Our leadership attended the Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association (CMCA) Summit at Wheaton College earlier this year, where we presented a workshop entitled “Prison Ministry as Cross-Cultural Mission.” Ministries are increasingly aware of the unique culture that exists inside prisons. In our workshop we considered how biblical and historical lessons from the field of Christian missions can help effectively overcome cross-cultural challenges in prison ministry. Participants evaluated missions-based strategies for reaching and discipling prisoners and impacting prison culture through the gospel, and discussed how cross-cultural principles might be integrated into their current ministry contexts.
The workshop seemed to be well-received, and a professor at Taylor University later contacted us to ask if he could show this workshop video to some of his classes. Of course, we were honored to agree! Our prayer is that the ideas presented in this workshop will help many different types of prison and jail ministries to develop additional effective strategies to expand the kingdom of God through current and former prisoners.