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For the first 47 of the 50 years of my life, I gave little thought to prisoners. I visited prison once to take part in a church service; as a lawyer I often visited my clients in prison; and as a state senator and attorney general of Virginia, I toured Virginia's prisons and supported legislation that was "tough on crime." I believed that those in prison truly belonged there, deserved to be there, and had no potential.

Today, as president of Prison Fellowship USA, I think about prisoners every day. I don't feel that I chose this, but that God chose me and sent me. From the Scriptures, God has given me a vision of what he is doing, and I'm giving my life to it. What is this vision? I believe that God is raising up the next generation of leaders for his Church from behind prison walls!

How is he doing that? Through people just like you, members of local churches, who are willing to open up your arms and create space in your lives to mentor and disciple prisoners returning home from prison. And many more of you are needed!

Our prisons and jails currently incarcerate more than two million people. Every year the gates of those facilities open to release 600,000 prisoners back into the community, yet within three years more than half of them will end up back inside. Obviously the government has failed in its attempt to change lives. So who holds the answer?

We do-the Church. We've been entrusted with the stewardship of the gospel of Christ, through which God is reconciling the world to himself and restoring people broken by sin.

God has given the body of Christ in America today an open door-or gate, if you will-through which pour men and women who are eager, yet often frightened and unprepared, to make a new start in life. We dare not fail to hold out to them the one true hope they have for transformation.

In a state penitentiary near Houston, Prison Fellowship staffs a faith-based prison program for more than 200 men, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The men are in the program for at least two years. A study in 2002 by University of Pennsylvania researchers showed that the rate of return to prison for those who had completed the program was only eight percent.

Can you guess what the researchers determined is the critical factor to the program's success? Aftercare-linking newly released prisoners with churches and church mentors who can provide a community of practical help and Christ-centered discipleship.

Over the years, we've found that churches and individuals tend to be more willing to go into prison to minister than to welcome a released prisoner into their church. But this must change if the Church is to truly be the Church. After all, are we not first and foremost a gathering place for the broken and those "being put back together"? We dare not show partiality to those with whom we simply feel more comfortable.

How often have church leaders and members sat in meeting rooms and asked, "What can we do for outreach? How can we demonstrate the love of Christ to the community in which we live?" How about discipling and mentoring a prisoner returning to your community?

Does aftercare ministry always result in a success story? Of course not. Nothing is certain when you work with people. But our calling is to be faithful and leave the success to the work of the Holy Spirit. One thing is for sure: As we have seen in Texas, when the Church dispenses the love and grace of Christ to returning prisoners, recidivism rates plunge-and that makes the world sit up and take notice.

Mark Earley is president of Prison Fellowship USA. This article is reprinted by permission of Jubilee Magazine, Winter 2005.If you would like Prison Fellowship to help your church get involved in ministering to returning prisoners, call 1-877-478-0100, and you can be put in touch with a local Prison Fellowship representative.

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The Church holds the answer By Mark Earley

The Church holds the answer
By Mark Earley