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| | Support / Aftercare: | Community inclusiveness unfolds talents, skills, resources and opportunities for growth in positive lifestyles. Here again is where strength meets needs and strength builds on strength. |
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| TheXoffenders (Christians) need support after Prison/Abusive situations. | A real need for a Home Plan, a Job Plan, a Mentorship Plan, a Support Group Plan, and an Educational Plan. We lead many people to the Way, the Truth and the Life while in prison, then abandon them. The Church has responded well to the need for ministries inside the prisons and jails, but has not begun to address the needs of ex-offenders after release. In most cases, the spiritual support system (jail house religion) that the inmate might have developed in prison is left behind, and a new spiritual support system is not found. |
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Ex-offenders are not likely to integrate easily into traditional churches. Ex-offenders need to meet fellow Christians when they walk out of the prison gate to help them get established in their new life (free world). Otherwise, the majority of the ex-offenders released from prison will fall into unhealthy lifestyles. |
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There is a real need to develop our Churches into ex-offender friendly churches. A part of the ex-offender church mission is to minister to correction officials, families of inmates, ex-offenders, families of victims, and court officials. One sure way of decreasing the prison population and increasing the kingdom of our God is to show love to all involved in the family system mentioned above. We need to show special concern for the children of inmates, because they are six times more likely to go to jail than children not connected to the penal system. |
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The Book of Philemon, a short 25 verses in the New Testament, describes the proper relationship between the Christian Prison Ministry Worker, the Christian Church, and the Christian Ex-offender. |
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| Maybe at this point we should give some definitions: | 1. TheXoffenders: One who once offended the law of God and Land, but no longer desires to do so. |
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2. Inmate: One who is a prisoner or incarcerated in jail. |
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3. Ex-inmate: One who is released form jail or prison. |
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4. The Christian Church: Congregation of believers in the teaching of Jesus, with the Bible as the manual. |
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5. Jail House Religion: Often seen as a negative, but it is the spiritual support system the inmates develop to nurture Christian principles and standards. The denominational and cultural differences found in the free world churches. |
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6. Convict: One who establishes and maintains the criminal mentality and sub-culture, which perpetuates illegal behavior and activity. |
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