Through my work in prison ministry for more than 12 years, I have seen some of the brightest lights for Christ shining within prisons across America. I saw this firsthand while visiting a maximum-security women’s prison in Alabama in 2022. I spent time with women on death row and later worshipped alongside those sisters in chapel. The women’s robust faith, gratitude, and sincerity moved me. Though we have walked vastly different journeys in life, their need for a Savior was no greater than my own.
According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, the number of U.S. adults identifying as Christians has plummeted over the past 30 years. Regular church attendance remains startlingly low — all while our culture is filled with despair and division. But what if, amidst the decline in faithful churchgoers, God is planning to ignite a revival? And what if He wants to build His Church with people in the unlikeliest places — even prison?
Free-world Christians aren’t bringing Jesus into prison. He is already there. Incarcerated Christians know what you and I may take for granted: Prison can either be a place of despair or a place of faith and focus. It’s amazing what can happen when all you have is stripped away, and all that’s left is Jesus.
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Not one of us is immune to the poverty and brokenness of being human. We all have a need to be rescued. I remember I’ve been spared the rock-bottom moment that can lead someone to prison. But people behind bars often have a deep understanding of God’s grace that my pride sometimes fails to grasp. Prison ministry calls us to embrace a posture of humility if we are to make a genuine, lasting impact for the Kingdom.
Incarcerated brothers and sisters are precious members of the Body of Christ. They have personally experienced what Scripture tells us: “These [trials] have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed …” (1 Peter 1:7). Christians behind bars are among the ones God can use to fan the spark of revival into flame. The Lord has a way of choosing the weak, the foolish, and the despised things of this world for His glory (1 Corinthians 1:27–28).
The Church inside prison is a vibrant expression of His Body that’s just as vital as the churches in our own communities. When we stop seeing the imprisoned and the marginalized as “other,” and instead build a community that sees shared value in each person, God shows up in fresh ways.
As we obey Jesus’ command to visit those in prison, we have an opportunity to be challenged and encouraged by their perspective. My colleague Cody once shared about a peer-led Bible study he visited at a men’s prison in Minnesota. The group read the story of Jairus’ daughter and the bleeding woman in Mark 5. What caught their attention wasn’t the miracle of the little girl being resurrected; it was the story of Jesus healing the woman on His way there.
In her society, the woman would have been ceremonially unclean, and no one would have had anything to do with her. She had tried everything to get better and nothing worked. In a moment of desperation, she reached out for Jesus’ cloak and was healed. She encountered Christ face-to-face and found the hope of being reconciled to her community — a miracle on the way to another miracle.
Cody said the men in that prison Bible study resonated with her character. Ostracized and broken, they felt the same longing for reconciliation with God and with others. Some of them had tried almost everything to get better, too. The men were moved by the hope of knowing the kind of Savior who responds when nobody else will.
Encountering Jesus with the incarcerated is a blessing that deepens our faith and shifts our mindset toward eternity. The book of Revelation describes a scene where the nations come together and worship Jesus as one. Together, they all point to King Jesus. It’s a beautiful picture of unity in diversity, reflecting the nature of our relational God whose love and power transcend barriers — even prison walls and razor wire.
In our on-camera society, prison ministry is a call to service behind the scenes. Those following God in prison, where cell phones and cameras are generally prohibited, won’t often be shouted out on Instagram for their work. And this is the beauty of it: Our Heavenly Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matthew 6:1–4).
We stand on holy ground when we encounter Jesus with our brothers and sisters behind bars. To journey with them is to embody the Kingdom of God. So, find out how you can come alongside incarcerated people. Rejoice that they are counted among His flock. Learn from their hope, encourage their repentance, and help build a stronger community to which they can return. Let yourself be transformed, just as they have been, by the radical love of God. Remain faithful in this, and you can expect to see a revival of justice, mercy, and hope across our culture.
Heather Rice-Minus serves as President and CEO of Prison Fellowship.
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