Kairos is a perfect forum for my topic of observation with and without judgement. I learned a lot from my experience on a team and I think it has further shaped me as a person.
Kairos Prison Ministry
Kairos Prison Ministry
Kairos is a Christian ministry that addresses the spiritual needs of incarcerated men, women, and youths, as well as their families outside the prison walls. The primary objective of the 3-day retreat based on the Cursillo movement 1 is to prepare selected residents for life in an ongoing Christian community. A key part of the Kairos experience is to encourage residents to form a Christian community behind bars and to discourage dependence on the volunteers who run the program.
Before a Kairos weekend, volunteers complete a highly structured eight-week team formation period to build Christian community, practice group dynamics techniques, and learn about working in a prison environment including institution rules, local taboos, and how to handle potential problems. The ministry is governed by the national board of Kairos Prison Ministry, Inc. 2 and is conducted in cooperation with the chaplains of correctional institutions. Teams are generally comprised of 50 lay persons with 5-6 clergy members.
The program follows a very strict protocol in order to assure the predictability and security necessary for the prison setting. A manual3 is given to each team member and they are expected to follow the guidelines to the letter to keep the weekend orderly and avoid unwanted confrontations.
Through the structured program, the residents of correctional institutions are given the opportunity to experience God’s healing love, spiritual renewal, and the tools to share their experience with others and become a Christian witness while they are incarcerated and after they may be released. Several studies including one from the University of Alabama Birmingham “Religion Helps Reduce Negative Prison Behaviors” have indicated that prison ministries can reduce incidences of violence in institutions as well the number of repeat offenders.4
The program is supported by Christian volunteers including those from the Cursillo movement and other related renewal ministries such as Emmaus4, Chrysalis5, and Epiphany6. Although Christian in nature, the program is open to any faith and it is not unusual to see find participants who consider themselves to be Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or even Atheist. More than 170,000 men and women have been through the Kairos experience. Volunteers number more than 20,000 per year.
The Process
Prison chaplains identify individuals who they feel have the potential to benefit from the program. They are then invited to a three day “short course” on Christianity. The weekend consists of a series of talks by volunteers which are built from an outline. The speakers are encouraged to supplement the outline with personal witness and examples from their own lives on the ways in which support, love, encouragement and prayer from other members of their own small group has brought healing. The attraction of Christian community is made abundantly clear by one speaker after another.
The participants sit as “families” at tables. Three team members and six residents at each table are carefully chosen to be ethnically diverse. Through talking and listening, music, and food the family becomes comfortable enough with one another over the course of the weekend to become vulnerable. On the final day, they are led into sharing their personal histories and thereby learn they have much more in common than they had ever imagined. They begin to feel like family.
At the end of the weekend, residents graduate and are accepted into the Kairos community. The Team returns to the institution within three weeks for an Instructional Reunion which offers continuing support and teaches the newest members of the Inside Community how to form small groups
All Kairos graduates are encouraged to continue to participate in weekly small group sessions called “Prayer and Shares” where they share their lives on a deep spiritual level. They pray for each other, for other residents and staff, and are accountable to each other for their actions.
The Kairos monthly reunion is a two-three hour gathering of the institution’s resident Prayer and Share Groups with Kairos volunteers. There they participate in community worship, share in small groups, and hear witness talks. It is open to all residents of the institution who have attended a Kairos short course and may be open to their guests, if the institution allows.
History
The Kairos Prison Ministry grew out of early attempts to launch movements in prisons similar to the three-day movements in the sacramental churches of the free-world. A Cursillo movement event was held in Union Correctional Institution, a maximum security institution, at Raiford, Florida in 1976. Though successful, the event did not grow until the retreat became ecumenical rather than purely Catholic. As in the Cursillo, the general foundation is a program where lay persons can learn to minister to each other and become spiritual leaders. The retreat is based on Biblical reference found in the Gospel of Luke 24:13-35, especially verse 31, “And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.”
There are two Greek words for time. Kronos pertains to linear time such as hours, days, and weeks. The Oxford Online Dictionary7 defines the other word, “kairos” as “a propitious moment for decision or action” or opportunity. It is often used in religious sense as time set by God for a particular occurrence. The word kairos was also found to carry special significance in correctional institutions where the word time carries so many different connotations. The Kairos weekend gives the inmates an opportunity to experience God’s healing love and the tools to share their experience with others.
Today chapters are located in 31 states in the U.S. and eight additional countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and Canada. Each state has its own board of directions and governing regulations8 based on the international organization.
Biblical reference
Luke 24:13-35 – details the story of the afternoon three days after the crucifixion when the risen Christ appears to two disciples walking along the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Blinded by their grief and hopelessness, they do not recognize him. As he walked, Jesus explained the meaning of the scripture and when they arrived he held communion with them and then they recognized him.
Matthew 25:36 “I was in prison and you visited me.”
John 13:34-35 "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples."
References
3. UAB Study Finds Religion Helps Reduce Negative Prison Behaviors - Gail Short, UAB.edu, citing: Kent R. Kerley, Todd L. Matthews and Troy C.Blanchard. (2005) "Religiosity, Religious Participation, and Negative Prison Behaviors." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 44(4):443–457; Prison Religion: Faith-based Reform and the Constitution – Winnifred Faller-Sullivan (2009); Prison Ministry: Understanding Prison Culture Inside and Out, Lennie Spitale (2002)
8. Guidebook for Kairos Inside Team Members (2006)
