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Session Description
We live in an age of mass incarceration. Although the United States makes up approximately 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. As Christians, how should we address mass incarceration in the U.S.? This seminar explores the powerful effect two ministries are having at the Richard Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan. Just over ten years ago, Celebration Fellowship Church was planted behind bars at Handlon. For a decade, this church has grown in numbers and in Christian community, helping to transform Handlon from the inside out. Nearly five years ago, Calvin Seminary and Calvin University started the Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI), which offers inmates a chance to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Faith and Community Leadership and provides Christian and moral leadership in prisons. Together these ministries allow inmates to move from worship to the classroom and back again and build a Christian worldview that equips them to be agents of renewal across the prison, powerfully transforming the prison culture. Additional participants from Celebration Fellowship and the CPI program will join the discussion.
Conference Title
2020 Calvin Symposium on Worship
Event Date
1-30-2020
Event Type
Panel/Conversation
Type (recording/text)
Recording
Subject Area
Worship
Topic
Spiritual Formation/Discipleship
Keywords:
Incarceration, Liturgical Practices, Agents of Renewal
Recommended Citation
Cioffi, Todd and Gilliard, Dominique DuBois, "Worship Behind Bars: How Liturgical Practices Can Change a Prison" (2020). Symposium on Worship Archive. 38.
https://digitalcommons.calvin.edu/uni-cicw-symposium/2020/allitems/38
Worship Behind Bars: How Liturgical Practices Can Change a Prison
We live in an age of mass incarceration. Although the United States makes up approximately 5 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. incarcerates nearly 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. As Christians, how should we address mass incarceration in the U.S.? This seminar explores the powerful effect two ministries are having at the Richard Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan. Just over ten years ago, Celebration Fellowship Church was planted behind bars at Handlon. For a decade, this church has grown in numbers and in Christian community, helping to transform Handlon from the inside out. Nearly five years ago, Calvin Seminary and Calvin University started the Calvin Prison Initiative (CPI), which offers inmates a chance to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Faith and Community Leadership and provides Christian and moral leadership in prisons. Together these ministries allow inmates to move from worship to the classroom and back again and build a Christian worldview that equips them to be agents of renewal across the prison, powerfully transforming the prison culture. Additional participants from Celebration Fellowship and the CPI program will join the discussion.