Working with Churches

This is a collection of manuals and guides to assist local church bodies in responding to crime, prisoners, victims and injustice in their communities.

Helping Churches Learn about Restorative Justice

In early September, PF Australia (South Australia) mailed sermon notes about restorative justice to 140 of its supporting churches. The notes, written by coordinating chaplain Bill Reddin, were meant to encourage the churches to prepare for the International Restorative Justice Week observed during the third full week of November.

Focusing on the needs of victims and offenders: Sermon notes. By Bill Reddin. (2010).

We live in a World in which there is not a lot of justice, quite a bit of judgement, and salvation seems allusive. Justice is one of the great callings of the Church. The Old Testament cries out for it from nearly every page. Jesus demands it in many of his teachings. Just as the Israelites continually failed to produce it, so the world fails to produce it now. The Church fails to produce justice in so many instances. (excerpt)

What Shall We Then Do? An Interdenominational Guide and Kit for Creating Healing Communities.

The vision of Healing Communities is that Christians and their churches faith will reach out and support individuals and families in their own congregations that are affected by the criminal justice system, which included those victimized by crime, those arrested, those in jail or prison, those reintegrating and the family members of each.When they do this, they become a Station of Hope – a place where the stigma and shame of the crime is eased and the congregation offers a place of love, forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation.

Building Victim Assistance Networks with Faith Communities: Lessons Learned by the Vermont Victim Services 2000 Project.

Communities of faith are in a unique position to offer support to crime victims. Victims often seek comfort and spiritual guidance from religious leaders in the aftermath of crime. Religious and spiritual leaders can quickly mobilize resources and bring disparate groups together in support of victims. For example, they may extend to victims resources that were originally established for poor, disabled, and elderly members—including food pantries, clothing banks, emergency funds, meeting space, childcare, transportation, and even emergency housing. This document summarizes how the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services, as part of the Office for Victims of Crime's Victim Services 2000 demonstration project, built and used relationships with the faith community to improve victim services.

Sharing in the Ministry of Forgiveness - a way of Engaging the Church

The following thoughts are basically my reflections on forgiveness. These reflections are drawn from my experience of the 2000 coup in Fiji and the work of my wife and me (my wife especially) with those people living with HIV and AIDS, whose questions about life and faith not only speak about rejection and hatred but also about learning to forgive and be forgiven. I hope that these reflections will resonate with your experiences of working with prisoners and their families in the various countries you come from.

Project Help: Restorative Justice

From 2002-2004, Project Help a ministry of the the Southern Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) focused on restorative justice. The project identified different ways that churches can provide services to those affected by crime and developed several ministry resources. The leadership magazine Dimension, featured articles addressing the needs of all those affected by crime. These articles are reprinted here.