Diocese of Winchester

It has been a while since we updated the prayer requests for HMP Winchester, its chaplaincy staff and been able to share the news of Jade, their Community Chaplain. This is purely down to the error and overloaded life of the webmistress – HMP Winchester still need our prayers!

In her prayer letter this month Jade shares news of talks she’s been able to give to Year11 pupils in a Winchester school:

I was very encouraged by the questions that the young people asked me, to do with the prison and also the rehabilitation of ex-offenders…The second time I took a set of prison clothes and all the things that the men get given on arrival. I found that having some real life prison property with me enabled the young people to interact a bit more.

Jade also talks about the 6-week trial of an ex-offenders drop in, currently being run from the Weston Healthcare Centre in Southampton. They may then try out another area in which they know ex-offenders are living, as they seek to discern which is the best venue.

Among all this, and her continued commitments to prisoners inside, Jade continues to be able to support men who have been released, some of whom are attending churches. Currently this sees her weekly in Portsmouth supporting a group there who need her time one-to-one to help them deal with personal issues as she seeks to help them avoid the temptations of returning to a life of crime.

This month Jade is particularly asking our prayers for:

• the next SORI programme (a week-long restorative justice course Supporting Offenders through Restoration Inside) will start on 21st March with the presentation afternoon on Thursday 25th March in front of invited guests;
• the whole chaplaincy team as the senior chaplain moves towards retirement in June;
• the drop-in centre at Weston and the volunteers who are making themselves available to be their for ex-offenders each week;
• men back in the community trying to live crime free lives;
• that God will continue to bless the ministry and all those men who have made a commitment to God in the past, or who will in the future.

If you are interested in knowing more about Jade’s ministry as a Community Prison Chaplain through the Church Army/Fresh Expression, please “Contact Us” through the link bottom right of this screen and we will pass your message on.