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Picture this: you and a few other people from your church are hearing Christ’s call in Matthew 25:36 in a new and deeper way (“…I was in prison, and you came to Me”). With the blessing of your priest, you form a ministry team. You are actively praying and discerning together. You’ve maybe even identified a jail or prison facility close by.

What now? How do you make your local prison ministry a reality? Without a clear direction, your formerly passionate group starts to dissemble, and those in prison near you are left still in need of a personal Christian presence in their lives.

This all-too-common scenario is exactly what keeps many well-meaning churches from actually getting inside a facility, actually meeting Christ in prison. Even if you successfully weave through the seemingly endless complications of securing your clearance as a volunteer, what are you going to do once inside the facility? We at Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) know the first hurdle to making your ministry a reality is simply knowing where to go to gain an expert.

Enter the OCPM Learning Center, where OCPM is now offering decades of prison ministry experience in ultra-intuitive classes and resources, available at your fingertips. In the OCPM Learning Center, churches can now access in-person and asynchronous virtual trainings on prison ministry best practices, delivered by experts with experience at every level of prison security. Current training modules include Criminal Justice Foundational Knowledge, Core Principles of Effective Prison Ministry, and Overcoming the Fear Factor, with more already in production. All contents of the OCPM Learning Center are curated by our Church Programs Manager, Nick Abdelahad (featured on page 2-3), who will consult with you and your group to find what works best for your specific needs.

For churches with already-established prison ministries, looking to rejuvenate their team and offer more inside their local facility, we also provide a variety of ready-made resources and curricula designed by OCPM. Courses like Early Christian History and Stories of Faith are designed specifically for the prison audience and are often a person’s first encounter with Orthodox Christianity. To maintain OCPM’s high standard of spiritual education–the transformation we know is possible through these courses because we have witnessed this over and again–OCPM accompanies these resources with tailored training and coaching on how to best use them in the facility near you.

As the national prison ministry of the Orthodox Church, OCPM is setting out to serve not only Orthodox Christians in prison and not only people incarcerated in a facility nearest an Orthodox church. Instead, we are boldly setting out to meet the spiritual needs of every one of the 1.8 million people incarcerated in the United States. The mission is clear: to be able to effectively minister to so many people in need and make this vision a reality, OCPM needs the support of our church partners. The only way to achieve this kind of reach in a sustainable way is to work together.

Through the OCPM Learning Center, OCPM has never made it easier for your parish to begin or further your local prison ministry. Learn more at theocpm.org and start bringing the light of Christ to a jail or prison near you.

Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) is an agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States. For Orthodox Christians who have been arrested for crimes, OCPM helps them return to the Faith, offering forgiveness and reconciliation with Christ. For both Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, OCPM provides spiritual care, enabling prisoners to find hope and purpose in their lives. For more information, please visit www.theocpm.org or follow on Facebook and Instagram @theocpm.

The post The OCPM Learning Center: Bring the light of Christ to a jail or prison near you appeared first on Orthodox Observer.