It’s a day of small things, but not in prison

On Saturday 4 November Christians gathered at the Bethel Convention Centre in West Bromwich to hear about Daylight Christian Prison Trust’s work in prisons across the UK.

The opening address was given by Managing Chaplain John Little who spoke on The Essential Need for Prisoners to Hear the Gospel and the Importance of Volunteers in that Endeavour. His talk centred on John 3:16, reminding us that “salvation is a gift for the guilty, not a reward for the righteous”. He spoke of our prisons being a great harvest field but of the need to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers.

Those attending heard about what is happening across Daylight through reports from each of the staff and a number of volunteers. One spoke about the real hunger there is amongst the prisoners for the gospel, whilst another told the story of a prisoner who, after a serious suicide attempt, was converted whilst attending Bible studies and had recently been baptised.

Another volunteer spoke of a prisoner saying after a recent service, “I wish you could come every week” and Ed, an ex-offender for whom Daylight supporters have prayed over some years, spoke by video about how Daylight’s services and Bible studies had helped him during his time in prison and of the continued support given to him after his release.

The reports conveyed the centrality of God’s Word and the importance of prayer to Daylight’s work and spoke about the opportunities there are to share the gospel and the eagerness of prisoners to attend. One of the staff said, “We say it’s a day of small things, but it’s not in prison.”

Training seminars were run twice during the day on the topics of Prison Etiquette, Preaching & Teaching the Word in Prison, Post-Prison Support and Getting Started with Daylight.

The day was closed with an address from Jeremy Brooks (Pastor at Welcome Hall Evangelical Church) on Romans 11:33-12:1, emphasising that “Christ’s dying sacrifice demands our living sacrifice”. He finished with this challenging quote from C.T. Studd, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”

Hannah Mansfield

For more information on Daylight, please visit www.daylightcpt.org, email hannah@daylightcpt.org or call 01245 252735.