pf europe newsletter october 2010

8/8/2019 Pf Europe Newsletter October 2010

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September- October 2010

WESTERN CENTRAL EUROPE

Dear colleagues in Prison Fellowship,Next week we will gather in Washington nearly all 40 RLT* members. The members of the PFI

Board of Trustees will meet as well at the same period. Pray for us so that we may be able to make ita concrete and fruitful meeting in order to serve our region better and better, paying attention to

your needs and wishes (that you are always welcome to share with us anytime!).We will be planning national ministry visits, support, trainings, new ministry development visits,work on commissions for 2011, focusing on our Convocation which is approaching fast!Be blessed in your ministry and praise the Lord for our reconciling community!

Constantin, Hans, Tobias and Dominique

* RLT: Regional Leadership Team ( European Support Group for Western Europe )

Welcome to PF Iceland new chairperson !The decision was taken Sept 7th on a Board meeting: Sigridur Hronn is the newChairperson, taking over from Pastor Hreinn Hakonarson, prison chaplain, who remainson the Board. Here below in a brown coat in front of the Reykjavik main prison with herfellow Board members, Sigridur is part time volunteer for PF. She has many othermissions as a nurse and theologian. She is writing a book about a 90yo lady who workedin the Salvation Army and leads pastoral care for women. She used to be a missionary inAfrica too. PF Iceland has started monthly visits in almost 4 of the 5 prisons of thecountry, lead worship Sunday services, pray with the prisoners, share testimonies andcakes baked by Sigridur. One Board member is missing on the picture, he is around 25,a former addict, who came to faith 5 years ago and has a strong testimony to give to theprisoners.


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Awareness campaign in England & Wales

PF E&W has launched a campaign called Love Beyond Bars to highlight the need for

more volunteers, donors and prayer supporters to further the excellent work volunteersare already doing to see lives transformed. The campaign runs from 20th September to27th November, the end coinciding with National Prisons Week, and has alreadygenerated lots of interest. They have sent out pressreleases, have made specific calls for youngervolunteers eg as press release to all university andcollege Christian Unions by email and also to Biblecolleges. They have also created a church resourcespack that includes sermon notes, church magazinearticles and prayers that can help churches focus onprisons during Prisons Week. Those who haverequested the church resources pack, have been addedto a mailing list, hopefully that will generate morevolunteers and donors in future. Campaign leafletshave been flying off the shelves through currentvolunteers who are getting behind the campaign.Love Beyond Bars represents an opportunity toshowcase the wonderful work that Prison FellowshipEngland and Wales is already doing through itsvolunteers, and sets out our ambition to see even moreprisoners reached and given a message of hope.

PF Switzerland visiting Prisma (PF in Germany)

The exchange of best practices among national ministries in theregion is an approach we would like to extend. On September18th, PF Switzerland Board visited Prisma Juvenile Centre ofDetention / Seehaus where youngsters from 16-22yo are staying12-18 months as an alternative to prison. On this occasion theyshared about ministry development in both countries and theSwiss team has been impressed by the positive peer culture.Before their integration in Seehaus, the juveniles were used to

spend time hanging around drinking and smoking. Now theyenjoy a family life that they had never had before. They learn tobehave like in a family. They study and for the first time in their

life they get a diploma at the end of the course. Sometimes their results are better thanelsewhere! The diploma is recognised by the authorities. They practise sport that helps themreach limits (eg: 5.45am jogging!).They work and behave with discipline. For the first time intheir life they are proud of having done something concrete and good (carpentry as on thepic, or metallurgy). They are trained by professionals in integrated workshops that takeorders from a wide external client network. Also they make amends by erasing graffiti inthe town, or help elderly people. And this is why they are well accepted by the inhabitantsof the area: positive actions are done for the community. Punctuality, discipline and loyalty

are among the main values the juveniles learn at Seehaus.If you would like more information on this project visit the website: www.prisma-jugendhilfe.de and if you would like tobe involved in a visit of a best practice project in Europe in a perspective of development of your own ministry, let the usknow!


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PRAYER REQUESTS

- Pray for the full recovery of Billy Gilvear the PF Guernsey Chairman and the dedicated teamwhich is increasing the activities and visits in prisons.

- Pray for Prison Fellowship Spain as they struggle to get financial results after their recent

fundraising campaign

- Pray for PF Hungary and their meeting this week with the State Under Secretary of Hungaryto discuss Church questions and show him what PF H and IPCA H do.

