18 OCT 2024 | 8:30AM – Rise & Shine with Fel & DJ
It was great for our Senior Chaplain (or ‘Chaplain to Chaplains’ as he likes to say!) Joseph Park to be invited on to the Rise & Shine show on Vision Christian Radio to share about Jericho Road Chaplaincy and our current need for support.
Interviewer: The Chaplain to Chaplains! I love that title from Jericho Road. Good morning, Joseph.
Joseph: Good morning. Thanks for having me.
Interviewer: There’s a reason why we’ve got you on the line, and we’re talking to you. But first, before people might have never heard of Jericho Road before, tell us about the organization.
Joseph: Well, Jericho Road is a Christian charity. It’s the social service arm of the Presbyterian Church in New South Wales. Chaplaincy is a part of the program. Our vision is to demonstrate the amazing love and the greatest character of God by providing fresh hope and care to those facing trauma, grief, ill health, or incarceration, and also to the emergency services community as well.
Interviewer: Wow, that is a lot of different groups of people. So can you tell us some of those different groups?
Joseph: We’re talking about people who may be in hospital emergency services. Did you say prisons as well? Yeah, absolutely. We place chaplains in public hospitals, one of the large public hospitals around in the area. We place chaplains there to provide spiritual impact and care for the patients and their families, and also for staff as well. Some of the chaplains fit within the Ethics Committee of the hospitals as well. They do a whole range of stuff. We have chaplains in prison—currently, we have one near Bathurst and one in Greater Western Sydney. They just almost live there, 40-plus hours a week, hanging out with inmates, providing chapel services, one-on-one counseling, lifestyle groups, and things like running the program that the Salvation Army provides. They run all those things, supporting the families too. We also have a senior chaplain who works with the police community, visiting places like Broken Hill and Dubbo, and appointing volunteer police chaplains. We have some volunteer RFS chaplains and ambulance chaplains as well. A whole range of stuff.
Interviewer: Incredible. You have totally got us on the back foot here. I was expecting to hear that you have three or four guys working around a couple of prisons, but you are everywhere with the Presbyterian Church. God bless you guys. There’s one particular story—we saw a video of you interviewing a former inmate called Phil.
Joseph: Yeah, that’s right. Phil. Incredible story of God’s amazing love that reaches beyond, behind bars. Phil’s story came to us through one of our chaplains who supported him near Bathurst. Phil was there for a number of years, and through his time with our chaplain Tim, he became a Christian. He not only became a Christian; he became so committed to following Jesus. When I met Phil in the community, he had been out for a number of years, and he was really on fire for the Lord. It was a blessed time for me to spend time with him because he was saying how God had transformed him through some of the darkest moments of his life. He made it so clear to us why we need chaplains—and not just any chaplains—because, unfortunately, from the government’s point of view, chaplains can be any religion. You can be Buddhist, Hindu, or even an atheist; humanist chaplains are coming along at the moment as well. But we need Christian chaplains in public institutions like prisons and hospitals because we know that the hope we have in Jesus is far better than any harm. It’s beyond cure; it’s beyond anything, freedom. So Phil was able to encounter our hope in Jesus through our chaplain Tim, and that’s such a great story. We wanted to get that story out there to tell people about what God is doing in hidden places like prisons.
Interviewer: We’ll put the video up on socials and make sure everybody has a chance to see it. There’s one aspect of Phil’s story that I really, really love, but we’ll get into that next. We’ve got Joseph Park from Jericho Road with us on Rise and Shine. Joe, so good to have you with us. We were talking about Phil and this amazing story of him as a man who was a non-Christian in prison, hearing the gospel message. You were telling us about how on fire he is in the community for the Lord. But one aspect I love is that Christian radio has been a part of his journey. Can you flesh that out a little bit for us?
Joseph: Well, in prison, guys have very limited interaction with social media and other things. It’s during the chapel service that Tim was able to play some songs—some Christian songs. Phil didn’t grow up with Christian songs, but on this particular chapel day, he heard a Christian song playing through Christian radio, and it really transformed his heart toward God. I think it’s the power of media like radio, with Christian songs, hymns, and stories, that reaches through prison bars. From then on, Phil really brought all these influences through radio, songs, and interactions with chaplains, which solidified his faith in Jesus. He continues that even while living out in the community; he is very on fire for Jesus and listens to Christian radio all the time. I think that brings a lot of encouragement to him.
Interviewer: Oh, that’s fantastic. Amazing. Well, Joseph, we are all inspired this morning by the work that you guys are doing out in places we may never reach personally. It’s exciting to know that this month, and I’m sure all the time, but particularly this month, there’s a focus on what we can do to help your organization. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Joseph: Yeah, the October appeal is set aside to focus on raising awareness of Christian chaplaincy in public places. Chaplaincy has been around for many years. The government supports hospital chaplaincy, police chaplaincy, and corrective services chaplaincy. You’ve probably heard of defense chaplaincy, which is quite big and historically well-respected. But in the civil space, the government provides funding, but it is never enough. As a charity and a Christian denomination, we chip in to cover the full cost of employing our chaplains. For guys like Phil, it is the work of God, but God uses His people to bring His message. It wasn’t a coincidence that Phil got to meet Tim and became his mentor, his pastor while he was behind bars. We can only place Tim if our funding is sustained and supported. That’s what we ask people to consider—praying for us and giving for this Christian ministry because it is what God is doing behind bars, and everyone can be part of this. As you mentioned, without permission and authorization, no one can just rock up into a prison and share the gospel. No one can go into a hospital, behind intensive care, where I used to work, and just walk up and tell people about Jesus. You need permission, authorization, vaccinations, and all that sort of stuff. But we have the opportunity; we have the people who are well-trained, committed Christians in places where others can’t go. It’s like mission work, like sending missionaries to Saudi Arabia. This is really important work, and we would love for everyone to be part of this appeal. Raising $30,000 is our target. We have a $100,000 gap in our funding. We’ve raised about $50,000 so far, but we need to do more to reach the $100,000 target and raise that $30,000. So please, get involved.
Interviewer: Joseph, I’m so impressed that the costs are so small. The fact that you’re wanting to raise, you know, the gap of $30,000. I thought it was going to be a lot more to do the work that you’re doing. The way you’re able to stretch a dollar with what you’re doing with Jericho Road is such a blessing. I’m going to tell everybody, go to jerichoroad.org.au. We’re going to put the links, the videos, all the information up on our social media. But jerichoroad.org.au—when you go there, you’ll see Phil’s story and a place to be able to click to give towards this amazing work of prison chaplaincy. Not just prison chaplaincy, as you said, Joseph, the Chaplain to Chaplains—you are everywhere. It’s amazing.
Joseph: Thank you. It’s such a privilege. The work that I do—I worked for six years as a hospital chaplain, and I saw what God is doing behind bars, in prisons, police stations, and in intensive care and emergency services. I think this is such good and noble work that we can be part of. Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk to your listeners about our work today.
Interviewer: Thank you so much, Joseph, for coming on and chatting with us. Come back! I think we’ll have to have Joseph back 100% because he’s got so many stories. It’s so inspiring and faith-building, which is what we’re all about. Look, if you want that website again, it’s jerichoroad.org.au, and you can jump on there and get involved with their appeal over the month of October.
