Don’t you love watching God at work? When I first engaged with Speaking Volumes to put Christian books into Irish prisons, I never imagined where it would lead. But God’s favour is amazing. As a result, yesterday I delivered a van load of inspirational resources to the Midlands group of prisons and Portlaoise High Security prison.
I attended Alpha International’s Prison Ministry Conference, which this time was online. Had it not been, I don’t know whether I’d actually have travelled to London. But it was great to be back ‘in’ HTB, having often been there in the early days of Alpha in Ireland. Through the Zoom Chat, I was approached by two charities which donate resources for individual prisoners.
BeaconLight Trust publishes books specifically for prisoners. Now that I’m conscious of it, I’m surprised how often other books mention activities that are off bounds to prisoners. Eg suggesting a walk in the countryside to commune with God. But BeaconLight’s publications are sensitively written. They are also produced to a really high standard. This is really important for men and women who aren’t generally valued as made in the image of God.
Junction 42 ministers in British prisons. But with prisons locked down due to the pandemic, they turned to sending ‘In Cell Worship Packs’ into the prisons. These are designed to occupy prisoners confined to their cells almost 24/7 due to lockdown. Some of their content wouldn’t have got security clearance here, but they generously supplied the Prayer Journals from their Packs.
Several Chaplains had asked me for Devotional Colouring Cards for their prisoners. These are usually based on a Scripture verse, and are calming and therapeutic. They are particularly good for those with poor literacy, and can also be used with prisoners’ children in visitor waiting rooms. I approached one of my suppliers about their range of devotional colouring publications. You can see some of their resources by clicking here. I had thought of fund raising to purchase a few packs, but instead they donated a big box of colouring cards.
Then another Chaplain requested calendars. Particularly for someone on a life sentence, one day seems the same as the next. But it was too late for me to order 2021 calendars. So I put out a plea on our network of UK and Ireland Christian Bookshops, specifying no spiral wire hangers so as to comply with security! My nearest neighbouring Bookshop, Footprints in Dun Laoghaire kindly donated some Scripture verse calendars. Due to renewed lockdown, I was only able to deliver them yesterday, but they were still gratefully received.
I still have a few boxes which I’ll deliver to other prisons shortly, but in total I’m supplying Chaplains with the following. These are on top of the over 800 books that I wrote about in my previous blog about prisons, which you can read by clicking here.
- 443 books for lending libraries
- 700 books or booklets for individuals
- 100 prayer journals
- 40 Scripture verse calendars
- 1,200 devotional colouring cards
Please pray for the Chaplains who will give out these resources, and the prisoners who will use them. As in the cartoon, may they be captivated by the words that they read. I’m really grateful to Dave Cloverly of Speedbump for his enthusiastic permission to use his artwork. You can view his work here.
I was so encouraged to be able to make these deliveries. Driving back home in glorious sunshine, the Wicklow Mountains looked stunning from the west, and my dogs and I even fitted in a nice walk by the Royal Canal near Athy. Paula from Speaking Volumes insisted on photos of said dogs when she since wrote an article for Together, the Christian Book Trade magazine, which is below:
The story continues. I got a big shock, which you can read about by clicking here.
