12Nov_Dec06HopeBehindBars

HOPE BEHIND BARS

BY DEBBIE MEROFF

S

eptember 11, 2001: The date sticks in Janice Voss’ memory for more reasons than one. Voss was in Bangkok, on her way home to Canada for a break after two years of sharing Jesus with Israeli travelers in India, when a poster in her guesthouse lobby caught her attention.

The poster described the grim plight of foreigners serving long, drug-related sentences in maximum security prisons.

Many received no visitors, she read. And because Thai prisons don’t supply such basics as soap, conditions could be desperate.

Voss made up her mind to visit the infamous “Bangkok Hilton.”

The experience hit her hard.

Later, on her return trip to India,Voss arranged to spend a month in Thailand reaching out to Israeli backpackers. In the next few years she led several international teams to Thailand and in the process met some Thai believers involved in an effective outreach called the Christian Prison Ministry Fellowship (CPMF). Voss and her teams were able to join the CPMF workers in outreaches inside the prisons, teaching the Bible, performing skits and songs, and giving out gift bags of much-needed basics like soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.

The national leader of the fellowship, Pastor Soonthorn Soonthorntarawong, was a fluent English speaker, having

graduated from a Bible college in Des Moines, Iowa. Although he had never before contemplated a prison ministry, God laid the need on his heart after just one visit behind bars 27 years ago.

Since then the CPMF has planted a Bangkok church called the House of Blessing, composed mostly of former prisoners, as well as a halfway house. The Thai believers welcomed Voss and her experience in drama, music, and evangelism.

Voss’ last stint in India had left her severely ill. She also saw that God was opening doors for Indian believers to minister to Israelis.

“I knew my time in that country was drawing to a close.

But in Thailand, people were so hungry and open! The vision grew for me to live here, the way I did in India. My ministry to backpackers would continue, but I felt the Lord was moving me to focus on local people, especially prisoners and released prisoners in the halfway house.”

So Voss took the plunge and in February of this year moved to Bangkok under the auspices of Mercy Teams International (MTI). Although on her own, she was immediately taken under the wing of the CPMF. Thailand’s prison population of 180,000 is confined in 147 centers, the vast majority for drug-related offences. So far CPMF has been able to reach out to 63 of the facilities. On one visit to a juvenile detention

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Debbie Meroff

In 2006, the 60th year of the King of Thailand’s reign, the King’s Pardon was granted to 25,000 prisoners across the country.

CPMF is involved in a pre-release program and also meets with as many as possible following their release. Others receive help at the House of Blessing halfway house. Since opening in 2003, several hundred former inmates have been given temporary shelter, food, and clothing, as well as aid in finding jobs or returning to their families. About 70, including four seminary students, attend worship services at the House of Blessing, but the ministry is now facing a crisis. The contract for the premises they occupy expires in mid-2007, so they are seeking God’s enabling to build a new facility.

“We want to have a 200-seat church, a training center, and accommodation for up to 50 people at a time,” enthuses Pastor Soonthorn. “The land is about 60 percent paid for, and it’s in a good location where we can also do outreach to 800 nearby families. We don’t have much money, but God helps us month by month.”

He adds: “Everywhere we go the prisoners are hungry to hear us. They know that Christianity is not just a religion but a way of life. My burden is for all churches to get involved.

I tell God that before I die I’d like to see every prison reached.

This is God’s time for Thailand!” ■

center holding 600 boys, Voss was appalled to find a pair of brothers, 11 and 13, who had been sentenced to four years for sniffing glue. Children can be released if their families pay a fine of $200, but most are too poor.Voss’ church in Israel raised the money and got the boys home.

Although Thailand is a Buddhist country, workers have seen almost 2,000 prisoners accept Christ this past year alone —this in spite of the fact that CPMF has only three full-time and five part-time workers. Its success lies in enlisting local churches all over the country and training the pastors. Most prisoners are followed up by the churches and can enroll in a Bible correspondence course administered by Pastor Soonthorn’s wife, Suparporn.

Two of the most effective ways of introducing men and women to the Lord have been through choruses and English classes. CPMF started the music program six years ago, after a prison director happened to hear a group of Christian prisoners singing together. The man called in Pastor Soonthorn and remarked at the beauty of the singing. He then inquired if it was possible for his ministry to train inmates to sing in a chorus.

“Usually every Saturday the prisoners are free to do things like wash their clothes,” explains the pastor. “They can also choose an activity. If they want to join the choir, the conductor tests their voice. Before every practice we have a half-hour for teaching the Bible.”

Prisoners have now performed several public concerts, three in the presence of members of the royal family. Nueng, a soloist during a performance last June, testifies: “In prison I felt life had no purpose. I had no one. I joined the choir because I like to sing. But you have to know the meaning of a song to sing with the heart. One day the ministry worker told me that peace and freedom had to start inside me. That day I believed, and since then I knew that while I was still in prison my heart was free!”

Nila Duginov also met the Lord through the ministry.

Voss spotted this Ukrainian-born young woman a year ago, inside Bangkok’s infamous Lard Yad Central Women’s Correctional Institution. Duginov had agreed to carry a suitcase for “friends” 12 years before, unaware of the cocaine hidden in the lining. Still serving a 35-year sentence in a maximum security prison, she has seen her small son again only once.

Yet she is able to affirm that since putting her faith in Jesus two years ago she has found the peace, love, and strength to go on.

Early this July, Voss began teaching a 13-week English class for prison wardens. Cooperation like this has earned widespread respect for CPMF, prompting Pastor Soonthorn to observe, “We’ve never had the freedom that we have now.

We have permission to go everywhere. We’ve even been invited by prison authorities to start churches.”

Debbie Meroff is an American writer and photographer based in London, England. Over the last 20 years she has reported on the Christian scene in 99 countries. She is the author of six books and is a regular contributor to PRISM.

Opposite: The women’s prison choir performed in June 2006 for Thailand’s Princess Ubon Rattana.

Above: Pastor Soonthorn meets with male prisoners.

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