My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
God hears our prayers. And God answers our prayers. His answers are often not exactly WHAT we expected, and not WHEN we expected, but His will is perfect and ours is not. So it only makes sense to roll with what He gives us.
Our big news is that Chester County Prison is finally back open to religious volunteers! We may wonder (and complain) why it took 3.5 years to resume inmate worship services, but God’s timing is perfect.
We are excited to get back into the prison and interact with inmates, showing them Christ’s love as we lift them in prayer and worship alongside them. We get a glimpse of what Matthew recorded in the verses below.
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:35-38)
We also experience the truth of this passage as the volunteer team returning to the prison is smaller than before. So we appeal to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers.
If you know anyone who’s wondered about prison ministry (as I once did), or feels the distinct call of the Lord to jump in, please forward this email to them. Or if that’s you, let’s have a conversation. Simply reply to this email and we can answer questions and guide folks through the process of joining the team and getting the appropriate clearances (all free).
We appreciate our Chaplains, Board members, the prison ministry team, and all of our supporters. God has blessed us with many servant hearts willing to do what He calls us to do, and God always provides. Thanks as always for your part, and please reach out if you’re feeling the Spirit’s nudge to get a little more involved. God bless you!
Grace and peace,
Rick
UPDATE: This was going to be the first email in quite a while to contain inmate prayer requests collected at the evening services, but the severe storms that rolled through last night knocked out power to parts of the prison and all activities (including church) had to be cancelled. So Heinrich stepped up and provided the requests below.
Inmate Prayer Requests
Prayer Requests from Chaplain Heinrich
Here are the requests for this week:
J.S. – “I am low of funds and on faith”.
K.H. – Insisting that he wants only Jehovah’s Witness literature to read.
B.E. – “May I have religious material on Pagan/Wicca”.
W.M. – “I seek material on Santaria”.
F.H. – “I would like to go over some stuff about my family with you”.
Prayers from Onesimus Ministries
Thankful praise to our great God for allowing volunteers back into Chester County Prison to minister in-person to inmates.
Please pray for the Onesimus/Prison Fellowship team going back into the prison after 3.5 years, and that the services would run smoothly. Also pray for more team members to be trained up, especially for the 8:15pm service.
Pray for smooth operations as many of the staff may not be used to the volunteer team coming in and the chapel being back in business. Also pray for “fertile soil” in the quantity and attitude of the inmates that come out for services.
Ongoing prayers for strength and wisdom for our wonderful Chaplains Rhonda and Heinrich as they tirelessly serve the inmates, staff, and families connected with CCP.
Prayers of health and well-being for all inmates, and may there be peace among the entire prison population.
Pray for the various ministry teams from different churches that will go into the prison throughout the week to minister to different cell blocks.
Pray for the volunteers and clients in the aftercare ministries, where recently released inmates find ongoing support of the faith life initiated (or revived) while they were in prison. May the needs of these ministries be met with adequate resources and volunteers, and may everyone involved get a very real sense of the Lord’s presence in their lives.
If you’d like to find out more about mentoring and discipling a man or woman coming out of prison, drop us a note at info@onesimusministries.org.
These weekly prayer requests are also posted on our website – https://onesimusministries.org/category/weekly-prayer-requests/
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