Some simple words in red texta are stuck on the wall of Tim Johnson’s office in the Long Bay Correctional Complex. Under the question, “What do I know about Jesus?” an inmate has written, “He loves us” – adding a cross to denote Jesus’ sacrifice for him. Underneath, he has added, “Jesus is our friend”.

“How good is that?” Mr Johnson asks. “I keep that on my wall because it’s just so great!”

Comments like this, and the changed hearts that lead to it, are the result of a program called The Prisoner’s Journey – a version of Christianity Explored that has been adapted specifically for inmates by Prison Fellowship International. 

Mr Johnson and the Rev Marty Symons, both Anglicare chaplains at Long Bay, have been running the course since October 2023. Mr Johnson says that after putting up a sign to gauge interest in the first course, and letting inmates at chapel know about it, word of mouth has done the rest.

“What I find really encouraging and exciting is that they’re having discussions out there with other people about what they’re learning,” he says. “I don’t have to say anything about the course and I’ll get six new guys, or 10 new guys... because they see the course as worthwhile, and they tell others about it. So, I keep running it.”

The Prisoner’s Journey is divided into eight 90-minute sessions, held once a week, covering everything from sin and grace to events in Jesus’ life, and his death and resurrection.

"I don’t have to say anything about the course and I’ll get six new guys, or 10 new guys... because they see the course as worthwhile, and they tell others about it."

Says Mr Symons: “The beauty of the course is it gets down to the grassroots. So, the first question inmates are asked is, ‘What is Christianity’? We’re exploring what Christianity is, who Jesus is, and what we do with that information. It’s a journey through Mark’s Gospel and it starts right at the beginning, at Mark 1💯 ‘The beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God’.”

Some of the inmates have a church background or knowledge of Christianity, while others come to the course knowing nothing at all. What they all have, though, is the shared experience of being inside. That is why The Prisoner’s Journey includes a number of short videos with the stories and testimonies of other inmates around the globe. 

The videos are hosted by Tuhoe Isaac, a former boss of New Zealand gang the Mongrel Mob, who says in Week 1: “When you’re just trying to get through day after day on the inside, having someone telling you there’s ‘good news’ can be pretty hard to swallow... It took me a long time to open up to the idea that Jesus might be for real. That God hadn’t given up on me.”

Unsurprisingly, when The Prisoner’s Journey tackles sin it gets pretty confronting for the inmates. Mr Symons describes a very effective illustration, where the men are asked to imagine a room that has within it – for everyone to see – everything they have ever said, thought or done, in public or in secret. And the first people who walk through the door of that room are their parents.

“Every single one of them are just shamed, embarrassed, guilty and wishing the ground would open and swallow them up,” he says. “And this is where I say, ‘Think of all that stuff that you’ve done, all of that. For all of us, our rooms have been placed onto Jesus when he was on the cross’. That’s a big moment.”

New life, with hope

In the past 15 months, the two chaplains have presented the Corrections-accredited course to 10 per cent of the inmates at Long Bay, and Mr Johnson says many have repented and turned back to God. Officers in the jail have noticed changes in these men, who now have joy on their faces and a spring in their step, as well as a changed attitude to their sentence and fellow inmates. They are “free on the inside”, he says, and have begun to serve others.

Some are learning more about the Bible by studying subjects in the Preliminary Theological Certificate or other programs. One man also runs Bible studies in the prison yard.

"When you’re just trying to get through day after day on the inside, having someone telling you there’s ‘good news’ can be pretty hard to swallow..."

Everyone who completes the course takes part in a graduation ceremony, which includes a time of singing, a guest speaker from Prison Fellowship, and the opportunity for course participants to reflect on what they have learned.

Mr Johnson recalls one graduation where an inmate said he had done everything he could to better himself while in jail, but coming to Christ meant his life now had hope and meaning.

“For him to say that he’s now looking forward to his future is really great,” Mr Johnson says. “You don’t expect you’re going to hear things like that, but it’s so great when it happens.”

In response to the men’s thirst for knowledge of Jesus and the Bible, Prison Fellowship International has recently made its Discipleship Explored course available to Mr Symons and Mr Johnson, who will run it in Australia for the first time in January, at Long Bay.

They’re keen for these men to keep learning and growing in the faith so that, whether they return to the world outside or not, they can live with the confidence that their ultimate home is in heaven with Jesus

Pray

• that current and future participants in The Prisoner’s Journey would meet Jesus and accept his offer of forgiveness;  
• that men who come to Jesus in prison would remain firm in the faith after their release, and be able to navigate the culture shock of being “outside”;
• that these men would be welcomed wholeheartedly by other Christians and integrate well into a church community.