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[Brenda Williams <BRENDAW@elca.org>]

Reply-To: ElcaNews <ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG>

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

December 18, 1997

LUTHERANS HELP TURN PRISONS INTO PLACES OF
MINISTRY
97-36-107-RG*

     ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- Prison inmates may not
have the freedom to decide what to eat for
breakfast, but they can have the freedom to choose
their pastor.  About 180 ex-offenders, veterans of
jail and prison ministries, lay leaders, clergy
and seminarians met here Dec. 12-14 to share
personal stories and learn about prison ministry
at a conference on Criminal Justice and Prison
Ministry sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America's Division for Congregational
Ministries.
     "With a prison congregation everyone wins,"
said the Rev. Edmund K. Nesselhuf, director of
Prison Congregations of America, Vermillion, S.D.
He told the conference, "The inmates win by
growing in responsibility.  The outside church
wins because now there is a mechanism in place.
Prison chaplains win because now they have an
ally, the pastor of a local congregation.  Society
also wins because there is the potential for
additional safety."
     Nesselhuf is an ELCA pastor who has developed
prison ministries in Maryland and South Dakota.
He said, "Inmates can't choose what they eat for
breakfast, but they can call their own pastor."
     "When Christians visit people in prison, care
and support their families, we are doing what God
has asked," said Loretta E. Horton, ELCA director
for social ministries for congregations.
     "The church has to be a place where people
can bring pain and shame to the altar and the
cross, knowing that the congregation will embrace
them.  Restoring justice, reconciliation and
healing is so important.   The church can play a
role in breaking the cycle of violence, to restore
communities to being safe, places of peace,"
Horton said.
     Ex-offenders made a presentation in which
they stressed the life-giving nature of prison
ministry.  Workshop topics ranged from how to
develop prison ministries to conflict resolution
as a community-based crime prevention strategy,
from prison visitation to youth and the criminal
justice system.
     "We are to look at ex-offenders with the eyes
of Christ," said Kathy Allison of the Allison
Foundation, Chicago.  "It is our mission to help
ex-offenders work their way into society and to be
empowered by the Holy Spirit, undergirded by the
Word of God," she said.  Allison led a workshop
on employment strategies for ex-offenders.
     "Sometimes people who visit inmates think
they are going to bring Jesus to the prisoners.
But, they realize that Jesus is already there,"
said the Rev. Carroll D. Lang.  Lang serves Church
of the Damascus Road: A Community of
Reconciliation in the Prison at the North Central
Correctional Facility, Rockwell City, Iowa.  He
said his ministry addresses the spiritual
well-being of prison inmates and the need on the
part of members of outside congregations to do
service.  As visitors give of their time they
discover that their own faith has blossomed, he
said.
     The Rev. Theodore W. Schroeder, Immanuel
Lutheran Church, St. Louis, led the closing
worship.  "Sometimes, due to the nature of prison
ministry work, we might think or feel it is
hopeless," he said.
     "After all, for every person serving time on
the inside there are five to ten family members
'serving time' on the outside.  But we are
really on this great adventure with God," said
Schroeder.

     *The Rev. Ronald T. Glusenkamp wrote this
story for ELCA News and Information.  He is a
pastor at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, St. Louis.

For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or
NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html