Catherine Simmonds is head of social transformation at Alpha and ‘Caring for Ex-Offenders.’ She writes: “We were so excited when we first heard about KC:UK and thought it would be great to not only encourage churches to pray, but people in prison too. On Sunday 15th January, we launched our first ever KC:UK prison – HMP Pentonville.
Last Saturday, one of the side chapels was transformed into a prayer space with postcards, pictures, bible verses and a drawing station. In the Sunday morning service Jo, one of the chaplains in the prison – who also runs the prison’s Alpha course, announced to the men that HMP Pentonville would be the very first prison to run KC:UK, and that the prison would be praying for 24 hours on Wednesday 18th January. As the men can’t have access to the prayer space 24 hours a day, we have encouraged them to pray wherever they are during the slot they have committed to – whether they’re in their cells, doing their jobs, or on the wings – they can pray! The prayer slots filled up fast with the guys queuing to sign up! After finishing worship with a pretty lively ‘Oh Happy Day’, they all went back on the wings with a reminder card of the time they will be praying, along with a Lord’s prayer guide.
The men are really looking forward to Wednesday when there will be an afternoon of prayer in the chapel, as well as a day of continuous prayer in the prison. We hope that Pentonville will the first of many prisons praying continuously during 2012 and are excited to see what God will do. Lord let your Kingdom Come!”
If you are interested in mobilising your Church to pray for prisoners, or mobilising a prison you are closely connected with to pray, please download these useful guides from the KC:Toolbox, written by ‘Caring for Ex-Offenders,’ in consultation with Alpha and 24-7 Prayer.
‘How to Pray 24-7 in a Prison’ | ‘How to Pray for Prisons in 60 minutes’ | ‘Praying in Prison for 60 minutes’
