Tim Abbey
Chaplain at Kirkconnell Correctional Centre
A Story from Kirkconnell - JULY 2024
One of the huge joys of working as a Christian Chaplain in gaol is how often you get to talk about Jesus so much quicker than it tends to be outside the gaols.
Outside of prison, there are so many potential roadblocks.
It used to sometimes not be polite to talk about religion and politics. Now in many circles, if you were to talk about religion, Christianity is at the bottom of the pile, still suffering from the fall of cases out of the Royal Commission into Institutional Abuse, even though all institutions are not immune from these plagues. Christian teaching from the Bible on sexuality, relationships and gender is now so counter-cultural, as is the claims of Jesus to be the only way.
So many Christians understandably but sadly, bunker down and keep their religious cards close to their chest. A ‘ghetto’ mentality can prevail where we tend to hang out with just our Christian friends, and we lose even further the touch and opportunity, not sure how to say something even if we wanted to.
“… you get to talk about Jesus so much quicker than it tends to be outside the gaols.”
But in gaol as a Chaplain, you’re at the coalface. The very idea of Christian Chaplaincy is to be where people are at, relating to the way that early Christians used parts of their cloaks to provide relief on the battlefield – the word Chaplain was derived from the Latin for cape/cloak.
In gaol, inmates have more time to talk, and reasons to talk. Many are searching for hope, overwhelmed by the perceived hopeless nature of their situations. Family and friend circles may have been burned by their offences, and even when they do eventually get out, society affords little opportunities.
But a Chaplain is someone they can at least talk to. A Chaplain may even have some answers. When you are desperate, you can be more willing to give anything a go, even religion. It is a great privilege to try and help an inmate think through their questions and speak words of hope into those conversations.
And yet, there are still many more in gaol who are not like that at all. Many don’t want to address the elephant in the room. Many have the prevailing cultural brush strokes all over them. Their relationship choices and beliefs mean they hardly want to talk to a Christian Chaplain.
And so, the Apostle Paul’s words to the Colossians are so relevant, how we need God’s help to be “wise in the way we act towards outsiders”, how we can “make the most of every opportunity” (4:5).
Paul gives great follow up advice that God may use to create an opportunity when it doesn’t flow on tap … “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (4:6)
“It is a great privilege to try and help an inmate think through their questions and speak words of hope into those conversations.”
so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others - Romans 12:15
Many inmates may not want to talk directly about Jesus. However, engaging in the topics of the day from football to famine, hearing their despairs and joys like Paul said elsewhere (Romans 12:15), and communicating that you value their conversations, helps plough the ground for Gospel opportunity. It might lead to questions of substance every now and then… such as “so why do you think that?” Or “is there a way through this mess?”
We can be “shrewd” like Jesus taught (Matthew 10:16) and out of love plant seeds into the conversations.
For example, when talking with Aboriginal inmates, I’ll often show them my didgeridoo I made in Arnhem Land years ago while visiting a friend who knew how to do this well from local indigenous friends. A Christian inmate a few years ago magnificently painted it for me with a great Christian message using indigenous symbols and so when I explained what the painting means, it gets a hearing. Another example is with music at Chapel where I organise some gaol wide concerts, when I talk with inmates about the merits of various songs for us to play, it raises the relevance of Jesus in a natural way when I can link something in the song to something more profound.
We can keep Jesus in the loop to others when in His strength we try to be the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 4:13). God knows where things might lead to.
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet - Matthew 4:13
