Prison ministry? Why Prison Ministry?
Thank you for visiting our page, we hope that this will help you to get a greater understanding of what it is that we do and hopefully what we do can help to rid the world of the stigma attached to "prison" and ex-offenders.
We started this ministry with a vision that God provided us with. To help those incarcerated, so we did what we were called to do. In July of 2006, we started going into the prison in Venus, TX to do a bible study. Purpose Driven Life, and we had 19 guys in our class weekly. Now, we are still doing a bible study in the Venus prison, but we are doing a re-entry program, "How to Live a Godly life on the Outside" and we average 40-55 guys weekly, and we also do worship services once a month. Our re-entry program is all about how to re-integrate with the outside world, that the world hasn't changed, but if they are living for Christ, they have. Most of the men and women in prison have never lived a Godly life on the outside, and they don't really understand how difficult it can be to be a Christian and not conform to the world Romans 12:22. Those of you who are Christian know how hard it can be to be a Christian out here, but imagine having the stigma of having gone to prison hanging over your head.
A lot of the people getting out of prison have great fellowship with fellow believers on a daily basis, they eat, sleep and walk daily with the same group of Christian believers, and when they get out, they leave all of that behind, and when they step foot into a church setting, sometimes they get rejected. A lot of the time, they aren't really being rejected, they just feel as though everyone there knows where they came from, everyone is judging every move they make, and they feel like they aren't good enough to be in that church. This is where we come in, in October 2009, we followed what God was laying on our hearts, and we started a support group here in Venus, TX We had come to realize that Johnson County had nothing to offer ex-offenders to keep them from re-offending. Johnson county has a lot of new ex-offenders moving into it daily, and unfortunately, there isn't a lot out here, a few churches, a couple of food pantries and a clothes closet or two. There weren't any "groups" for ex-offenders and their families to go, somewhere that other ex-offenders and their families would go and create a bond unlike any other. We meet every Monday night from 7:00 p-8:00 p at 106 W Second St in Venus, TX.
Not only do we minister to those who have been to prison, we minister to people who don't feel comfortable in a church for any reason. If we were to discriminate against someone, anyone we would be doing the same thing that has been done to many of those who come to our support group. We have a lot of people who have been to churches and felt that they were singled out because of their past, because they had a family member who had been to prison, because they had tattoos, they had piercings, they were bikers or looked like bikers. We have a very diverse group who come on Monday nights and it is just growing. We also have "church people" who come who just support those who have been to prison, they know what it is like to be judged and want others to know that they aren't alone, they can be accepted by people who haven't committed crimes. If you are one of these people, either one, we want to let you know that you can have a place here. We do not judge, we do not condemn, and we offer unconditional love.
We are a 501(c)3 Non-Profit ministry and all donations are tax deductible.
We started this ministry with a vision that God provided us with. To help those incarcerated, so we did what we were called to do. In July of 2006, we started going into the prison in Venus, TX to do a bible study. Purpose Driven Life, and we had 19 guys in our class weekly. Now, we are still doing a bible study in the Venus prison, but we are doing a re-entry program, "How to Live a Godly life on the Outside" and we average 40-55 guys weekly, and we also do worship services once a month. Our re-entry program is all about how to re-integrate with the outside world, that the world hasn't changed, but if they are living for Christ, they have. Most of the men and women in prison have never lived a Godly life on the outside, and they don't really understand how difficult it can be to be a Christian and not conform to the world Romans 12:22. Those of you who are Christian know how hard it can be to be a Christian out here, but imagine having the stigma of having gone to prison hanging over your head.
A lot of the people getting out of prison have great fellowship with fellow believers on a daily basis, they eat, sleep and walk daily with the same group of Christian believers, and when they get out, they leave all of that behind, and when they step foot into a church setting, sometimes they get rejected. A lot of the time, they aren't really being rejected, they just feel as though everyone there knows where they came from, everyone is judging every move they make, and they feel like they aren't good enough to be in that church. This is where we come in, in October 2009, we followed what God was laying on our hearts, and we started a support group here in Venus, TX We had come to realize that Johnson County had nothing to offer ex-offenders to keep them from re-offending. Johnson county has a lot of new ex-offenders moving into it daily, and unfortunately, there isn't a lot out here, a few churches, a couple of food pantries and a clothes closet or two. There weren't any "groups" for ex-offenders and their families to go, somewhere that other ex-offenders and their families would go and create a bond unlike any other. We meet every Monday night from 7:00 p-8:00 p at 106 W Second St in Venus, TX.
Not only do we minister to those who have been to prison, we minister to people who don't feel comfortable in a church for any reason. If we were to discriminate against someone, anyone we would be doing the same thing that has been done to many of those who come to our support group. We have a lot of people who have been to churches and felt that they were singled out because of their past, because they had a family member who had been to prison, because they had tattoos, they had piercings, they were bikers or looked like bikers. We have a very diverse group who come on Monday nights and it is just growing. We also have "church people" who come who just support those who have been to prison, they know what it is like to be judged and want others to know that they aren't alone, they can be accepted by people who haven't committed crimes. If you are one of these people, either one, we want to let you know that you can have a place here. We do not judge, we do not condemn, and we offer unconditional love.
We are a 501(c)3 Non-Profit ministry and all donations are tax deductible.
|
|
|
