Jail ministry volunteers encouraged
Filed Under: Illinois, jail ministry, Special Ministries
About 45 active jail ministry volunteers, chaplains, and mentors of ex-offenders gathered together this past weekend to exchange ideas, enhance their skills, and encourage one another at the 2009 WELS Jail Ministry Conference in St. Charles, Ill.
The conference—sponsored by WELS Special Ministries and Wisconsin Lutheran Institutional Ministries—offered keynote presentations, small group sessions, and much time for networking so attendees could discuss the joys, challenges, troubles, and frustrations of jail ministry as well as share ideas of what does and doesn't work.
"This was a great opportunity for us to compare notes," says Gary Loss, lay member from Gethsemane, Davenport, Iowa. "I was surprised at the diversity of approaches to prison and jail ministry."
An ex-offender was there to give his viewpoints. "That just brings a whole new dimension," says Rev. Carl Ziemer, administrator of WELS Special Ministries. Ziemer says volunteers can see the results of the ministry and hear some of the challenges that inmates face. "They can hear from the inmate the appreciation that he has for the people who take time to come and bring God's Word and be a Christian friend."
Grants from WELS Kingdom Workers, the Siebert Foundation, and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans helped fund the conference. "This was a great way to bring the coals together to keep them burning," says Ziemer.
