Chaplain's Ministry Helps

Many prison chaplains have years of experience supervising inmates who desire to be used by God. On the other hand, there are many chaplains who are more than willing to receive all the help they can find, especially from an inmate with decades of experience.

For this reason, I am offering administrative and spiritual suggestions to both chaplains and inmates around the world. These can be used as helps for developing a greater prison ministry of the Body of Christ in the chapel, building housing units and yard.

“He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13, NLT).

The following is a list of useful helps for the work of the ministry. They can be downloaded or printed from the aboundinglove.org website. Most can be used just as they are, but four examples will need editing to fit your specific ministry.

• Statement of Faith (example) is a two-sided brochure that covers the essentials and some nonessentials of our faith in Christ. It can be edited to fit your particular belief.
• Ministry Requirements are taken from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, which an applicant should review before filling out an application.
• Ministry Application helps the chaplain and elders to recognize during the interview where an applicant is called in the work of the ministry.
• Ministry Agreement is a covenant between the chaplain and applicant concerning faithfulness, availability, behavior and discipline, which an applicant must sign after approval.
• Chaplain’s Circle Helpers is a chart for listing approved applicants into specific works of the ministry.
• Communion Service is a choice of sheets, with a variety of Scriptures for creating meaningful ways to celebrate The Lords Supper. Select sheet 1, sheet 2, sheet 3, sheet 4.
• Usher & Greeter Training is a two-sided sheet that lists the spiritual aspects, duties and responsibilities of an usher and greeter.
• Unity of the Faith is a chart to help envision various ministries working in unity to reach the facility
• Chapel Schedule Slips (example) is a two-sided four slips per page form that can be cut into handouts for sharing The Roman Road, The Sinner’s Prayer with unbelievers and provides the Chapel Schedule inside, that can be edited to fit your need.
• Clerical Outreach (example) helps the Chapel Clerk to envision various outreaches through creating a list of those who attend services and studies for follow-up in the building housing units.
• Scheduling Ministry Teams is an organized way to train teams to minister during services as greeters, ushers, scripture reading, prayer, musicians, singers and set-up crew.
• Prayer Request Slips is a two-sided, six slips per page form that can be cut into handouts for sharing our purpose with newcomers and provides a space for prayer request, plus offers various help and follow-up. Also available in Spanish.
• Attendance Sheet is used in services, studies and groups to create a list of Christians for followup in the building housing units, as well as creating chronos and certificates for those who attend regularly.
• List of Christians in Building (example) is created from the attendance sheets (noting the services, studies and groups each person attends) in room number order for follow-up and outreach through Mending the Body.
• New Believers Bible Studies is a two-sided, 10-lesson Bible study on growing in Christ, knowing His word, being a disciple, sharing your faith, fellowship, baptism & communion, baptism of the Holy Spirit, Body ministry and the hope of His coming. A certificate is available upon completion.
• Building Meeting Plan is an outline of how to conduct a 30 minute weekly accountability meeting with approved representatives or contacts for variety of building outreaches (i.e. prayer requests, benevolence, table discipleship, witnessing, correspondence studies, chapel schedule, Bibles, materials, etc.)
• Building Meeting Plan Training teaches the building representatives or contacts how to carry out their various outreaches in the building.
• Building Representatives Contact Slips is a two-sided, four slips per page form that can be cut into handouts for letting the Christians on the building list know about the various building outreaches.
• Building Representatives Contact Announcement is a two per page form that can be used to post the names of the contacts for various outreaches on the building bulletin board.
• Benevolence Ministry Slip is a two-sided, eight slips per page form that can be cut into handouts for the Christians in the building to give and receive donated items.
• Invitation to Service/Study/Group is a two-sided, eight slips per page form that can be cut into handouts as a multipurpose invite to all the various ministries in the chapel and building housing units by writing in the event, date and time.
• My Three-Minute Testimony is a sheet to help prepare a testimony for sharing in a service or group.
• Baptism Announcement (Protestant) is a sheet announcing a baptism service, requirements and how to obtain an Orientation Class sheet.
• Baptism Orientation Class is a two-sided, fill in the blank study on baptism, what it is and what it is not, with the answers provided on the back and with instructions on what to bring for baptism.
• Baptism in the New Testament is a chart on baptism by the Spirit in Christ, baptism in water, and baptism with the Spirit from Pentecost throughout Acts to present.
• Certificate of Baptism can be printed in color for those who believe, confess and are baptized in Christ and water. 
• Mending the Body of Christ is the layout of the entire ministry to the building housing units and yard, so that Christ is proclaimed throughout the prison.
• Correspondence, Visiting & Sponsorship is a two-sided brochure or tool to help bring Christian prisoners of the same gender together with a member of the Body of Christ on the outside.
• The Christian Twelve Steps is a brief explanation of each step, along with scriptures, resources for materials and for finding the group closest to you upon parole. A brochure is also available.
• The Christian Twelve Steps brochure is a brief explanation of each step, along with Scripture and other resources.
• Christian Twelve Step Charts (12) helps us to connect Christ as the power greater than ourselves through the power of His blood, His resurrection and His giving of the Holy Spirit.
• Christian Twelve Step Questions (12) is a two-sided sheet of 20+ questions for each step to answer before or during the small group process. These are also available in Spanish.
• The Christian Twelve Step Facilitator helps with suggestions and guidelines for starting and facilitating large and small groups. A brochure is also available.
• God's Love Story is a Christmas cantata for the chaplain and the brothers to present to the congregation with hymns and communion.
• Study Chart Gallery is made up of approximately (50) charts on a variety of Bible topics sharing the revelation of Jesus Christ; Spirit, Soul & Body; The Seven Manifold Spirit, plus many other eye-opening charts.
• How to Share Your Salvation is a two-sided training brochure or tool to help Christians share their salvation using the late Dr. James Kennedy's “Evangelism Explosion” and The Roman Road.
• ALMS Brochures is an assortment of two-sided brochures designed with prisoners in mind sharing my testimony, the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Names of God, Confession of the Word, the Miracle of Forgiveness and many more.

All of these prison ministry helps can be downloaded or printed directly from the aboundinglove.org website by going to Outreach/Prisoner/Chaplain’s Ministry Helps. We encourage you to be involved in the following ways.

• Distribute the Chaplain’s Ministry Helps brochure to chaplains and inmates suggesting the use of the helps from the website.
• Print the helps from the website, such as the prayer requests, then send them to Chaplains and inmates so they can make copies.
• Send whatever helps from the website requested by chaplains and inmates.

“Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:14-16, NLT).

  Print