EASTERN EUROPE CENTRAL ASIA

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our small team in the European Office salutes you -- the faithful workers of the Lord !!!We pray for you daily, we are with you in spirit -- whether you are doing an in-prison program,lead a rehabilitation center for released prisoners, or are meeting partners from different churches,sponsors, or justice officials.

I just returned from a PFI seminar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on rehabilitation and social adaptationcenters. It was heartening to see Christian leaders from 7 countries in Eastern Europe and Central

Asia sharing their work, their achievements and struggles in this particular area of prison ministry.PFI ministries in the region have built up solid programs of transformation of the offender through

programs of spiritual and vocational training resulting in incredibly low levels of recidivism,which no other program could claim. Released prisoners break the vicious circle of crime and

punishment, they re-enter society, they join the churches, they marry, they establish new families.We must speak boldly about this and attract allies and resources at municipal and governmentlevel. To have this important moral and social task only upon the shoulders of churches is not right!

Ivan Sotirov

Seminar in Bishkek

PFI leaders of rehabilitation and social adaptation centers met in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,Oct. 20-22 for discussing the current state and the future in this important segment ofprison ministry. The following countries were represented at the seminar RussianFederation, Ukraine, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Asubstantial discussion on the principles of the work of such centers, their funding, theirprograms and output took place. An idea to establish an experts group, able to offer on-site counsel on different aspects of the activities of rehab centers was put forward and will be duly considered in the near future. The participants in the seminar visited 3 of therehab and vocational training center of PF Kyrgyzstan.


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PF Kazakhstan

The ministry leadership is reaching out to many local churches in an effort to attract themto launching PFI programs like Angel Tree and Sycamore Tree projects. At the same timePF Kazakhstan has greatly improved the relationship with the prison administration andthe ministry leaders were among the NGO representatives invited to a special eventduring the meeting of the president of the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan last

September.

PF Russia

The ministry staged successfully in the city of Samara on the Volga river this year galaconcert to mark the system wide competition in song writing and performance Kalinakrasnaya.

On the organizational side, PF Russia has a new Executive Director Mr. Valery Zhirnov,a former officer in the Federal prison service correctional programs department. Hesucceeds Gennady Staroverov, the former ED, who died in July as a result of a heartcondition aggravated by the huge forest fires last summer in Moscow.

General Sushkov is taking part Oct. 27 in St. Petersburg in a church conference on theperspectives for expanding aftercare programs, which are of special importance in thepost-Soviet space, given the large number of prisoners who are released after serving longsentences.


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PF Bulgaria

Elena Yoncheva, the ministry Executive Director has received a grant from the Embassy ofthe Netherlands in Sofia to support the vocational training and moral uplifting programsin the framework of PF Bulgaria Community of Restoration in the prison of Vratza. Theprogram leads to a certificate in landscaping and gardening, skills which the traineesapply to improve the perimeter of the prison as a practice segment of the course.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for PF Albania restructuring and leadership change, so that the ministry may bereinvigorated.

Pray for the ambitious Angel Tree program of PF Russia led by Yan Volkov. More than12,000 children of prisoners will be reached, so the ministry still needs to print 6,500 childrenBibles on top of the 3,500 they have already printed.

Pray for PF Lithuania new programs Angel Tree and Eyeglasses for prisoners.

Pray for PF Latvia seminar for partners and volunteers, which will discuss programs forministering to elderly and disabled prisoners and former prisoners.

ALL YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEXT EUROPE NEWSLETTER ARE MORE THAN WELCOME:

Please send them to [email protected] (Western Europe) or [email protected] (for Eastern Europeand Central Asia)

PFI Europe News is brought to you by Prison Fellowship International. Compiled and edited every othermonth by Dominique Alexandre and Ivan Sotirov - PFI Europe Secretariat, Rue du Panorama 4, 1800 Vevey, Switzerland

2010 by Prison Fellowship International - All rights reserved - Reprints permitted with acknowledgement

Resources

The PF World Convocation online registration is now open in English, Spanish,French, Russian and Arabic at PFIs website, www.pfi.org. Join us 28 June 2 Julyin Toronto, Canada! Visa applications can take time. Dont delay, register today.

Be sure to promote the PF World Convocation to your volunteers and supportersthrough your website, newsletters, and blogs

pf europe newsletter october 2010

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