One of our church members is a very committed volunteer with Set Free Ministries, a ministry that brings the good news of the forgiving–yet–just King to prisoners.

I recently accompanied him on one of these adventures.  Wow.  I now know what an acquaintance felt when he once wrote this:

“I think this is one reason I find worship services in prison so compelling — the joy and delight on the part of the guys in coming together as a forgiven community is almost palpable.  They act as men who have lost almost everything, including their dignity, and then gained the world in gaining Christ.  And they act like it.  They delight in recognizing that they had nothing at all, and now they have everything.

God spare us all from having to learn the lesson in as costly a way as they learned it, but it’s important to learn the lesson nonetheless.  As members (mainly) of respectable, middle–class churches, we often do not realize that, despite our external affluence and our external dignity, we have nothing truly in this world.  Looking at our external affluence, our eyes deceive us, blinding us to the fact that, in truth, we are ‘wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked’ (Rev.3.17).

Not realizing that we have nothing, we then also neglect to realize the fullness of what we gain in Christ. And not realizing the fullness of what we gain in Christ, we do not have the same joy and delight that the prisoners have, even though we have truly gained as much as they, truly having lost as much as they.  He who thinks he is forgiven little, after all, loves little in reply.

Respectable, middle–class churches nonetheless need to break through the patina of respectability that holds back expression of our joy and delight at having nothing of value in this world, but being given everything in Christ.”

Exactly.

To read a very interesting article that our church member, Bill Swenson, wrote about Set Free Ministries, click “Read More” below…

Set Free Ministries
by Bill Swenson

One out of every 15 people in the U.S. (currently one out of every 23 adults) at some point in his or her life will be incarcerated or be under the supervision of probation or parole.  At present only about 1% of the prison and jail mission field in Missouri and Illinois are being reached with the gospel of Jesus the Savior.

There are five levels of security in the Department of Corrections for the State of Missouri, ranging from level I (minimum) to level V (maximum).  There is one prison designated Max-V, the Potosi Correctional Center (PCC).  This is where roughly 800 “offenders” are housed for death–row, life–without–parole, witness–protection and generally–incorrigible designations.  The (approximately) 50 death–row offenders are housed at PCC permanently, until two weeks before actual execution, where a man is moved to the newer Bonne Terre CC, where death is administered by lethal injection.

For a time, executions were put on hold in this state, being termed cruel and unusual punishment.  That injunction was overturned recently but is now pending appeal in the court system.  Once the appeals run out, the penalty will be reinstated, swiftly, to the loss of three or four of our Set Free Ministry workers.

Set Free Ministries of Missouri and Illinois (SFM) was formed 15 years ago by Randy Gruber, in cooperation with Emmaus Correspondence School, with the objective of brining Bible courses to inmates in several prisons and leading them to salvation and nurturing them in the Lord Jesus Christ.

After a while, due to obvious changes in the lives of inmates at PCC (They prefer that we use the term brother rather than inmate or offender — the prison staff refers to them only as offender.), SFM was allowed to have a large office for processing correspondence courses from all over the state and has added another office at the prison in Cape Girardeau, with a full–time paid worker (not an inmate): Jim Harper. 

At PCC, volunteer brothers do the grading of courses; there are over 100 available.  People who grade the courses must put comments alongside any incorrect answer but that answer must always use a Scripture reference for proof of biblical authority.

SFM is also permitted to have weekly worship/teaching sessions at Potosi from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday, under the banner of Prison Fellowship.  Volunteer brothers set up the chairs and display tables in the prison chapel each week.  I was an occasional teacher for these services while I ran a data base of donors for SFM.  A while later I committed to teaching every other week.  Now I teach every week, so that Randy Gruber can tend to other duties and care for his father (94) and mother (87).  This is a wonderful challenge for me; about 50–55 attend each night.  Many of these men have completed every Emmaus course and they all have huge amounts of time to study and prepare for the teacher!  My weekly blessing is in the obvious presence of the Lord Jesus and the thankfulness, devotion and humility of these dear brothers.

This article first appeared in the November, 2007 issue of The Stone Tablet (A Newsletter for Friends and Members of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church).