Diocese of Winchester

Jade, is a Church Army, Fresh Expressions Evangelist who is working in HMP Winchester as their Community Chaplain. She has sent us her prayer letter for the month of May which includes the following example of how God is touching and transforming lives. Jade writes:

“I have been spending time recently with a young man who has been in and out of prison for a number of years. He recently had a big upset in his life where his partner told him she did not want to have anything to do with him. Well as you can imagine this is devastating to someone who is at a low ebb in his life. Gently I shared with him how God helped me when I was in a very dark place, and I was able to pray with him to receive Christ. Now that in itself is wonderful, but it didn’t just end there with a prayer of commitment. He has since been released and today I heard that he is about to go into a Christian rehab centre where he will be discipled and helped to rebuild his life. Please remember to pray for him; his name is Matt and he is trusting God for the very first time.”

Jade also talks about a newly launched monthly meeting in Southampton called “Transformed” that has been set up to support ex-offenders and encourage them in their faith. A Baptist church are providing a venue for a praise and worship service once a month where ex-offenders will also be able to receive prayer and mentoring from mature Christians with a heart for prisoners and ex-offenders.

Jade requests our prayers this month in

• praise to God for the men who went to the recent Alpha course, that they may grow in their faith in Jesus;
• praise to God for all volunteers who regularly go into the prison and minister to the men, and for the prayer support the chaplaincy receive from many faithful Christians;
• faith, for the next SORI Programme (Supporting Offenders through Restoration Inside) due to begin on 11th May, especially that each one of the 12 men who have volunteered will be open to finding out about what victims go through during and after a crime;
• love for Sheena who is on placement with the Chaplaincy Team as part of her training for ordination.