans and James, all written specifically for use with small groups in the prison environment. 
 
The studies aim to help participants understand the Bible through a series of questions relating to what the passage says, what it means and how this applies to our lives today.  These studies are free to download.
 
A Prison Chaplain says, referring to the studies in James, ‘It just hit the spot’.
 
Set up in 2012, Time for Change Ministries provides prison-specific resources that clearly expound the Bible and present the gospel, while taking into account certain factors that specifically affect prisoners. These include the average literacy level of a UK prisoner, prevalent mental health issues, ADHD, emotional and psychological vulnerability, etc.  The result is an interactive and engaging presentation of the Bible.
 
Time for Change Ministries resources also include the Guilt and Forgiveness Course, an 8 session interactive course which helps prisoners know God's forgiveness, forgive themselves and forgive others. Prison Chaplains have been positive: 'The Guilt and Forgiveness Course has proven invaluable in working with offenders.  It enables them to understand what the reality of forgiveness is... and it opens up to them the idea of being forgiven by God and how this gift is freely given to them in and through Jesus' death on the cross.  In doing the course I saw offenders really move forward.'  

Time For Change Ministries is run by Gillian Pegler who co-wrote the Christianity Explored Prison Edition and Discipleship Explored Prison Edition and is a Chaplain at HMP Cardiff and HMP Prescoed.

For more information go to www.tfcministries.org.uk or contact gillian@tfcministries.org.uk

Hope Into Action

Prayer - We would love to identify people willing and able to pray for us as well as the the homeless and vulnerable. Read More ...

Volunteer - We train volunteers to mentor the vulnerable adults in our houses. We also need a whole variety of volunteers to help with the running of our offices. Read More ...

Church - The church is central to each house, as the church provides a community of people with the right attitude to work with people in vulnerable situations. Churches are central to this model and we would love to hear from you if you want to get involved.. Read More ...

Invest - We are interested in those who wish to invest in a property. If you are able and willing to make a social investment or own a property that can be used by Hope into Action in partnership with a local church then we would love to hear from you. Please read more or call us on 01733 558301. Read More ...

Ed Walker, CEO “Hope into Action” Ed.Walker@hopeintoaction.org.uk
http://hopeintoaction.org.uk/