John's Trip to Brixton Prison

When you hear the words "Brixton Prison", if you're anything like me your mind is instantly filled with thoughts of murderers, drug-dealers, down-and-outs, scum of the earth types, so when I heard I would be spending a few days with the chaplain of Brixton Prison as part of my internship, I was filled with a kind of nervous excitement. I wasn't too sure what to expect. Will they be behind their bars screaming abuse? Some wearing straight-jackets, others in padded cells? I had no idea. So imagine my shock when I arrived to find Rob (the guy I was shadowing for the morning of the first day) on the first floor of "Block A", with prisoners just strolling around, some chatting to him, others playing pool or listening to the radio. I was immediately out of my comfort zone!

For about half an hour I followed Rob from cell to cell as he introduced himself to the prisoners as one of the chaplains and asked them how they were, if it was their first time in prison, and told them of the induction meeting where they could find out more about prison life.

After that I met Phil and Chris, the other chaplains, and had lunch and asked a few questions about the prison. They told me a bit about themselves, why they had to decided to work in a prison and what challenges their job presented, and I told them about my gap year and how blessed I was in being able to call "spending time with some of the most amazing young people" - work.

In the afternoon I sat in on a Bible study. We went through some of Romans 3 and then watched "Les Miserables" on DVD. The whole message being that "we are under grace, not under law".

That although obedience to law is important, it is God's grace that empowers us to be obedient.

That was the end of day 1, I learned a lot from being in the Bible study and loads about prison life as well. Bring on day 2!

The next day I went through the same procedure of showing my passport to the welcoming officer and handing my phone over. Phil (the chaplain I was shadowing) met me on the other side of the security door and led me off to be searched as was standard procedure for the day. I immediately started worrying about what could be in my bag, not that I had anything to hide but I really hadnt fully considered being searched. If you imagine the airport security, it was a bit like that but stricter. As we were walking to the search room, Phil, seeing I was chewing, told me my gum may  be a problem which made me start to panick, because I wasnt sure what he meant. Suddenly, without warning, the school boy in me came out and I just swallowed it. I have no idea why I did that and when the prison officer carrying out the search found my pack of chewing gum and asked me if I had any in my mouth, I felt like a right plonker saying I'd swallowed it! Other than that thought search was all ok, except for the tin foil in which my sandwiches were wrapped as apparently they're useful to drug addicts. Other than that all was fine - panic over.

I sat in on alpha in the morning which was a real blessing. Speaking to some of the prisoners was such an eye-opener and seeing these guys so open to Jesus was fantastic. In the afternoon I was priviledged enough to see even more of this, as I joined another Bible Study group.

This was without doubt the highlight of the 2 days for me.

We worshipped at the start and then sat and went through Philippians 2 together.

All the preconceptions I mentioned in the first paragraph about prisoners were entirely shattered during this Bible study. Now I have no doubt those guys have done some terrible things, but as Jesus says, "he who is without sin, throw the first stone." In other words - Only if you are perfect are you free to judge others.

At one point a stocky black chap was asked to read the passage. If you were casting for a film and the role was "stereotypical dodgy prisoner" he would have got the part without a shadow of a doubt, but as he read, he fumbled some of the words and there was a slight quiver in his voice. As he sat down, he said to a huge Jamaican fella next to him, "I was well nervous reading that".

And the Jamaican fella, just replied, "No man, you would never have known it...you read it beautifully". It was such a beautiful moment of compassion. A glimpse of the living God at work in these men.

You see the Gospel carries such power. Think about people in your life who you would love to know Jesus, but you doubt ever will. Maybe you think "They're not that sort of person" or "They'll never be into religion" or "Church will never be attractive to them". I've thought that before, I have friends and family who desperately need Jesus in their lives, yet its so difficult to picture them actually loving the Lord. I wonder what that says about the God we believe in? - That he's ok for some, but not for all? If that's the case why do our worship songs proclaim him "Lord of all creation", "King of Kings", "Mighty to save"? Look at Saul in the Bible. A wrong'un of the highest calibre. Made it his business to slaughter Christians. Yet encountered Jesus in a powerful way, and instantly gave his life to the Lord and went on to write more commentary on the Message of Christ in the New Testament than any Disciple.

Do you believe in God's power to profoundly change lives? Do you believe he can use you to bring His message to those who need him? Or maybe you once did, but your faith has become stale and you wish you could experience the excitement it once brought?

If you feel God has touched your heart with any of these things please speak to me, or text or call me on 07517156108 and I would love to meet, chat and pray with you.