June

2012 Update
Hello brothers and sisters! It seems it is that time again for me to update you on what has been happening in the world of Daylight (that is, the organisation that I work for, rather than a suggestion that you have all been locked away in rooms without windows for the past month). This update should (in theory) be much shorter than my previous one as it is only recounting the events of one month, but Im afraid its been rather an exciting one (and my case of the rambles has not yet been cured) so thats not going to be the case.so put the kettle on and put your feet up. I hope you feel as excited and encouraged as I do by the work that the Lord is doing! HMP Bristol After quite a lot of work and thought 64% of men serving about how best to word it, I have now drawn up a proposal for the work that we would like to do, through the sentences of less than 12 months in HMP Bristol Bristol Prayer and Support Group, with HMP Bristol. The will be back in prison proposal focuses on the rehabilitative advantages of the within a year of release, PSG, as well as the spiritual, because the new head chaplain and on average, each of who the proposal will be presented to is a Muslim (but he claims he is keen to operate a genuinely multi-faith these reoffenders will go chaplaincy). Having met with Chris (who is accompanying on to commit 5.7 further me in this work, and has had contact inside this prison offences previously) to go through the proposal with a fine-toothed comb, I have now tweaked it and TODAY we will send it off for consideration. We are hoping that Muhammed will agree to meet us in the next month to talk about our proposal further and see whether we can get something started with his approval. For organisations such as ourselves, the way into a prison is always through the chaplaincy, so it is crucial that we establish a good relationship with the staff in charge of the keys please pray! Christianity Explored Last time I wrote I had been helping with a weekly CE course in Cardiff. This month I had the amazing opportunity to join Gillian and Stephen there as they led an intensive version of this course where eight 2.5 hour sessions are packed into a week! This was a really great chance for me to get my head around the rest of the course material in preparation for when I help to lead one in Ashfield in future. On the Monday morning at the gate I was warned by Gillian that we only knew of 3 men who had signed up, and so, if that was it, I might not be needed for the rest of the week. However, when 9am came we had TWELVE men sat in a semi-circle who had come to find out more about the Christian faith! Most of these guys had never met each other before as they were from separate wings, and they came from a wide spectrum of backgrounds and beliefs

 T, in his forties, has been a Christian for many years, but has spent the best part of twenty years behind bars for incidents related to his struggle with alcoholism S, brought up in a strictly religious home, as a teenager he rebelled against this by practicing Satanic worship, later coming to a miraculous saving faith in Jesus H, from a Muslim background and decided to spend his time in prison investigating both the Christian and Islamic belief systems. He arrived having read the entirety of the Quran and the Bible, undecided as to what the truth really was but compelled and intrigued by the person of Jesus. C, five years in to a life sentence for murder. Six weeks previous to the course he made a personal commitment to accept and follow Jesus Christ so wanted to learn more about him and how to follow him B, said he wasnt a Christian but was feeling a bit lost and wanted answers to questions he had about suffering, and had joined the course in order to spend time out of his cell D, serving his first custodial sentence, had never been to church in his life but attended a chapel service while in prison which intrigued him to find out more about Christianity

In addition to this, many of the men have complex mental health problems and sadly many had histories of self-harm and suicide attempts, which evidences the lack of hope that is so prevalent among prisoners. The wonderful news is that nine of these men stuck out the whole course, which is almost unheard of, and I think most of them got a lot more than they had bargained for when they were introduced to the person of Jesus! By the end of the week, I was amazed by the answers we were getting to questions like how are you going to respond to Jesus? and what are you going to do with what youve learnt this week? - all of the guys seemed to get it! It truly was such a privilege to see God opening eyes and softening hearts in the course of that week, but as we ended by thinking about the cost of being a Christian and looking at the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20) to think about what type of soil each of us was, it served as a reminder that being a Christian is pretty tough in prison (most of the guys face mocking and ridicule from other lads on their wing for attending chapel and CE), but also made those who were looking forward to release aware that there might be a lot of thorns in the form of drugs, alcohol, peer pressure, pursuit of wealth, and others expectations of them, that could easily choke their faith and stop them growing and bearing fruit as they might. One guy in particular (D above), made a decision during the course of the week to give his life to Jesus, but was being released at the end of the week. He knew that going back to his hometown as a Christian would mean facing persecution and ridicule from his friends, and was aware that he had no Christian support on the outside. I promised I would do my best to find him some church contacts that could help, but I only had an hours lunch break to do this! During that hour God amazed Before this week I knew the gospel was true in my me by his provision of willing brothers and sisters who volunteered to help, and by his grace I was able to give D head, but now I really names of two pastors who were prepared to meet with and believe it in my heart disciple him. Ive recently heard that contact has been C Cardiff prisoner made, but that D is thinking about relocating to Cardiff in serving a life sentence who the hope of making a fresh start, and his priorities seem to has now asked if he can be be to find a Christian hostel or charity to work with there! Praise God that he seems to be doing the necessary baptised in prison! weeding to make sure that he is good soil for Gods word!

Bristol Prayer and Support Group Last Sunday Daylight were invited to speak at

Kensington Baptist Church in Bristol, which was a real answer to prayer given that up until this point most churches had been hard to pin down. Our presentation included a bit from me about the work in Bristol, plugging the Prayer and Support Group and trying to drum up interest in it. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with lots of people signing up at the end. Kensington is a very active church that is situated in an area of Bristol that is well-represented behind the bars of HMP Bristol, so it is great to have their support as we go forward. One man in particular has since been in contact and invited me to a meeting of a group called InterAction, made up of lots of neighbourhood bodies (both Christian and secular) who work with offenders in the community both pre- and post-prison, so the hope is that some of them might lend their wisdom and support to the PSG as well. In terms of organising the first meeting of the Bristol PSG, thank you to those of you who have been asking me about it/giving me gentle kicks up the backside to do this. Im afraid no such meeting has been formalised yet, but I plan to plan it next week, in the hope of meeting in August!

Finances Thank you so much to all of you who support me in any way, shape or form in this

work it really wouldnt be possible without your prayer, wisdom and love. As I am sure most of you are aware, my internship with Daylight this year is not a salaried position, and is being funded primarily through the generous giving of members of the church, such as yourselves, whilst also being supplemented by the work that I do at Priory Hospital. Unfortunately my work at Priory is fairly sporadic as I have no contracted hours and the patient numbers are very variable so in recent months I have been offered relatively few shifts. Im hoping that this will improve over the summer, though there is no guarantee. I know that I can fully rely on God for all that I need, and that if He is behind the work that I am doing then He will make a way for it to continue. Please pray that this would be the case, and that I would trust God in this, and be wise and honouring to him with the money that He has given me. Also, if you are in a position where you feel you would be able to support me financially in coming months then please see the relevant form attached to the email that this came in

Prayer points
Praise = For the Christianity Explored course in Cardiff and all the guys who came on it particularly C who wants to be baptised, D who made a profession of faith for the first time, and J for whom the gospel came to life in a new way in his heart For the contacts that God provided for D upon his release, and his keenness to walk the Christian life For the faithfulness of God and the way He has provided for my work financially up until this point For brothers and sisters at Kensington Baptist Church and their willingness to partner with us, and the invitation for Daylight to join the InterAction group Petition = For Gods hand to be powerfully at work, and His will to be done as Muhammed the HMP Bristol chaplain considers Daylights proposal for a Prayer and Support Group, and that he might be willing to meet to discuss it further For the men who came on the Christianity Explored course and are still weighing up the gospel that God would continue to be at work in their hearts Wisdom for D and his Christian contacts as he considers whether to move to Cardiff