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Dallas Anderson: Prison Ministry More Important Than Ever
By Craig Pinley
CHICAGO, IL (July 10, 2003) - Biblical characters such as Joseph, Daniel, and
Paul did time there. And caring for residents of these places is
considered a must for those wishing to truly follow Christ.
And today, the need for people to do prison ministry is greater than
ever. The U.S. imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any
other nation (According to one report, the U.S. holds 5 percent of the
world's population, but it holds 25 percent of the world's prison
population.) Bureau of Justice statistics note that 1 in 20 U.S.
residents will serve time in prison during their lifetime. For
African-American men, the percentage is closer to 1 in 4.
Dallas Anderson is one of the people trying to make a difference in
prison ministry on a national level. An ordained pastor in the
Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), Anderson is interim director of The
Institute for Prison Ministries, based at the Billy Graham Center in
Wheaton, Illinois. He also works with programs such as Operation
Starting Line, a multi-million dollar evangelism project begun in April
of 2000 and designed to bring the gospel and a discipleship program in
every United States prison (1,800 in all).
Anderson, like many Christians working in prison ministry, argues that
bringing Christ to prisoners is more necessary than ever - that a
conversion experience in prison will transform a person as nothing else
can. But some are less convinced that saving souls automatically saves
prisoners. Todd Clear, a teacher at the John Jay College of Criminal
Justice in New York City, studied 380 convicts released from 20 prisons
around the country. After interviewing them in 1990-91 and again in
1997-98, he found that religious faith made little difference in whether
an ex-convict ended up back in prison.
Anderson is unfazed by the skeptics, although he believes that future
prison ministries will impact people more by adding a larger dosage of
discipleship and training to the gospel message. He hopes Operation
Starting Line is a positive model for this process.
"It's not just an evangelistic campaign, it's an extensive follow-up and
discipleship campaign," said Anderson of Operation Starting Line. "The
goal is to strengthen the church inside the walls and outside the walls
and we want to connect with (local) churches. And we're being asked to
give help to the evangelism aspect of that project, so we're training
volunteers and platform guests and preachers in evangelism. And it's
very committed to taking the new converts and walking them through a
commitment time and the discipleship phases. There's even a seminary
working with them inside the prison walls."
More information about Operation Starting Line can be found on the
Internet at: www.operationstartingline.com. To find out more about
Covenanters doing prison ministry, check the September 2001 edition of
"The Covenant Companion."
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
