What is visitation all about? Job 10:12 puts it this way “Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.†To me, there is not a more befitting verse for the jail and prison ministry than this one. Visitation is about Jesus coming to us right where we need Him. Jesus spent more time going out to visit people where they were and needed Him than He did preaching in the church expecting them to come to Him.
If you think about it, Jesus was even on visitation when He went to the church considering the state it was in. Jesus went about doing the Father’s desires when He went out to the people who were down-hearted and rejected and in need of a Savior.
God continues to work today through the lives of His people when they are out doing the Father’s business. I have seen God demonstrates this in a profound way in our jails and prisons. It is not just what takes place inside the walls, but it extends outside the walls into the community and families. Just this week alone God opened my heart to a confirmation from Him concerning the next step of this ministry. He has given me a vision of this ministry through when a life has changed through the Savior. Once a soul comes to know the Savior they need to be discipled, yet sadly our churches of today are not up to the task. Many church people I have found feel that if “they would just go to church then you wouldn’t have these problems.†This is contrary to the example God gave us through His Son that we are to go out to the people and begin the Church and not to hang out in the church. Notice my capitalization, the ‘church’ is the people who gather in big buildings and pat themselves on the back on how pretty they can make it. The ‘Church’ is the body of Christ that does out as He bids to them to do and GO about the Father’s business! Both these people look the same and often uses the same jargon and so on, but one is caught up in the cares of this world and the other is caring for the world as Jesus did.
I have given caution to those who have accepted Christ while incarcerated to be careful of church, any church. Why? Because when they go to a church to be in fellowship of other believers, they themselves are rejected in spite of their new walk in Christ. I pray that God will raise up Churches in this area that will reach out with His Love that will help disciple those changed lives.
It is a great story when any one comes to know Christ as Savior and the family follows. This same great story can be told when someone who is incarcerated comes to know Christ and they learn how raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The mission of the Church is to reach out to the young, old, boy, girl, man, woman, poor, rich, sick and in prison.
Visitation is much more than an appointed day to drive around neighborhoods, it is here and now in our daily lives that Jesus is visiting us. It is Harry, who at Wal-Mart was watching over my motorcycle because I forgot and left my keys in the ignition. My first and immediate thought was to witness, God allowed me to forget my keys to have Harry stand guard until I return so I could tell him about Jesus. Jesus also visited that day to a waitress at the restaurant in Saluda while on a motorcycle ride. She was now 26 years old and was trying to get her life together. She quipped a saying that was posted on the wall that said. “If your Bible is falling apart, chances are your life is together.†I was able to give her a copy of God’s Word for her own. I told her that I hoped it would be falling apart soon.
God’s visitation was also with that young man who has been in and out of jail and he is afraid to leave the jail as there is NO ONE to help him when he gets out. He was asking me to be his “big brother†and he wanted to have someone he could call for encouragement. This is the life story of many men and women when they have NO ONE that cares enough to care for them once they get out. They know Jesus, they have Jesus in their hearts but too often they cannot see Him because the church doesn’t want them. We need Church, people, not church people.
I share this is not a plea for anyone to do anything, God has spoke to my heart and has told me what to do, I trust He will do the same for you. It is our obedience to Him that allows us to move forward un-impeded to do His work.
Over a hundred years ago a husband and wife was obedient to God and today the fruits of their labor is the Pacific Garden Missions in Chicago, Illinois. You might know of them through the radio program “Unshackledâ€. They take in street people, expose them to the Gospel, feed them, and provide a place to sleep with free medical and dental care, education opportunities and a new start on life with eternal life ahead. All of this is made possible by obedient people who give of themselves to make this happen. Our mission is to be obedient to God, by seeking first His kingdom and righteous, and all the necessities are added unto us.
If God has called you to minister to those who are or have been incarcerated and to their family please contact:Chris Nelms
“Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.†Job 10:12
