Purpose
Imprisonment of fathers causes a significant effect on the development of affected children. For example, the father-child relationship and well-being of children are greatly strained when their fathers are imprisoned. The absence of fathers affects children in five main ways. It nullifies the importance of co-parenting, causes poor psychological and educational performance, generates psychological distress to children, and affects the social behavior of these children (Lara & Saracostti, 2019). Overall, parental imprisonment, especially fathers, represents a substantial portion of parental absence. A large percentage of incarcerated males in the United States have young children below eighteen years. Furthermore, many children in America have had the experience of losing a male parent to imprisonment (Turney & Goodsell, 2018). As a result, most imprisoned men suffer depression while others lose hope of ever being available to raise their children. This paper will focus on the role of Christians in transforming imprisoned men.
Context
Love Oasis Christian Center (LOCC) is a church ministry located at queens in New York that has emerged to give hope to these men. The population’s demographic composition is 49% White, 28% Hispanic, 25% Asian, 20% African American, and 0.5% Native American. Among the residents of Queens, adherents of the following religious movements are most common: Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Orthodoxy, and Baptism. Queens has a well-developed transportation system. It is connected to neighboring districts by bridges, tunnels, and ferry services. Here are the international airports of New York – named after J. Kennedy and LaGuardia. This ministry is designed to introduce the gospel of Christ to incarcerated men by showing them love and encouraging them to walk in Christ. Comprehending that the United States has the leading rate of incarceration around the world among developed countries, this ministry recognizes that it is necessary to minister the gospel to the imprisoned, especially men. Therefore, this ministry affirms the need of the church to support these men, encourage their families, and advise ex-prisoners as they embark on society. LOCC acknowledges that God loves all human beings in society, whether they are free or imprisoned. They are all equal in the eyes of the Lord since it is through faith that His grace saves them. Additionally, according to Mathew chapter twenty-five, Jesus Christ teaches that a true believer should visit those in prison (‘King James Bible’, 2017). Thus, the greater purpose of visiting, supporting, and encouraging incarcerated men by LOCC is to obey and follow the teachings of Jesus.
Goals
The vision of church services is not only to introduce prisoners to the gospel of Christ but also to make efforts so that they never return to prison again. The tangible goal of these institutions is for these people to be released, join the Church as members, and possibly join the prison ministry, thereby developing a cycle of assistance to prisoners. The Church will contribute to the spiritual and personal development of former prisoners. They have a significant ability to form the experience, knowledge, skills, opportunities, and self-image of formally imprisoned men. While these people are considered immoral, churches and volunteers strive to give them hope that they can change if they believe in Christ.
Methods
Evangelists believe that ex-convicts can be redeemed, and if qualified, they have a right to be considered potential preachers. They believe that when former convicts serve in gospel ministries, many are reminded of the restoration and redemption enjoyed by Christians in Christ. They also believe that the testimonies of former prisoners are clear and that their heart for serving Christ is triggered already tried by fire. They believe in changed hearts and repentance, which is the core of the gospel of Christ. At least two ministers involved in volunteering to preach to inmates were once inmates themselves. Therefore, when convicts listen to the pasts of these ex-convict preachers, they develop hope and admire living a righteous life free from crime. Additionally, these ministers understand that most inmates come from poor backgrounds and that their condition largely contributed to them being criminals. As a result, they easily convince them to change their immoral perspective about life.
Practices
Most ministers and volunteers take a whole Sunday to visit prisoners at least thrice a month. They perform a normal Sunday service to the inmates during these visits: essentially, the church is brought to them in prison. They also provide Bibles to convicts for free since, in most cases, it is the only thing they are allowed to keep in their cells. These passionate and faithful members of the church aim at conveying the love of God in diverse ways. One way is by ministering the released to reform and be productive individuals. Secondly, some convicts are baptized and later become religious workers. Apart from visiting prisoners, another essential role of religious volunteers is visiting families of the inmates. They can babysit their children while the partner is visiting their inmate partner in prison. This act is important as these partners leave their children with someone they can trust and have ample time to visit their inmate partners without distraction from children.
Volunteers and ministries go to prisons in New York to offer the same support and encouragement to the imprisoned, especially men. These men have been in and out of prison and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds in most cases. When these men are asked whether they grew up in a Christian family, the percentage is the same as one third say no while one third say yes. Those who came from a religious background attended synagogues, churches, or mosques as children to their teenage years. However, after they became adults, their attendance levels returned to a higher level than their teenage years but not as high as their childhood attendance level.
As a result of these self-reports from imprisoned men, volunteers and church ministries try to improve their attendance to religious activities by encouraging them that God has a purpose in their lives. During their preaching, these ministries discover that despite being incarcerated, these men, like others in the free society, have extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for attending spiritual services. The intrinsic motivations included dealing with the loss of freedom and fighting guilt, while the extrinsic motivations constituted access to outsiders, safety, and material solace.
Lean Start-Up Applications
In the United States, incarceration is considered the same as punishment. However, examining major imprisonment rationales, such as deterrence, punishment, incapacitation, and rehabilitation, indicates that the goals of solving and minimizing crime, especially by men, are not met by the criminal justice system of America. In addition, providing a more specific form of punishment results in a higher deterrent value (Kirk & Wakefield, 2018). The emphasis of restitution on individual responsibility serves as a rehabilitative purpose. Furthermore, it aids in providing various means that ensure the rights of inmates and reduce overcrowding in prisons. Christians are therefore urged to take part in these responsibilities by preaching on the importance of living just and responsible lives to both inmates and ex-convicts.
References
King James Bible. (2017). King James Bible Online.
Kirk, D. S., & Wakefield, S. (2018). Collateral consequences of punishment: A critical review and path forward. Annual Review of Criminology, 1, 171-194.
Lara, L., & Saracostti, M. (2019). Effect of parental involvement on children’s academic achievement in Chile. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1464.
Turney, K., & Goodsell, R. (2018). Parental incarceration and children’s well-being. The Future of Children, 28(1), 147-164.
