“I know I made some mistakes, but I just want to get out of here and work to support my family”.
This was how the 30-something earnest man in orange began our conversation as we sat in the visitor room at the Grand Traverse County Jail last week. I have come to know the names and faces of several incarcerated young adults (mostly men) through the visits and chapel services that Central Church is involved in there. The men and women there are our neighbors, residing a mere 2 blocks from our church building. The statistics are sobering to see how young the jail population is, and how many cases are the result of non-violent drug violations. Addiction is insidious. These are people who admit they are guilty of their crimes. Yet these are people in desperate need of in-house recovery programs with the best-possible mechanisms for education, incentives, accountability and spiritual support. However, the current reality in many jails, ours included, is more of a punitive warehouse where persons “sleep off their time” with few programs to better themselves or become better citizens. This year community leaders and corrections officers, are hoping to see things improve.
I appreciate the local work of Keys To Freedom Ministries, under the leadership of Chaplain Tina McCalley, who coordinates the religious services, access to books and bibles, Christmas party for inmates’ families, and the valuable resource of letter-writing materials for inmates. Our church partners with each of these services, in money and presence.
I am also excited about another, newer, group in town I would like our church to know about – BDAI, which stands for Before, During & After Incarceration. They are an advocacy group for folks currently or previously incarcerated, plus their families. I believe they are a group worthy of our support and prayers, as they engage the larger justice issues for those in our jails. Here are their 4 goals –
- Humanize the faces of the incarcerated.
- Change the attitude of the community towards the incarcerated through education and advocacy.
- Change the culture in jail from a culture of punishment to one of recovery.
- Advocate for programs which will improve: A. Diversion from jail B. Rehabilitation services in jail and C. Success in reentering the community once released.
A great place to learn more is at the monthly Family & Volunteers Support Dinner, sponsored by BDAI, 1st Tuesday of every month, hosted by our neighbors at First Baptist Church, 244 Washington Street.
United Methodism holds a deep tradition in caring for social justice concerns, and seeing dignity in every person, regardless of their record and history and status. When I was a college student, I was awakened to these values when an elderly woman in my church challenged me to join her in taking a stand against the death penalty. She cited our UM Social Principles that say “…the death penalty denies the power of Christ to redeem, restore, and transform all human beings”. Her challenge shook me up, in a good way, to not only see the sacred worth of someone in jail, but also to visit them, to help them seek employment following their sentence, to represent in small ways our “God of 2nd chances”. Here is a great article on UM jail ministries that are in the business of transformation with the incarcerated.
Noticing and creating relationships with our incarcerated neighbors, our addicted neighbors, our neighbors experiencing homelessness all fits in beautifully with our church’s expressed goal this year for Greater Community Engagement. A thoughtful member of the church forwarded another fine article my way on how the really great churches are the ones who are compelling their members to leave their buildings in order to walk alongside neighbors in making a difference for the Common Good. I invite you to read the whole article https://www.churchleadership.com/leading-ideas/7-steps-to-reengage-your-community/ but I was taken by the writer’s short list about engaging the neighborhood around us – inmate, shopkeeper, condo resident, tourist. So here is the list of the “seven L’s”. Which one of these challenges you to dig deeper?
1. Love all people.
2. Listen more and talk less.
3. Learn from new places and new people.
4. Live, lead, and be present in the now.
5. Lead into the future.
6. Launch from a place that creates a win-win.
7. Learn and lead with others in addressing current justice issues.
These are great times to be the church of Jesus Christ. Central Church is vibrant and healthy precisely because we take serving seriously. Hooray for entry points such as our Serve Saturdays (3rd Saturdays each month), Outreach meals, Mission trips, and now seeking greater ways to befriend our neighbor in & released from jail. Please contact me if you’d like to be trained to be a mentor for a neighbor following their release from jail.
We are in the business of transformation here.
I am with you, serving a Christ who sets the prisoners free,
Chris
Dear Chris,
I am deeply respectful of your leadership with the Church’s jail ministry outreach. With few exceptions, addictions grow out of a traumatized childhood of abuse and neglect which changes a child’s brain chemistry and increases their vulnerability to the addiction process. I strongly recommend to our congregation the compassionate look at addiction and healing offered through the book”In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction” by Dr. Mate, a #1 Canadian Best Seller. It is filled with both grief and hope and includes the importance of spiritual healing in the recovery process.
Christine,
Thanks for reading my blog, and the book recommendation. Do you have a copy I might look over? I wonder about such a book’s usefulness for a discussion group.
Chris
I bought the book today as I went to see Dr. Mate today at the Hagerty Center. He was an excellent speaker and I can’t wait to read the book.
Chris,
This morning at the outreach breakfast I was leader since Jane was gone and there were 3 young men who needed clothes, socks, and underware. One man told me he had just gotten out of jail and I’m wondering if this was the same for the other 2. One man didn’t have a jacket and sadly there were non available that I could see. It is sad that people are let out of jail without the bare necessities. I missed Jane’s wise advice.
Thank you, Pastor Chris, for your work with the jail ministry and for this informative and helpful message….timely for me, since my daughter is an inmate.
Chris, I see the effects in of drug and alcohol addiction every week in my private practice and my volunteering opportunities at Father Fred and our Community Outreach Breakfast. But during jail ministry, the devastating effects of addiction are most evident. Many of the men are in a continuous cycle of incarceration due to lack of rehabilitation opportunities at the jail, all the costs incurred upon their release and few resources available to them in the community. I think this would be a good time for CUMC to become more involved with BDAI as they are in the forefront to try and put an end to this vicious cycle of incarceration.