Press Release: Catalysts in the community

Natalie Cronin, Chief Executive of Prison Fellowship England & Wales, this weekend urged the organization to be “ridiculously ambitious” in trying to touch the lives of every prisoner in England and Wales in future years.

Ms. Cronin joined over 250 delegates celebrating thirty years of Prison Fellowship England and Wales at their Conference at Hayes, Derbyshire this weekend.

“We felt real strength rising” Ms Cronin said. She reflected on some extraordinarily moving stories from both volunteers and former inmates.

She said: “Volunteers spoke movingly about standing by someone whose life is in a dark place – and grace can flow through that. Being a volunteer is a powerful witness causing other people to think about the work we do. They can be catalysts in their churches and communities.”

“Through our Sycamore Tree course inmates realise the impact their crime has had on people’s lives and try to come to terms with it. We know restorative justice is works. As a society we need to get reoffending rates down.”

Prison Fellowship operates two highly successful projects, Sycamore Tree and Angel Tree which are based on collaborative working with lots of different people and organisations.

“I want us to be ridiculously ambitious and reach all prisoners over the next few years, and we can only do this with more volunteers, and God’s grace. We can also work in closer partnership with churches. We are very energised after the weekend, after coming together as a body of Christians.

Prison Fellowship England and Wales is currently represented in most English and Welsh prisons and involves 1,400 volunteers who pray for, and work with, inmates and their families in a wide variety of ways.

The charity is supported by Christians of all denominations and is experiencing real growth.

A new project called Patchwork Quilt was launched at the conference. Patchwork Quilt is a living archive of 30 years of Prison Fellowship’s work.