Agape Guidelines for Parklea Main #1

Below are set out details of the Agape for the course. Remember that Agape is the expression of God’s love to all and so all the Agape should be done with this in mind. The expressions of that love which is provided through Agape should be prayed over while it is being created.

The following are the types of Agape that can be used for Parklea.

Prayer

Prayer is an essential part of any Kairos. This can be:

General prayer for Kairos within the Parklea Prayer for the Chaplain as he invites the inmates to the Kairos Prayer for the management and staff at Parklea, particularly as holding a Kairos does change

their duties and routines Prayer for the team.

One of the tangible ways that the inmates know of the prayers for them is through the Prayer Vigil. The time from 4 pm on Monday 25 May until 7 pm on Thursday 28 May 2015 is split into 30 minute slots and is to be covered in prayer. Please ask your friends to pray for the course, team and importantly the inmates over the time slot. All of the slots including the overnight ones are to be covered with prayer. If you have friends overseas then please ask them to pray particularly in the night slots, which would be day times to them.

I have included the Prayer Vigil listing that you can use to record those that are praying. Also there is a slip that you can print and give to your friends to remind them of their prayer slot times.

Please let me know by email or bring the sheet to Team Formation and I can transcribe it to the master sheet. This sheet will be shown to the inmates and will be put on the walls to remind them of how people they do not know are praying for them.

Only the first name is required on the sheet. If they are from outside of the Sydney area then their location, eg Tamworth, London, New York can be shown. This emphasises the world wide family of Christians praying for the inmates.

Further there is an online Prayer Vigil that can be accessed through the KPMI web site. People can go to this and enter their name in the time slot. These will be transcribed to the master sheet to be taken into Parklea. The URL will be sent under separate email.

Personal letters from general community

We are able to take a bag of letters into the Centre to give to the inmates. They keep and treasure these letters. Some never receive any letters during their time inside. Please ask your friends, Bible Study group and others to write a letter to the inmates. There are some guidelines for this:

The letters should be of encouragement to the inmates, never expressing any judgement. Each letter should be different as inmates sometimes read each other letters and so the

impact of those letters would lessen if each inmate received the same letter. The letter will not have the inmates name on it, instead it should be addressed such as “Dear

Brother in Christ” or similar.

Agape guidelines___________________________________________________________________________________________________

It needs to be hand written NOT typed or computer generated. By hand writing this shows to the inmate the commitment and sacrifice that the person writing the letter has made. It is suggested that an A5 (half an A4) size sheet of paper is best or a simple card can be used.

It need only be short. I have attached an example. The sample should not be copied by the letter writer.

The letters can be signed by the person using their Christian name. If children write their letters then they can put their age.

The letters are to be placed in an envelope but it is NOT TO BE SEALED. Letters need to be able to be read by Corrective Services people, if they wish and so do not want to have torn envelopes given to the inmates. All letters received by the inmates from any means, whether family or friends are subject to review by Corrective Services.

There is to be nothing but the letter in the envelope. We are precluded from giving the inmates anything but the letter, ie no tracks, crosses, stickers or any other item.

The letters are to be bundled with the team members name on it. As there are 18 inmates expected on the Kairos then they should be in bundles of 18. However if you have less than that please note the number on the tag with your name and these can be added to others to make up the 18 required.

The Agape team has to read each letter before they are given to the inmates. This is to ensure that the wording used is appropriate and would not conflict with any Corrective Services rules. Would you please bring your letters to the Team Formation days so that this reading can commence. In past courses we have had up to 400 letters and so it takes a reasonable amount of time to scan the letters before they are sent in.

Team letters

Each team member is to write a letter to each inmate. The guidelines as set out above should be used.

The differences with the team letters are:

They are to be addressed by name to the inmate. Obviously this cannot be done until we have a list of inmates who will be attending. Also as inmates may change on Day 1 of the course it is suggested that the name be inserted on the Tuesday night.

The letter should be written prior to the commencement of the course. It is time consuming to write 18 letters once the course commences. It could take 4 hours or more to do this and you do not have the time during the course.

On the Tuesday night you may insert some personal comments to those inmates whom you may have had closer dealings with during the course, but keep these short. If you do this then please bring the same pen that you have used to write the remainder of the letter.

The envelopes are NOT to be sealed. The letters are to be read by the Agape team just as are the general public letters.

Biscuits / slices

We have been permitted to take biscuits and slices into the Centre. These biscuits/slices should be home made. These are an expression of God’s love to the inmates and they really appreciate people making something for them.

Would you please ask your friends to bake some biscuits/slices. This is a way of getting people involved in Kairos although not being on team.

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There are some restrictions imposed by Corrective Services on what is in the biscuits/slices.

The biscuits need to be made in a clean environment so as not to contaminate the food. If any fruit is used, including dried fruit them these must be cut into small pieces No icing sugar or similar is to be sprinkled on the top of any of the biscuits/slices Biscuits/slices should not require refrigeration. We have no way of keeping them cool either

in storage or at the Centre. This also means that no cream can be used.

All slices should be cut into serving sizes as we are unable to cut these during the course.

Some suggested recipes can be found on the Kairos Parklea web site under AGAPE RESOURCES then the RECIPES tab.

In order to avoid excess handling they should be packed in clear plastic sealed bags, preferably in lots of dozens. Disposable plastic containers can also be used but we cannot return the containers.

The biscuits/slices should be brought on the Monday by the team as we cannot store these prior to the course.

Each team member should aim to supply 3 dozen biscuits/slices. This would give about 90 dozen which should be sufficient for the course.

An alternative to biscuits/slices is some savoury items such as dips and appropriate biscuits (these can be store bought) or some cut vegetables (carrots, celery, cucumber). Rather than supplying these are there is refrigeration issues if people wanted to donate cash towards the purchase then the Agape team will buy these on prepare them on the day they are taken in.

Summary

1. Prayer vigil – ask friends to be part of this, let Agape Team know times and name2. Letters from general community – start organising these now. They are required to be

brought to Team Formation, the last of which is 16 May.3. Team letters – start writing your letters to each inmate now and bring it and the pen to the

course.4. Biscuits/slices – each team member to bring at least 3 dozen on first day of course

Should you have any questions then please contact

Terry Clancy:Email pliskie@netspace.net.auPhone 02 9680 4692Mobile 0430 130 370

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Sample letter from General Community

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