A Real -Life Story

Inside the stone walls of Alfred D. Hughes Unit penitentiary, Pastor Cruz and his team planted a campus of North Place Church, a multi-site church led by Pastor Bryan Jarrett in North Dallas. In the past this penitentiary rated as one of the highest in Texas for sexual assaults; in addition, 55 percent of the prisoners are over forty years old.

Offenders struggle with mental illness, physical aggression, overcrowding, gang violence, racism, and drugs. Statistics show that within three years of being released, many prisoners are placed back into the system. Many of the prisoners are broken and in desperate need of emotional healing from within. Bound by their physical barriers, going to church is impossible, so North Place brought the church to the offenders.

Restoring

North Place Church planted a branch of their home church, right in jail where the darkness is the densest, because their goal is to give offenders an opportunity to receive faith, to become part of a supportive church community and contribute to society once re-entered back into the community. Offenders attend career workshops, college admission programs, and serve in the church in training to gain leadership, management, and spiritual disciplines in order to transform their lives from the inside out. The church helps offenders restore their human dignity so they can live lives that honor God and others. “Biblical community,” Cruz says, “is vital for an individual to continue to grow in faith. Discipleship and leadership development happen ineffectively in isolation; therefore, we commit to foster true spiritual growth by creating a culture of community through North Place Groups.

Translating the Gospel for Unchurched Communities

Alfred D. Hughes’ Unit is a prison for men in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice located in Gatesville, Texas. Executive Pastor, John Cruz, of North Place Church in Sacse, Texas, has re-imagined what prison ministry looks like and is transforming the lives of offenders and prison guards alike–from the inside out.

The uncreated God is a triune, loving community and wants people to realize their full created potential in fellowship with Himself. 8 Yet, humans revolted against God and His rightful authority as the creator and preserver of life. Consequently, all people succumb to sin’s bondage and became a part of Satan’s kingdom of darkness. Although people cannot redeem this situation, God can reverse their darkened state.

Cruz says, “We saw an opportunity to not only share the gospel, but to show the gospel by pouring into a different demographic of people to teach them more about God and how to apply biblical principles to life inside and outside the barb-wire fences.” North Place partners with prison guards and other faith ministries integrating methods, services, and the expertise of existing staff and volunteers. These partnerships broaden the reach in supporting not only the prison offenders, but also the prison guards in building their faith within everyday work.

Reflection

As the community grows, Cruz and his team are looking to initiatives where prisoners serve others in the community, do mission work remotely, and show genuine love to the people around them. Cruz says, “The character of Christ is never more clearly displayed than when individuals and the church embrace the pain and poverty of others with grace and compassion. At North Place, we express this compassion by serving our neighbors locally and abroad wherever the trail of pain takes us

This story teaches us much by way of modeling what a Church for Monday can do even in one of the most broken areas of our marketplace. The church’s team is awakening the spiritual desire within offenders and developing a true community of believers among the prison church. While North Place Church continues to establish itself inside of the barbed wire fences, their goal is to teach missions, influence cultural and personal renewal, and redefine the role of the church in prison ministry.

An Excerpt from the book, “Church for Monday” by Dr. Svetlana Papazov.

Svetlana Papazov is Lead Pastor and Founder of Real Life Church, President/Founder of Real Life Center for Entrepreneurial and Leadership Excellence, a first of its kind model of church and business incubator that educates in entrepreneurship, leadership and faith praxis.