A First For On The Wing!

Welcome Directory - Referral

The Welcome Directory is a multi - faith based organisation. It is a Directory of faith groups supporting the resettlement of people leaving prison. I have known about this for years but have never had the opportunity to use it until recently.

A prisoner soon to be released asked me if I knew of any churches in his area because he had given his heart to Christ while in prison and it was important to him to continue his walk with the Lord on the outside. He wanted to find a Christian Fellowship local to him, so I consulted the Christianity section of the Welcome Directory, looked up his hometown and found a church near to where he would be living.

Having visited their website I felt it would be an appropriate place of worship for him and I called their Welcome Directory contact. The guy who answered was delighted! He told me this was their first referral.

I had to share in confidence something of his previous offences in order to give the church's safe-guarding team some idea of what they would be dealing with but he said they would welcome the man in question with open arms.

We must remember that prison should not just be about punishment. More importantly it should be about turning peoples' lives around and rehabilitating them back into society. What better way is there to do that than to lead someone to Christ and follow them up afterwards, supporting them in their on-going Christian life?

Nick Stirling

OTW supported by Benefact