Prison ministry
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Today there are more than 120 prisons and penal colonies in Ukraine, which, sadly, have become home to hundreds of thousands of people, abandoned by their relatives and neglected by the society. The lion share of them has lost all faith and hope for the better. However, God does love these people and is willing to help each and every one of them!
Jesus Christ said once, “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me”. As of today, we already have 56 churches in prisons, where inmates are able to hear the Gospel, be saved and healed, and witness the beginning of changes in their lives. The ministers work a lot with the inmates’ relatives as well, give material assistance to their families and, what’s more, those released from prison get help with social adaptation.
Gospel Mercy Christian Mission (bishop – V.A. Lobodenko) started working in the institutions of the State Department of the Execution of Punishment Ukraine in 1993 and is currently working in the following directions:
1. Church services and Christian education in prisons.
Convicts attend church services every week. Biblical education has been developed for them to provide a spiritual foundation: Bible video-schools are run in prisons and Christian ethics lessons are conducted in colonies for under-aged. We are planning to open video-schools in all colonies.
2. Communicating and supporting people in prisons.
Convicts are in a constant communication with believers from different churches. This fellowship is grounded on acceptance, love and mutual help. Believers pray together to God, communicate over a cup of tea, and celebrate Christian festivals. Ministers from various Christian churches participate in this daily and festive communication.
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3. Helping ex-convicts to start a new life – Ex-convicts adaptation program.
People, who came to believe in God while in prison, leave this place with a strong desire to live a new life. However, they are faced with difficult circumstances: looking for a job, a place to live and food to eat. According to the official data roughly 60,000 people leave prisons annually. Figures state that a massive proportion of repeat crimes take place within the first 3 years since the prison release. Moreover, more than a half of these are committed during the first year when people who have just been discharged, encounter the problems of unacceptance and lack of basic life facilities.
In this challenging period the Mission aims at supporting and strengthening people in their faith and stretching a helping hand in resolving practical issues, such as:1. Helping former prisoners in finding a job:
- collecting information about the enterprises which have vacancies;
- selecting workers from among ex-convicts depending on their qualifications (or, if it is possible, without any).
This selection is based on completed application forms from those requiring help.
2. Legal assistance and juridical advice.
3. Assistance in solving accommodating and domiciling issues together with local councils.
4. Assistance in supplying food during the first two months after the release, which is the period needed to find a job:
- organizing fund-raising dinners;
- help from former adaptees who have lived through the same circumstances;
- support from church members.
5. Provision for a temporary living area.
6. Annual medical check-up in the local or district clinic.
7. Helping to find friends and relatives, renewal of the lost family connections.
The Mission also provides assistance in restoring family relationships of the discharged. For this aim the families of the ex-convicts are involved into talks to help them renew or build up a full-blown husband-wife or parents-child relationship. The ministers of the mission pray and do their best for all ex-convicts to go back to their families where they are awaited and accepted in the atmosphere of love and care.
