Easter film to be released in prisons
Milla Ling-Davies
After being successfully trialled in churches last year, a new evangelistic film telling the story of the thief on the cross is set to launch.
The one-hour film, Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross, is based on a book by Pastor Colin Smith and has been produced by charity Open the Bible in partnership with The Gospel Coalition. Having already been translated into 20 languages, there are now plans for it be shown in prisons across the UK, with the help of Daylight Christian Prison Trust.
From jail to Jesus: Ex-addict’s transformative journey
Emily Pollok
Just before he received his last prison sentence in 2019, Lewis Gibson was living in a homeless hostel. He’d been warned that he would end up in jail again if he continued on his drug-fuelled lifestyle.
‘I was in despair, because I knew I was going back to prison,’ Lewis explained. At a crisis point, Gibson turned to a United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) devotional he’d picked up during a previous stint in prison. In it, he read Romans 10:13: ‘Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’
Why our prisons aren’t working, and what’s needed
Despite the imposition of “special measures”, “urgent notifications”, “improvement plans”, and “change agendas” in our prisons, something we mortals are doing is not “quite” working there. This is despite some very good humans doing their absolute best, with all their human strength and might!
We as Christians are called to care deeply about the state of our prisons. There are many references in the Bible to prison and imprisonment (both actual and metaphorical). And we are given a very clear instruction in the book of Hebrews (13v3): “Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.”