Some notes about the Author
Hello reader, whoever and wherever you are, my name is Ken Mainey.
Some years ago, for about five years, I was a volunteer member of the Chaplaincy team at Gloucester Prison here in the UK. During that time I met a wide selection of men, some moved on to other prisons while others, after being found not guilty in Court, were then released.
The thing I remember most about those who I got to know on a personal basis is that many of them didn’t really like themselves; they wanted to change from the person they were and were searching for some sensible purpose to life.
Some, like the Prodigal Son in the pigsty, had come to their senses but, unlike the Prodigal Son, they didn’t know where to go. Those who did believe in God thought that they were far too bad for him to ever love and accept. I had to explain to them that the greatest barrier between themselves and God's love was not the bad things that they had done but their hard and proud hearts that would not admit their faults and seek forgiveness.
I’m glad to be able to say that after hearing this and other Good News about Jesus, often for the very first time, some did soften their hearts and start to receive God’s healing and transforming grace. Some of them are still in prison and have joined up with the many other Christian prisoners inside who, under adverse conditions, still manage to live lives worthy of the name Christian.
Currently, I’m no longer involved in working face to face with prisoners but I have, from home, now built and maintain three Prison Ministry Web Sites, this one and two others. They came about from my belief that there are many prisoners out there, ‘on the fringe’ as it were, wanting to change for the better but not knowing where to look.
Their problem is often that they have picked up some misconceptions about Christianity earlier in their lives. They have questions in their hearts, often very basic ones that they would like to ask, but unfortunately due to the peer pressure they live under for twenty-four hours a day, they dare not show an interest. Alone in their cells late at night, however, some are able to listen to Christian Radio and read Christian Materials.
Here in the UK, United Christian Broadcasters (www.ucbmedia.co.uk) asked me to prepare some slightly longer ‘talks’, to be broadcast on each of the seven evenings of ‘Prisons Week’ during November 2008. These can be found on www.jesuslovesprisoners.co.uk and contain some Christian music as a break half way through the 15 minutes.
The other site www.meetwithjesus.co.uk explores Christianity in more detail and asks, those reading it, some challenging questions.
Concerning all the sites I have had some Email feedback that some concerned wives, mothers and friends are printing off some of the the talks and posting them to their loved ones. To help with this I have added a ‘Print Friendly’ feature in the top right hand corner of the pages.
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