Saturday, December 15, 2007
An organization like Faith, Hope and Love of Peoria has long assembled teams of individuals who go into a dozen prisons and lead retreats for inmates.
Sometimes a group, like Koinonia House in Carol Stream near Chicago, gets small group homes going for newly released prisoners.
Now, both ministries want to take prison ministry to the next level in central Illinois by encouraging churches to adopt former prisoners, literally meeting them at the gate when they're released and taking them in for 15 months, mentoring and sheltering them.
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Meet me at the gate
Program in which churches adopt a newly released prisoner for 15 months will be explained. - Dates: 6:30 to 9 p.m. Jan. 18 at College Park Christian Church, 110 N. Cottage, Normal. 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 19 at First United Methodist Church, 700 N. Main St., Peoria. - Cost: free. - Registration: due Wednesday by contacting Steve Michael at 726-1081 or sending e-mail to stevem68dl@hotmail.com, or view www.khnm.net.
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Both events are free; registration is due by Wednesday.
FHL prison committee chairman Steve Michael of Hudson said he hopes central Illinois churches will be willing to take the risk of helping former prisoners who have become Christians adjust to life outside the walls.
"We have quite a few churches that support us," he said. "They're willing to help, but a lot of them don't want (ex-inmates) in their churches.
"A lot of these guys do come to know the Lord and want to change their lives, and they want an opportunity to do so."
Koinonia House's director of ministries Jasper Lukose said there's "absolutely" resistance among churches to take on such a responsibility.
"There are upwards of 70,000 Christian inmates coming out of institutions all over the country," Lukose said. "I cannot tell you that 70,000 churches are ready to meet them at the gate. Resistance comes primarily as a result of fear."
Prisoners wanting to take advantage of the program apply and are interviewed by phone and in person to gauge their sincerity and Christian faith. They also have to be recommended by a chaplain, counselor or field officer. Once the prisoner is accepted into the program, a church starts developing a relationship with him or her nine months to a year before the person gets out of prison, Lukose said.
"Once that person's date of release has come, that church will have a core group, usually six to eight persons," he said. "They will travel down to the facility and literally meet that person at the gate.
"The challenge is for one church to provide the 15 basic needs that each individual has."
Those needs include things like shelter, food and love.
Meet Me at the Gate has been started successfully at several churches throughout the country, Lukose said, including in the Chicago area and the San
Francisco Bay area for men coming out of San Quentin.
How the program is carried out depends on the church. Sometimes, a single person will have extra room for the former inmate to stay with them. Families also may be willing to house the "Christian neighbor."
"Never is an individual allowed to be on their own for the duration of the program," Lukose said.
Each church provides two mentors for each "Christian neighbor": a spiritual mentor and a financial mentor. Not only do they study the Good Book, but they learn how to balance checkbooks.
Church members also are expected to help the newly free person find a job as well as provide meals and clothing.
"It's the call of the church to love any individual the way that God instructed them," Lukose said. "To love one's neighbor as one's self. The prison population is one of the most neglected populations in the country."
FHL is so supportive of the program that it's footing the bill for both conferences, Michael said.
"We really believe in it, and we really would like the churches to come," he said.