Faithful Citizenship H arold D ean T r u lear
A Historic Partnership
denomination dedicated to social justice, joined forces to certify hundreds of individuals and congregations in prison ministry through a series of training events that culminated at the PNBC’s national convention in August. There both PF and PNBC staff equipped When I team-taught the prison ministry attendees for a fully orbed engagement course at then Eastern Baptist (now Palmer) with the criminal justice system. Theological Seminary in 1994, the course In his May 8, 2009, “BreakPoint” met in alternate weeks in the Holmesburg commentary, Chuck Colson called our Prison in Philadelphia, Pa. My co-instruc- times “the perfect storm” for new coltor, Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue (now president laborations and partnerships, and he of Payne Theological Seminary in Ohio), included this new partnership in his list had arranged for inmates in that facility of examples. It took such a perfect to take the course along with the semi- storm to bring together a politically connarians enrolled in the class. The mix servative evangelical organization and made for some interesting discussions. the denomination cofounded by Martin One such discussion concerned Luther King, Jr. It reminded me of the the relationship between Muslims and cooperation between evangelical and Christians incarcerated in the facility. Roman Catholic traditions around the The inmates enrolled in the course issue of abortion, and the discussion included members of the Islamic faith, between King and Billy Graham in the and they were eager participants in the 1960s concerning the possibility of doing discussion. But their presence caused joint crusades — imagine if they had some discomfort for the more theologi- been able to pull that off! cally orthodox students from the seminary, especially as the inmates discussed their efforts to “work together” to help “Religious differences take a mentor some of the younger inmates. back seat to saving lives.” This discomfort prompted one inmate, Bible in hand, to respond, “In here, religious differences take a backseat to saving Some in PNBC’s leadership had deep lives.” Chimed in a Muslim inmate, “We misgivings about working with PF, citaffirm our common belief in God and ing significant political differences. PF, go from there. Under the intense con- for its part, has admitted its struggles in ditions of the prison, we don’t have developing true partnerships with contime to argue theology.” gregations, particularly in the African I think of this partnership bred of American community. But in a historic urgency when I consider the historic meeting between PNBC leadership and partnership recently forged by two dis- PF executives last fall, they decided to similar groups of Christians to address join forces to engage and equip the conour nation’s rise in prison population gregations of the PNBC in a national and the record numbers of inmates now effort to develop strong ministries to the returning to society. Prison Fellowship incarcerated, those returning from pris(PF), the most visible national orga- on, and their families. PNBC leadership nization invested in prison ministry, included Revs. DeeDee Coleman and and the Progressive National Baptist Owen Cardwell of the denomination’s Convention (PNBC), the nation’s Social Justice and Prison Ministry preeminent African American Baptist Commission. PF Director for Training PRISM 2009
31
Dave Heffington agreed to bring his organization’s training material to supplement the curriculum PNBC had developed in consultation with the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Titled “What Shall We Then Do? A Family Freedom Kit,” the PNBC curriculum focuses on ministry to men and women returning from incarceration as well as their families. Research shows that keeping families connected during incarceration greatly increases the likelihood of successful reentry, and PNBC had already begun using their curriculum in Detroit, Richmond, Gary, and other cities, serving hundreds of inmates and their families.The curriculum stresses the need for churches to begin by working with families from within their own congregations, drawing on the existing pastoral and community care functions of the church.The PF component of the training consists of strategies for volunteer and leadership development for prison ministries. I don’t minimize the importance of theological or political difference, but want to point to the urgency of criminal justice issues, which are sadly waning in the current political ethos.The politics of the PNBC and PF differ, as did the theology of the inmates at Holmesburg. But the difficulties of the hour have created a “perfect storm” where the limited resources created by a tough economy have combined with a sense of urgency around crime, criminal justice, and incarceration to motivate persons of faith to pool their efforts and save lives. It is tempting to imagine what other unlikely collaborative efforts could emerge if people of faith concentrated and combined their efforts to seek truth and justice for those on the margins of society. n Harold Dean Trulear is associate professor of applied theology at Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, DC, and a consultant for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Faith and Families Portfolio.