The Power of Story

The team sat glued - time had lost its importance! What had us captivated was a story, not any story but the story of a young lady who had persevered through a trial of immense proportion. We had invited M... to come and share with us as a team, six days after her release.

Claiming innocence yet sentenced to seven years. We saw this young mum and her baby enter the prison and begin the long journey. From dislocation, separation, humiliation and grief; so much lost yet, in the darkest of places the discovery of a new hope and abiding fellowship in Christ that became a strength to her, and her family.

We listened to the journey of learning how to be thankful in the face of crushing discouragement, gratitude in the face of loss, worship in the adversity of rejection. In spite of the roughness of the prison, God filled her with a gentle and quiet spirit that became a strength to so many of her fellow inmates. Her actions in faith were inspiring and real.

Listening, we also saw that the raw pain of the long struggle was real and there were many tears shed and shared in the re-telling. Being a new mother inside prison added to the challenges that she faced. This lady served five years and nine months before being acquitted of all charges and finally walked free. But freedom is only the beginning of a new struggle around the realities of now rebuilding life, livelihood and relationships.

What we celebrate is the secure foundation she found in faith and how that was activated in her day-to-day life. What M... celebrated was how the OF Team supported her with relationship, integrity, and consistency. Without M... being aware these are three of our core values that had been active in her ongoing support and growth.

Listening to M...'s story has provided the team with deeper insights and renewed joy in God's redemptive story. We share it with you as an encouragement of all that God is capable of doing in a young woman's life, who came to prison worshipping idols and left sharing the testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ.

And The Blind Will See

Statistics show us that the overwhelming majority of women and men in prison have suffered significant trauma in their lives. Most often this negatively impacts behaviour, attitudes and relationships. The team have just finished facilitating two Trauma Healing Groups in the prison on Taveuni Island. Here is a testimony of one of those men who has now recovered his spiritual sight.

Name: P... |  Age: 52yrs | Vanua: Island of Koro

There were nine of us siblings altogether and I was the middle child. I was also the smallest of all my brothers and sisters. My father rejected me and I was left to fend for myself from a very young age. I had to look for my own school fees and bus fare, often resorting every Saturday to my skills as a coconut gatherer and copra cutter. I was often called names, some even saying that I was not from the Island. These things hurt me deeply.

Because of all this, I decided that I was going to run away from the village by taking the next boat out. I left for school one morning and crossed over the island to where the boat from Suva normally berthed and went on it never to return.

When my parents and siblings found out I was already on my way out. I worked on the boat for 6 years – Suva, Levuka, Koro, Savusavu.

I joined Fiji Pine in Lautoka for 5 years. I thought I would be relieved of this pain I felt, by joining this new venture, but there was no relief. I had friends and was able to afford things, but they gave me no peace. I worked for the Coral Reef, a New Zealand company for 3 years, but it did not bring me the peace I sought.

I worked for a Backpackers Resort for 19 years and had my share of money, women and booze but they did not satisfy me one bit. It was in this situation that the whole thing blew up on me and I ended up in prison. Now the very thing I wanted the most that set me out on my journey from my island of Koro – FREEDOM, was taken away from me.

When I finally heard what was being taught/shared in the class these few days, I then realised that I was trying to suppress my suffering and all the pain and the hurt from being rejected by my own family, especially my father. The class has made me aware of the issues of heart wounds and the steps of personal responsibility and forgiveness to begin to be healed.

I did not think I can do this, but I am able to share my life story because of the freedom I now have in Christ! The class has really helped me look at my situation in a new and healthy ways – I have a new beginning!

When Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19 that He had come to give recovery of sight to the blind, it is men like P... who cry out in worship as they see past their bondage and pain, to new freedom in repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and renewal.

Celebrate with us and P... his spiritual awakening, and thank you for the support that has made his testimony possible.

He Eats With Sinners

The accusation was meant to condemn, and from that condemnation would hopefully emerge widespread rejection. ‘He eats with sinners’, was attempting to establish the familiar ground of ‘us and them’.

What was so shocking was that one who called himself Son of God, Holy, and Righteous, was willing, in fact making a habit of being in the company of them, those from the rough and despised part of society.

That battleground was historical and I can read the scriptures in that same historical way. But I can see the same patterns re-attempting to strangle the strength of our gospel even today?

When I was in prison, I came to realise that the appeal of Jesus was universal. Many of my fellow prisoners understood the reality and hope in that simple accusation, ‘He eats with sinners’. It spoke to a hope that somewhere in all their confusion and mess Jesus was for them, he was accessible.

In their understanding, Jesus was definitely confronting, but his humility was as attractive as ice cream on a hot day. In fact, Jesus Christ’s humility was beautifully prohesied, not as ice-cream, but as being so gentle he would not bruise a reed, and as we read the gospel account we see the fulfillment of that.

This humility is what we as team aspire to. It is one of our core values and leads us on many occasions to pull up a chair at a table and eat with sinners. But if humility and witness could be established just by eating together then I’d just be asking for second breakfasts.

The story from which we read of this accusation against Jesus is recorded in three of the four gospels and references both tax-collectors and sinners. Matthew, Mark, and Luke knew the importance of the telling of this accusation, its importance for what it revealed then, and perhaps also for what it reveals about our religious systems now.

I believe the accusation was more aimed at Christ’s posture and purpose than the actual sharing of a meal together. To eat a meal with someone down-trodden, someone in a lesser position, is often seen to be good - a good deed. However, the accusation was meant to redefine what was becoming attractive, even perhaps what could have become a new normal.

We are now in the time of Lent, where we are encouraged to forgo something for the purpose of a greater focus on Jesus Christ and his ultimate sacrifice. As you fast can I also plant the idea of taking up a sacrifice of mercy.

Will you throw open your table, fire up the BBQ, break out the wine, and invite sinners into your presence? There is no greater time to introduce Christ to a world that is becoming fascinated by the idea of ‘us and them’.

Jesus is attractive to sinners when we, as hosts of the gospel, make ourselves accessible in our common settings. 

And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Matthew 9:10-14

Peter Schultz

Class 35 Stretches Everything

The agreement, as we understood it, was to be thirteen men, however as we looked at the classroom filling up we counted twenty two. A brief discussion followed, and our commitment became the twenty two men expectantly sitting in front of us.

Immediately, our minds were filled with the reality that building trust and creating the necessary vulnerability was the task at hand. We knew how to achieve it with a smaller group, but what would it be with a larger group of men, long serving inmates no less?

A normal StepOut-StepFree class takes 2 weeks. This class, SOSF Class 35, took a month, as we deliberately slowed it down to allow more time for discussion, reflection and the building of the community essentials.

As the days progressed we began to observe genuine interest: a taking hold, an embracing of the self-confrontation, and questions - so many questions opening into wonderful discussion. During this same time, the strength of worship changed to where the voices now blended, harmonised and became the beautiful praise of broken men - new community was being built!

One of the men had served 17 years - having entered incarceration at 14 years of age. StepOut-StepFree was the first program he had undertaken, and it was by his choice. We observed the scales falling from his eyes, a new hope, a new understanding, a new countenance.

Several other men testified to becoming 'unburdened' during the days, and we could see that take place before our eyes. Our fear of taking on such a large class was replaced with a faith that God can accomplish so much more.

Final words belong to one man who wrote, 'StepOut-StepFree is a signpost, a lighthouse. I mean to say like air that I can now breathe after the confusion that had become my life.'

Providing these men the space in which to encounter their lives, their past, their future is a sacred trust. Our collective thanks goes to so many of you, our partners, that provide the resource and prayer to make this all happen again and again.

Peter Schultz