One Parish One Prisoner
Bethany Pres. of Seattle
Hi Team!
You’re likely here because you’re interested in forming the Parish Team at Bethany Presbyterian Church on Queen Anne.
Here’s the situation.
Church Leadership: Approved
Congregational Awareness: Done
Team Members Assembled
Paired with Incarcerated Friend: Done
Kickoff Orientation: Scheduled!
Convener: Eric
Module Relay: Sean
Moderator: Emma
Notes and /report: John
Pastor: Pastor Marisa
We did it! Here it is, for review and replay!
Here are some essential links to keep close as your team moves forward:
MONTHLY LEARNING MODULEs
For November 2021 - 2 modules
The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Prison letters make up much of the New Testament. It’s also how we start a new relationship.
Through the Gates
Prison visits, email, phone calls, and the even trickier barriers within us.
For December 2021 - two modules
Money
Maintaining relationship & removing barriers.
Re-entry Planning Begins: HOUSING
The first steps toward a tangible release plan.
For January 2022 - 1 module
Writing My Wrongs
“What was their crime?” Storytelling goes both ways.
Additional ACTION ITEM for King County: Reach out to our friends at WELD Seattle, the upcoming all-in-one re-entry collective in the Int’l District. Email our friend Carolyn, the Program Director, and arrange for a field trip!
Carolyn M. Presnell / Program Director 1426
carolyn@weldseattle.org
206-717-4945
For February 2022 - 1 module
ROLLING AWAY THE STONES
This is the big one: facing the overwhelming obstacles to re-entry—together.
HERE ARE SHORTCUTS TO THE FIVE “ROLES” IN THE STONE-ROLLING WORK:
For March 2022 - 1 module
Trauma & Healing
Pain can isolate us, or draw us into connection.
For April 2022 - 2 modules
Addiction
How do we understand this phenomena?
Mass Incarceration
A culture that disposes of humans. And how one relationship at a time interrupts it.
For May 2022 - 1 module
The Welcome Home Prep Event
Storytelling and organizing with more of the congregation. Here’s what some teams have done.
For June 2022 - 1 module
Mental Health
This affects all of us. It’s about disconnection.
For July 2022 - 1 module
Eric, please reach out to Alvin to make sure the next month’s module is live.
Accompaniment Through the System
You can see why people rarely make it out of the underground.
For August 2022
First Day, Week,
& Month
It’s like when a new life is born. Be ready.
COMING SOON
For September 2022 and onward…
IV. GENTLY REMOVING THE LAYERS
The prison walls are no longer between us. The stones are rolling away. The next step is actually more vulnerable: when Jesus invites the community to help remove our protective “layers.”
During this fragile season, your released friend could be taking shaky steps into new life, or crumbling in fear and withdrawing. So feel free to select the modules in this section as you need them.
The Magic Season
The prison walls are no longer between you. Enjoy the land of the living together. Be creative. Try new things as friends, neighbors. Let it get awkward. It’s about savoring, not saving.
Employment
This is part of lasting resurrection today. We have some pointers for building new employment connections. (As a team you can all look at this Employment & Finances track one of your team members has been working on.)
OR
When They Disappear
We wait. The prodigal son story gets more real than all the sermons we’ve heard.
Not the Story We Wanted
Sometimes resurrection means passing through a death—or “failure”—first.
(This photo was taken just days before the pandemic quarantine began in WA State, 2020.)
V. BEARING WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION
The few disciples and followers who witnessed something new at the emptied tomb Easter morning ran back to the larger community, telling them what they’d seen. What happened there changed their lives, turned their imaginations of God and of the future upside down.
When the stone is rolled away, it’s the start of a local movement. And, as the movement spread, their letters in the New Testament outlined a radical new ethic.
These final two modules will hopefully help your team connect the rupture of your experience so far with the larger opportunities ahead.
Rethinking Incarceration
What if we’re only starting to glimpse a very different imagination of God’s justice and restoration?
NEW
Is This Just the Beginning?
The program is ending, sure. But something more real has only begun.
NEW
THE NEXT CHURCH
Would you want more congregations in your area to have this One Parish One Prisoner experience?
Would you want more men and women leaving the prison system to have a local resurrection community walking alongside them?
BECOME A MONTHLY DONOR
And tithe into this church mobilization. Help us expand this program to new cities, develop wider partnerships, record fresh stories in video and audio for a culture of mutual transformation to grow:
TELL ANOTHER CHURCH YOU KNOW
You are the greatest ambassadors for this to grow.
Invite friends and leaders at another church to hear your experience and consider doing One Parish One Prisoner themselves. Send them this link and see what they think:
THANK YOU
A New Calling for Your Church?
BONUS Module (if you’re itching for more)
“We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”