A small parish ministry is cutting the crime rate – and planting new churches

by Madeleine Collins

Lisle Jamieson spent 14 years in prison. The closer he was to release, the more he began to wonder why he had gone off the rails and if there was more to life than the emptiness he felt.

“Before I went to jail I was on the dole, bumming around,” he admits. “I wasn’t interested in bettering myself. I was in such a deep trough of depression.” He had a ‘token’ interest in church, but no time for God. “I had a belief in God but he has nothing to do with me,” he thought at the time.

But Lisle changed when he went through the prison ministry, Kairos, at Long Bay. He was able to come to terms with his crime, and put his trust in God with the words, ‘I’m in your hands; do to me what you will’.

He admits he has made mistakes, but is convinced that if he had not gone to prison, he never would have come to faith in Christ. “I’ve gone from strength to strength. I’m not saying it’s been an easy road, but it’s a better road than the one I’ve been on. All I can do is make something of my life.” Now with seven months of parole left, he is a new father, works as a carpenter and his partner’s children now attend a local Sunday school in rural NSW.

Lisle is one of thousands whose lives have been turned around by Kairos inside jail. But what happened to men like Lisle when they left prison was the question that troubled a fellow ex-prisoner.

Roy Onley became a Christian through the ministry of an Anglicare chaplain while he was in Silverwater prison for five years, but found himself in a desperate situation when he left jail. It convinced him that there were others like him who had become Christians in prison, but were in danger of falling back into their old ways.

Establishing ex-prisoners in Bible-based churches was the answer. Roy is now the coordinator of ‘Freedom Ministries’, run out of St Thomas’, Auburn. From small beginnings five years ago, Roy and over 20 volunteers focus on evangelising and counsel-ling people who have left prison, as well as those still inside. The Department of Corrective Services is very good at keeping people inside prison – but not at keeping them out, Roy says. “Our role is to help them.”
Offenders who have had no supervision or contact with Corrective Services when they leave a NSW prison have a one in two chance of going back inside the prison system within 24 months (source: Department of Corrective Services).

But the partnership of Kairos and Freedom Ministries appears to be defying the odds. Kairos has a ten per cent repeat offender rate. Within Freedom Ministries it is less than two per cent (of the current list of 40 ex-inmates, only one has returned to jail). There has also been an increased number of prisoners and prison staff becoming Christians. Kairos is now hoping to begin a specific program for prison officers. There is a new church service at Silverwater gaol organised entirely by male inmates, and a similar service has started at Mulawa women’s prison. St Thomas’ holds a growing monthly meeting for ex-prisoners and their families.

These developments have inspired Roy’s Onley’s vision to see churches planted around each of Sydney’s prisons by the end of 2004. St Nicolas’, Coogee and Christ Church, Blacktown are looking to start congregations like the one at St Thomas’.

Members of the church have responded positively to the idea, says the Rev Ken Coleman, rector of St Thomas’. “Because we are small, we are glad to welcome new people and prepared to think of new possibilities.” The parish also runs a successful Chinese migrant ministry. The Archbishop of Sydney’s Community Care and Development Program provides funding for both programs.

Corrective Services is working on enhancing its pre and post release programs, a Department spokesperson said. “The ability to establish and maintain community ties is a major factor in the successful reintegration of an inmate post-release,” she said, “especially within the first three to six months.”