Prison Alpha Sharings

In the spring of 2005, a group of our church members began visiting Ma Po Ping prison on Lantau island to lead an Alpha course for the inmates there. Since then, this ministry has expanded and we now have two teams, one visiting Ma Po Ping prison on Saturday afternoons, and one visiting Pik Uk prison on Sunday afternoons. The following are a selection of quotes from the volunteers. Details can be found on our church website: http://www.mic-hk.org/alpha3.html. If you are interested in joining this very special ministry, please contact either Debbie Lee (Deborah.wc.lee@gmail.com) or Joel Tang (tang_joel@yahoo.com).

Debbie
I want to thank God for giving me again this opportunity to minister to the inmates at Ma Po Ping Prison. I cannot tell how much joy I have experienced through out this Alpha course. During the past six months we spent with the inmates, God has been at work among the inmates as much as individual team members. It was a time of spiritual as well as knowledge growth. We shared our thoughts, our experiences, our struggles and prayed for each others’ needs. I cannot forget how much sweat we were in while only singing the second song of our praise and prayer service on graduation day. We were all so excited in praising our Lord Jesus!

I am so blessed with this ministry. I enjoyed each and every session that I have been to, and value greatly the fellowship and friendship that we have found in God. I cannot wait for the follow-up session “A life worth living” to start!

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Louisa
Prison Alpha to most people is the channel by which we may demonstrate the unconditional love as the Lord commanded us to do, to extend friendship and to bring hope and light to those in the dungeon. To me, it is also the tool which I may use to live out my Christian faith. Through serving and learning together with the inmates, our faith can be strengthened. I learned a new insight into grace — the free offer of grace extends not just to those serving God but to those who in fact deserve the opposite.

I rejoice every time I visit the prison, seeing the hearts and minds of the inmates being revived and transformed. When our team waved ‘Goodbye’ to them, we could see their faces glowing with hope and assurance for the future. They are excited about the new follow-up course. May God open more doors and raise up more volunteers to help in this meaningful ministry. May He be pleased and glorified!

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Tiffany
Each Prison Alpha session was a time of both giving and taking for me. Although we were there to spread the gospel and share our faith with the inmates, very often we learned much more from their sharing and personal experiences.

This was a group of engaging and enthusiastic inmates, who were encouraging and were free to share their thoughts that were related to the topic we discussed each time. This made each visit a fruitful and enjoyable event, especially when we saw the content and passionate faces when the inmates sang the songs along with the guitar. Sometimes they would share their frustrations and worries in the prison, and we would just admire the patience and forgiveness they possessed despite the situation they were in. One thing that truly impressed me was that one time an inmate told us that very often in his free time he would pray to God, because he needed the silence and calmness from all the struggles that troubled his heart. What he said really spoke to me as I asked myself: How often in my busy life would I calm down and ask for God’s presence?

The experience in Prison Alpha truly helped in my spiritual growth, which brought me closer to God through the sharing and worship with the inmates.

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Thomas
I came to Hong Kong about one and half year’s ago. After some visits to different churches, my wife, Karen n I decided to worship at Methodist International church. One of our prayers to God was that He must have His reasons for bringing us to Hong Kong. I have never really been involved in any particular ministry for many years and one Sunday I heard about the prison Alpha ministry. I said to myself “hmm, I guess I would like to offer some of my time to God.” Without much thought, I turned to Karen and asked if we should join the prison Alpha?” And that was how it all started.

It’s a privilege to be used as part of God’s vessel to reach to those around us. Most of us would imagine that we are reaching out and ministering to the inmates, but at times the inmates were the ones who ministered to me. It truly have been a humbling experience. While we may not be confined in the prison cell, but perhaps some of us may feel like we are prisoners of our jobs, our lifestyle, the situation we are in.

I believe some of us have heard or sung the song where the words go something like “here I am Lord, is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night…”. We may wonder or say that perhaps God is asking the person next to me to do His work.

I believe all we need to do is to avail ourselves to God’s work. I can’t say for sure that prison Alpha is the ministry for me, but I must say that I do look forward to fellowshipping with the inmates each time. Luke 10:2 says that “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Would you join me?

Karen
Let me share with you how I got involved in prison Alpha. When the invitation for people to come forward for the ministry, I was praying to God “please speak to my husband so that he will volunteer his time for you”. At that time I felt that I was not ready to involved in any ministry. However, Joel mentioned that they need couples to help out in the prison Alpha. Well, I said “OK God, looks like I don’t have any excuses now.” I believe it’s not about whether I’m ready or not, if God wants to use you, he will. So, there it goes.
When we meet with the inmates, we will have worship sessions, watch the video message by Nicky Gumble, read the bible and then have discussions. We would end the session by praying for each other. When I meet the inmates, I feel joyful and happy that I can share God’s love to them and I can see that they are happy to see us. Well, the only commitment is just one afternoon, once a month. So, dear friends, I hope that you will consider giving prison Alpha a try. Who knows, you may end up feeling the same way as I am.

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