Unity amidst Diversity

 Africans, arrayed in colourful tribal robes sat next to Eastern Orthodox priests dressed in long black vestments.   Rows of translators in the back of the room were further evidence of just how disparate this audience was.  Representing Prison Fellowship ministries in more than 100 countries, the assembly of nearly 900 came from Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Pacific, North America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.  But it was their commonality, not their differences that had brought them together. 

All gathered as followers of Jesus Christ, and as such, shared a mission and passion for helping people impacted by crime.  In July they gathered in Toronto, Canada, for PFI’s eighth Quadrennial World Convocation.  “We are privileged, indeed blessed, to come here as brothers and sisters, beyond political divisions, beyond racial and cultural barriers and any delineation of Christian history and traditions, because we have a common DNA in Jesus Christ,” proclaimed PFI President Ron Nikkel in his opening remarks.

That God can bring about transformation in the lives of all people everywhere was a clear message to all Convocation participants.  Some of the ex-prisoners in attendance shared on stage their own experiences of change and reconciliation.  “We all bear the image and mark of God,” said Vivienne Nash, former prison inmate and now staff member of PF Canada. 

Even those currently confined to the inside of a prison participated in the Convocation.  Many talented prisoners volunteered to create crosses that would represent their individual regions on stage.  Manuel de Jesus Contreras, a young inmate in the Santa Ana Prison of El Salvador designed the cross for the Latin America region.  “The colour of the wood represents the fertile land of our tanned America,” he explained.  And the top of the cross illustrates that “the Creator of the universe is above the high mountains and volcanoes, the clouds and sun.”  Though prohibited from actually carving the cross by prison authorities, a prisoner in Mongolia created the design for the cross representing the Asia region.  He designed a cross that would rest on a gavel plate, illustrating that God’s love through Jesus’ death on the cross is an act of both love and justice. 

This concept of love and justice meeting was the theme of this year’s Convocation.  “To know God is to know the One who is both love and justice,” noted Ron.  Although the Convocation participants did not share a common nationality, language or race, they did share the communal belief that theirs is a God of love and justice, and that was reason enough to celebrate together.