Ministry of Presence

 

Despite the fact that I arrived in Kenya this morning for a 24-hour layover, today was mainly about the State Funeral of HRH Queen Elizabeth. And indeed, most of my day was spent glued to the television at my accommodation, watching the unfolding of events and explaining as best I could the images that we were seeing to my Kenyan host. What a day, what an unforgettable day – British pageantry at its best, but also such beautiful, moving, regal and faith-filled services. Absolutely the best send-off for the most wonderful Queen. Rest in Peace Your Majesty.

But amidst it all, I also had a lovely meeting with Timothy, one of the staff members of Good News Jail Ministries here in Kenya, and for whom I’ll be doing some training later in October. Timothy and I were essentially having a planning meeting for the training, but part of that was about him giving me some updated context of the work of the GNJM prison chaplains, and issues with which they are grappling.

I have no doubt that many of the issues will be similar to those that chaplains in other countries are grappling with – mental health of prisoners, understanding the potential impact of personal trauma experienced, helping prisoners work through their reaction and processing of the crimes that they committed, supporting them as they prepare to be released and return to community etc. These and so many more are issues that the prison chaplains find themselves having to help prisoners work through. Timothy shared about them, and gave insight into them all.

And he then went on to talk about the Ministry of Presence, which is the title that GNJM Kenya are giving to the direction of travel that they want to take as they move forwards in a search of a more effective way of supporting the prisoners. Timothy spoke about how, in the past, the chaplains have tended to go into the prisons with a focus on the preaching side of their role. This has been well received, but the chaplains feel more and more that they want to be carrying out not just preaching engagements, but also a ministry of spending more time just ‘being present’. Sitting with the prisoners, giving them space to talk, to process, to work through their hopes and fears.

It is into this new vision, this new ministry, that Timothy and GNJM have asked me to deliver some training. What an honour! The training is in October, and I’ll update you then on how it goes, but for now – exciting to look forward to. And in the meantime – on to Uganda and a whole load of other activities / tasks / roles to fulfil.