Biblical Restoration: receive back more than has been lost to the point where the final state is greater than the original condition

Peace be with you and may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. This month I started a new partnership with Good News Jail and Prison Ministry (GNJPM). Ministry Care partners with a variety of missionaries and organizations to offer support, care, encouragement, and training and we are excited about this latest partnership!

Here the vision of Good News: That every inmate in the world is reached with the Good News of Jesus Christ and that they might become growing disciples. Also, that Christian chaplains are placed in jails and prisons to minister to the spiritual needs of inmates and staff. Good News has just recently partnered with the American Bible Society and Trauma Healing Institute to bring a contextualized version of Healing the Wounds of Trauma into the correctional setting. Chaplains within Good News are also considered missionaries and their field is a challenging one.

One question to ask is why focus on inmates? Research shows that 97 percent of women who are incarcerated in the United States have a background of physical or sexual trauma. It is their pathway to the criminal justice system. Rutgers University did a recent study on men and found that 85 percent of them had street violence trauma and 75 percent had sexual abuse in their background. Trauma is also then in fact their pathway to the criminal justice system. As a reminder, trauma can be a barrier to hearing the Good News. When healing begins, an individual is more receptive then to the Gospel.

Good News, American Bible Society and Ministry Care share a common bond in our desire to see the Word of God bring transformation to the lost of this world. We also share a common audience—those who have suffered significant man-made and natural trauma. A cooperative program to bring trauma healing to jails and prisons in which chaplains serve will be powerful as we see the eyes of men, women, and children open to experience biblical, life-changing healing. The goal of this partnership is to integrate the trauma healing program model into the ongoing ministry of the Good News chaplain network so that traumatized inmates and staff in the U.S. jail and prison system can experience healing in Christ. Eventually the hope is also to implement this in the international Good News community too. 

Here are some of the following outcomes that are prayerfully desired:

• Inmates are able to reconcile their past experiences in light of God’s Word and are proceeding on a path to wholeness 
• Inmates who understand their past trauma and hurts are equipped to handling potential triggers in the correctional setting in a constructive way 
• Facilities where Trauma Healing facilitators are engaging inmates are able to witness a reduction in critical triggering events 
• Inmates who experience healing and reconciliation with their past will have a reduced likelihood of recidivism
• Staff have the opportunity to participate in the program and gain critical understanding of how to more effectively engage the population as well as how to reconcile their own heart wounds

Finally, I would also love to see restoration-as the Good News of Jesus and healing of heart wounds changes lives, they are also restored in a manner far greater than where they started. God has moved powerfully in my life in terms of restoration and that is my prayer for any traumatized person my path crosses with. ​

Opera House in Sydney

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for an upcoming Advanced Trauma Healing Equipping Session with Good News Jail and Prison Ministry in Abingdon, Virginia July 23-26th.
• Pray for an Initial Trauma Healing Equipping Session that will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah August 8-11th.
• Pray for those who are now holding healing groups in their communities-that they can be a light to those who are in pain.
• Pray for plans that are in progress for hosting Trauma Healing in Ethiopia.

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