Title: ELCA Prison Ministries ELCA NEWS SERVICE December 18, 1997 LUTHERANS HELP TURN PRISONS INTO PLACES OF MINISTRY 97-36-107-RG* ST. LOUIS (ELCA) -- Prison inmates may not have the freedom to decide what to eat for breakfast, but they can have the freedom to choose their pastor. About 180 ex-offenders, veterans of jail and prison ministries, lay leaders, clergy and seminarians met here Dec. 12-14 to share personal stories and learn about prison ministry at a conference on Criminal Justice and Prison Ministry sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Congregational Ministries. "With a prison congregation everyone wins," said the Rev. Edmund K. Nesselhuf, director of Prison Congregations of America, Vermillion, S.D. He told the conference, "The inmates win by growing in responsibility. The outside church wins because now there is a mechanism in place. Prison chaplains win because now they have an ally, the pastor of a local congregation. Society also wins because there is the potential for additional safety." Nesselhuf is an ELCA pastor who has developed prison ministries in Maryland and South Dakota. He said, "Inmates can't choose what they eat for breakfast, but they can call their own pastor." "When Christians visit people in prison, care and support their families, we are doing what God has asked," said Loretta E. Horton, ELCA director for social ministries for congregations. "The church has to be a place where people can bring pain and shame to the altar and the cross, knowing that the congregation will embrace them. Restoring justice, reconciliation and healing is so important. The church can play a role in breaking the cycle of violence, to restore communities to being safe, places of peace," Horton said. Ex-offenders made a presentation in which they stressed the life-giving nature of prison ministry. Workshop topics ranged from how to develop prison ministries to conflict resolution as a community-based crime prevention strategy, from prison visitation to youth and the criminal justice system. "We are to look at ex-offenders with the eyes of Christ," said Kathy Allison of the Allison Foundation, Chicago. "It is our mission to help ex-offenders work their way into society and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, undergirded by the Word of God," she said. Allison led a workshop on employment strategies for ex-offenders. "Sometimes people who visit inmates think they are going to bring Jesus to the prisoners. But, they realize that Jesus is already there," said the Rev. Carroll D. Lang. Lang serves Church of the Damascus Road: A Community of Reconciliation in the Prison at the North Central Correctional Facility, Rockwell City, Iowa. He said his ministry addresses the spiritual well-being of prison inmates and the need on the part of members of outside congregations to do service. As visitors give of their time they discover that their own faith has blossomed, he said. The Rev. Theodore W. Schroeder, Immanuel Lutheran Church, St. Louis, led the closing worship. "Sometimes, due to the nature of prison ministry work, we might think or feel it is hopeless," he said. "After all, for every person serving time on the inside there are five to ten family members 'serving time' on the outside. But we are really on this great adventure with God," said Schroeder. *The Rev. Ronald T. Glusenkamp wrote this story for ELCA News and Information. He is a pastor at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, St. Louis. For information contact: Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html