As we pull up to the prison compound a few miles outside of the city, the guard opens the gate for us and we easily pass through. Surely it is the Lord’s timing, as our contact said she is often denied permission to bring groups, especially a group of six women. She hasn’t been able to bring a team to the prison since October.
The nine hundred prisoners who live here have all committed criminal offenses, namely murder, major theft, drug trafficking and child prostitution. Some browse the property freely, others are detained behind chain link fences. To my right there’s a group of men doing landscaping, and to my left a group of men are working out. All wear matching blue jumpsuits.
I feel hundreds of sets of eyes stare me down as I walk down the sidewalk towards the back of the prison. Of the hundreds of faces pressed against the fence, some are glaring, some are whistling, a few offer a smile and many seem curious as to why there’s white women there.
I feel surprisingly calm. I know it is dangerous, and that it would be perfectly normal to feel scared. Just a few days earlier we had visited a Muslim village, and I was filled with fear after hearing our contact took a team a year ago and someone was hit on the head by a known terrorist. (We made it through our prayer walk perfectly safely, just for the record).
But this day is different. His perfect love casts out fear. The instant I step out of the tuk tuk, the Lord softens my heart for these prisoners. I think to myself, I wonder what they did?, and I hear the Lord whisper “It doesn’t matter.” I try to see them as God sees them. I don’t see criminals, but broken and hurting people who are longing for the love of a Savior.
As we near the makeshift classroom, I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of a small fenced-in area off to the corner filled with women. Some of them are watching us from the gate, and return my big smile. I long to go talk to them but we’re ushered into the classroom, greeted by five adult men. This will be our class for the day.
While there's only five people sitting at the desks, it's evident that at least 40 or so of the men outside don't intend to walk away from the fence where they can still hear and see us.
My teammate Bethany brought her guitar so we opened by singing several worship songs with them, trying to teach them the chorus of "How Great is our God" and "How He Loves Us" in English. During our final song, "Amazing Grace," I felt God calling me to get up and talk to them more about grace.
The message that the Lord wanted me to share with these men was that He loves them, He forgives them, and He sent His son to die on the cross for them to take away their shame.
"So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins."
Ephesians 1:6-7
I've never been in prison, but I've had my brush with the law in my crazier days, so I tried to share with them, that on some small scale, I understood them. I know what it's like to feel embarrassed, guilty, ashamed, to feel like you've disappointed others.
But Christ died for us so we don't have to feel that way anymore. We are all sinners. Romans 3:23 says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God is perfect. We don't have to be.
For there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. That's the beauty of the Gospel. God loves to restore broken people. Jesus took away all of our sin, all of our shame, so that we can walk in freedom.
Today was one of my best days of ministry so far. Before the World Race I never would have guessed that my favorite people to minister to would be prostitutes and prisoners. As my teammate Helena joked, I guess the Lord has given me a heart for women working in bars and women behind bars.
I get to go back to the prison on Wednesday and Thursday so please pray for the opportunity for me to speak to the women there. Today a few of the men in our class shared prayer requests, and many of them mentioned stomach issues, which was understandable when we saw the slop they were being fed for lunch. They also asked for prayer that their families would come to visit them. Please pray that the Lord will continue to give my team the words to share with the prisoners this week so that they will desire to have a relationship with Jesus.
