Strengthening the Indigenous Church Inside America's Prisons
People who empower disciplemakers in prison for the strengthening of the indigenous church inside, by sharing ideas with other cohort members and producing new resources for the indigenous church.
Principles
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America’s prisoners live in a culture that is significantly different from the culture outside prison.
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The indigenous prison Church is a legitimate expression of the Church in its cultural context.
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The presence of bona-fide indigenous disciple-makers in America’s prisons means it is no longer an unreached mission field.
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The indigenous prison Church is a rich source for Kingdom workers inside prison, in the outside-Church, and for world missions.
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Bona fide disciple-makers in the prison context need at least three years of contextualized church leadership training beyond discipleship programs (e.g. The Capstone Curriculum).
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The outside-Church will always have a vital role to empower disciple-makers affected by incarceration, both inside prison and during re-entry.
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An effective facilitator in the prison context can shift the responsibility to indigenous leaders, provide resources as needed, and inspire gifted prisoners to action.
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Effective facilitating is evident when indigenous leaders minister from their gifting, using tools offered by their facilitators, to disciple new leaders, with a desire to see people impacted by the Gospel beyond their context.
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While the formerly incarcerated should start serving in a local church upon release, their sanctification in free-world culture needs to be proven authentic for a minimum of 12 months.
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The indigenous prison Church has limited ability to collaborate with other indigenous leaders, but the Cohort can assist in a nationwide indigenous prison movement.
Practice:
Participants agree with historic Christian faith, recognizing the Cohort is comprised of people employing diverse methods and strategies. Therefore, each person is not required to endorse the work of other participants. Any information listed on platforms is expected to be kept current and inquiries should receive prompt replies, preferably within five business days.
Facilitator Profile
Mark Walker and Don Allsman
Summary
The traditional view of U.S. prison ministry is rooted in what the outsider does FOR the prisoner (or formerly incarcerated). By contrast, we believe the best role for an outsider is to develop indigenous leaders within existing prison churches. We propose that empowering indigenous leaders is the most biblical, enduring, and impactful approach to prison ministry.[i] In this context an effective Facilitator disciples, mentors, or supports God-gifted prisoners for Christian ministry, based on the Facilitator’s: 1) Comprehension of prison culture in the U.S.; 2) Passion to apply principles of cross-cultural missions and ministry practice; 3) Vision to develop indigenous leaders.
Skills
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Shifts Responsibility: A Facilitator actively and intentionally works to shift primary responsibility for the work of Christian theology, ministry, and practice from outside ministries to gifted leaders within the prison churches themselves. They look to promote, catalyze, encourage and empower Christians to contextualize the gospel in their local context.[ii]
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Provides Resources: A Facilitator is a resource connector who recognizes the unique limitations on ministry resources created by the prison environment and creates access to resources that will improve indigenous ministers’ competence, effectiveness, and scope of influence. They provide resources outside of the local community that may be helpful in the process of contextualization such as commentaries, theological works, biblical scholars, original Bible languages and anthropological studies.[iii]
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Inspires Action: A Facilitator encourages gifted prisoners to take up the mantle of ministry responsibility, mentors those prisoners through ministry experiences, and respects their theological conclusions and ministry approaches even when there is disagreement over non-essentials. An effective Facilitator “enables or empowers local Christians to make good decisions in light of the particular challenges they face. The facilitator is more concerned with equipping Christians to discover their own methods and means rather than identifying them or pointing them out. They anticipate that prisoners will want to lead, and they find helpful ways to ensure that this happens.”[iv]
Outcomes: The evidence of effective Facilitating can be observed when competent leaders within the prison churches are: (1) ministering according to their own spiritual gifting for building up the Body of Christ; (2) developing themselves as using the tools and resources provided by the Facilitator; (3) discipling new leaders within the prison churches and (4) desiring to see their ministry impact people beyond prison and into the wider Church and community.
[i] Mark Walker, Prison Ministry as Cross-Cultural Mission, https://vimeo.com/831975408/8fcf4152df.
[ii] Frank Tucker, Intercultural Communication for Christian Ministry (Adelaide, Australia: Frank Tucker, 2013), 340–41.
[iii] Tucker, Intercultural Communication for Christian Ministry, 340–41.
[iv] A. Scott Moreau, Contextualization in World Missions: Mapping and Assessing Evangelical Models (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Academic, 2012), 196–216.
