NORTHFIELD CHURCH

To Bootle and Beyond

Prison Fellowship

Prison Fellowship logoPrison Fellowship England and Wales mobilises and enables volunteers from the Christian community to restore all those affected by crime, through practical action, prayer and values-based training programmes.Prison Fellowship England and Wales is in an excellent position to help local Christian communities respond to the needs of a prison population bursting at the seams.

Steve Hawkins now works for the Prison Fellowship as theNorth West Co-ordinator.  Please pray for him in the work that he does.

Pray too for Liverpool HMP which is just on our doorstep.  Pray that the Prison Fellowship will have opprotunities to work in there.

Church is also undertaking to support the Sycamore Tree and Angel Tree projects that the Prison Fellowship run.

This video was played at the Prison Fellowship meeting at Northfield

 

Prisons Week 2011 by Steve Hawkins
“The only person who cares in a bag load of hate mail?”

Getting involved in prison ministry at a time when the British penal system is under enormous pressure is the challenge being issued by Prison Fellowship (England and Wales) next month during Prisons Week (20-26 November).

... A group of Christian organisations working in prisons across England and Wales promotes a week of prayer for all those involved in the life of the nation’s prisons.

2011 has the theme – Do you see me? Or are you just looking? And Chief Executive Natalie Cronin, in an (video) interview published today on www.prisonfellowship.org.uk says there are many ways that people can get involved: “The first one is to pray. Prayer fuels everything that we do.”

She adds: “The second [way] is to get involved with our programmes. Our restorative justice programme [Sycamore Tree] helps victims and offenders come together or our letter writing scheme, where you might be the only person among a bag load of hate mail that believes in a prisoner, that they are just a bit more than the worst thing they have ever done.”

Ms Cronin says that although people don’t always have a great deal of time there is still a lot that can be done: “You might also think about wrapping up a present for a child at Christmas [Angel Tree] so there are lots of practical ways you can get involved with our prison work. If you don’t have much time, think about supporting us financially as we can’t do any of this without your financial support, that’s what makes all of it happen so it’s really important.”

Latest statistics show that prisons in England and Wales have a higher population than they have had for many years: currently 87,652 men and women in UK prisons (a rise of 2424 from the same date 12 months ago). www.justice.gov.uk/publications/statistics-and-data/prisons-and-probation/prison-population-figures/index.htm
See more

 

www.prisonfellowship.org.uk
Prison Fellowship is a Christian charity supporting prisons, convicts, victims and families

 A video about Angel Tree founder: