Forty years faithful

The Prison Fellowship of England and Wales was set up in 1979. Since then they have been working with prisoners, showing the love of Christ to those in prison and their families.

PF’s mission is to show Christ’s love to prisoners by coming alongside them and supporting them. We seek through prayer and practical care to help, support and develop a Christian ministry to prisoners and their families.

They do this through their network of volunteers, and have over 2,500 volunteers. They are currently involved with almost all of the 120 prisons in England and Wales.

Your church can get involved HERE.

To celebrate this anniversary there will be a special event at Westminster Abbey on 30th March (2-4pm) - Rev Bob Wilson of the FCG will be there and many others - you can reserve your place HERE.

The FCG support chaplaincy across prisons and you can read more about our vital work in this field HERE.

Encounter 13 | Incarceration

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

How does religion play a role in our prison system?

Can faith stop prisoners reoffending?

We speak to Dr Ruth Armstrong from the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge to assess these questions before a hands on discussion with Imam Farooq Mulla and Bob Wilson, both of whom have spent years bringing their faith to the UK’s incarceration system. What are the challenges of this job? In what ways can prisoners be redeemed? And does our prison system need urgent help?

Please find out more about the Podcast on Woolf Institute’s website here.

Free Churches Group welcome the appointment of Revd James Ridge

It is with great pleasure that the Free Churches Group welcome the appointment of Revd James Ridge most warmly into his new role as Chaplain General of HMPPS. Having worked with Revd Ridge over a number of years in the context of Chaplaincy leadership I know that his wisdom, skill and developmental rigour will be hugely appreciated by all who serve those living and working in the prisons of England and Wales as Chaplains. As Free Churches Faith Advisor I look forward to working with James collegiately and supportively as we strive to maintain the Chaplaincy and Pastoral Services of HMPPS, a service which I believe to be a world-leading example of multi-faith co-operation and transformational engagement.

Bob Wilson
Free Churches Faith Advisor to HMPPS & Secretary for Prison Chaplaincy

Freedom on the inside to flourish on the outside...

Freedom to learn and study while in prison can have a significant impact to the lives of prisoners while serving their sentence and to productive lives after release......

Good news?! There was a rare positive piece of prison news last week, as government research into prison education showed that prisoners who spend their time studying through distance learning are significantly more successful in securing work after release. The cost of funding prison education courses is tiny when compared with the cost of re-offending.

During my pastoral ministry training, I had the privilege of serving alongside a prison chaplain in Gloucestershire. The work I did there and the amazing people I met, had a profound influence on my life, Christian witness and attitudes to life, learning and love. As the Education Assistant with the FCG, I have seen first hand the power of learning in later life, to transform all sorts of people. As church-folk, we have a unique and awesome responsibility to find ways of contributing to this. What could you do? Please feel free to get in touch with me or Revd Bob Wilson at FCG to find out more about how you can get involved. 

The Free Churches Group support prisons and free church chaplaincies across the nation. You can read more about this work HERE. In a compelling article, Rod Clarke, the chief executive of the Prisoners’ Education Trust, champions the power of learning inside, to help men and women who are serving time to grow and develop and flourish on release. You can read the full article as featured in the Times Educational Supplement HERE.

Good news indeed! 

Revd Sara Iles, Education Assistant, Free Churches Group 

Discovering the good in simple things Christ asks us to do!

  ‘While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body.’  Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.’ Mark 14:22-23

Both in church and in prison recently I’ve thought to myself how easy it is as a minister from a Free Churches tradition to miss out on the simple meal of remembrance Jesus called us to. But two things strike me here; firstly how simple is this meal really, and secondly just how much we really do miss out? The Eucharist, Lord’s Supper, Communion or Breaking Bread together service naturally draws us towards the symbolism, perhaps the sacrementalism, the very act of remembrance, and the presence of the Trinity in this meal. When I share communion in prison I am drawn time and again to the willingness with which Jesus shared this event with one who has been so often vilified over the years, his betrayer Judas.

Over the years many theologians have discussed the fellowship gathered together to meet with their Lord in a special act of remembrance. Arguments have flown about the nature of the elements and their meaning during the service, who can and cannot administer which parts of the service, the effects on the participants of not taking Jesus’ call to recognise him seriously and so on. However recently I’ve been drawn to think several times about Jesus calling us to do this simply because it is another thing that is good for us, drawing us closer to him, to his Father, and to the Spirit.

Bread and wine – simple, yet hugely complex elements. My brother-in-law has recently taken up the hobby of wine-making, and anyone looking at the spreadsheets he has created to help him monitor the progression of his creations would conclude that this is anything but simple. And anyone who has watched Paul Hollywood dissect a piece of bread on bakeoff would again know that there is more to this flour and yeast combination than meets the eye! Collaboration with the natural processes of fermentation to my untrained eye certainly has something of the mysterious about it.

The transformation of hurting people too has something of the mysterious about it. Why is it that some whom we work with seem to ‘take’, and some seem to need more time to develop? Why do journeys of faith, seemingly so secure as they approach the prison gate suddenly seem so fragile in the hours following release? And how does God take what some may see as a hopeless soul and change this into a glorious life lived fully. In prison chaplaincy we do see all of these, and every time the outworkings are in my mind mysterious. Both good news and bad news stories seem to me to have the mysterious element about them; the same element that takes the ‘normal’ elements of fermented grape and baked wheat to give us a way to meet Jesus together.

As we meet around the elements of the bread and wine, we meet together the Trinity in relationship.  The Father sending his son, Jesus’ obedience in leaving the glory of heaven and submitting himself to death on the cross, and the ongoing work of the Spirit in the power of the resurrection. In the substance of the bread and the wine, the right ingredients, taken through the right process and eaten in the right mindset bring us closer to our creator, and in this mystery we are changed.

The Institute of the Study of Happiness in Copenhagen (yes, there is such a place!) has recently concluded that eating together is one of the most common and universal elements which leads people to a better sense of wellbeing. It does us good. How much more potential does eating together in the conscious presence of the triune God have? As I say, maybe this is simply another thing that Jesus calls us to because he knows it does us good.

Let us not miss out on those things that do us good. No wonder Jesus broke bread and gave thanks.

Bob Wilson

Secretary for Prison Chaplaincy and Free Church Faith Advisor