Prison Ministry(Part 1) By Chishala Malekano The LORD Jesus in matthew 25:36 said ...I was in prison and you visited me.. In line with this teaching the adventist church through its community service organisations of AMO and Dorcas takes this message seriously and has over the years done well in this regard. It is not by coincidence that many prisoners join the adventist church and actively participate in church programmes after serving their sentences. Churches which are near prisons have a prisons ministry co-ordinator. Thats how come Kabwata church has a branch at the notorious Chimbokaila Prison. In this article Ill show how effective a tool of evangelism prison ministry can be by citing a few examples. There was a funeral at Kalingalinga church about a year or so ago. It was a funeral service of a brother called Denis (or Dene as he was called in the compound). Many of us where surprised that his funeral could go through the church. While there is nothing strange about a funeral service in church his was surprising. Here is why. Dene died while in prison serving a jail sentence. Ill not delve into the merits or demerits of the case which led him to prison. Before going to prison we never knew Dene as a church person. You see, the brother was infamous for street fights. Years of weight lifting had turned him into a hefty fellow with muscles well built and deserving of a Mr Zambia prize. While in prison he met Jesus and was baptised into the fellowship of the SDA church. A sombre mood characterised the packed church that morning. The preacher of the day was Piston Siachipula. Now Siachipula is one preacher who has the ability of capturing his audiences attention with his charisma then striking his point in flawless Tonga. This day he had an appropriate message. Drawing lessons from the life and times of the deceased,Siachipula preached a sermon which to this day is a talk of the compound. Quoting psalms 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. In summary his message was that this brother was taken to prison,abandoned by family and society,yet while there he found freedom in Jesus. At this point he displayed the baptism certificate of the deceased.... To be continued The Author is the Secretary of Adventist Men Organisation(AMO) at Mass Media SDA church.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 05:08:06 +0000
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