This week I want to ask your prayers for two specific areas of ministry: the work I do in prison and the work I do for "Action for Christ".
Prison Ministry
Each Tuesday afternoon I enter a Category B prison for lifers. My role there is only a small one as together with a Methodist friend I lead a small choir. Three times a year we put on a concert for other prisoners and for a number of approved people from outside (e.g. prison visitors). We also take part in a special Christmas Carol Service led by the Salvation Army. The choir is a voluntary activity run through the chaplaincy. We have eight to ten weeks to prepare six or seven concert items to a good standard. They are a mix of Christian and secular items. Most of the men do not read music. For some, English is not their first language. So I work them hard and I am grateful for their expressions of appreciation at the end of each 45 minute practise session. "I wish every day was a Tuesday afternoon" is a common comment. After practise we share coffee and chat - sometimes very helpfully.
It is difficult to imagine what it is like for a man to face prison for life. Each will have a long tariff (the minimum amount of time served). There is no remission. At the end of their tariff there is no certainty that they will be released. If after release a crime is committed they will be back for life once again. In the main those I work with accept their sentence and realise the gravity of the crime they committed. Sometimes that crime was committed under the influence of alcohol or another drug. Sometimes it was the consequence of being sorely provoked. A single moment of stupidity has robbed them of their freedom, robbed them of their ability to be useful within society, and robbed their families of the role they should be undertaking as a father and wife. A life sentence might be a just punishment for a serious crime, but it is hugely costly. The opportunity to work hard to offer something of quality to others is therefore something they value. Further, I have witnessed the therapeutic and transformational affect brought about, at least partly, through this work.
Recently something that happened outside prison cast a shadow over our choir. It is not appropriate for me to go into detail but it was cruel, and in my view unfair and morally indefensible. As a result I may have lost at least one choir member, and could lose more. While some might think that they deserve to lose everything, live in misery and fear, and get nothing positive out of their many years in prison, such a view does not sit well with the teaching of scripture. No doubt you are familiar with the latter verses of Matthew 25. While Hebrews 13:3 probably refers to those in prison because of their faith it is capable of wider understanding.
So please pray for all the members of the choir at this time. Pray too for all who work in prison chaplaincy, often handling complex pastoral issues.
"Action for Christ"
Last June, my friend Elizabeth, the current chairperson of this Christian organisation contacted me and asked if I would become a trustee to help them through some difficulties in which the trustees had suddenly found themselves. What I anticipated might take a few months has developed into something far more serious.
Action for Christ is a charity set up in October 2010 to take over the work of Mission for Christ, in which I had worked from 1963 to 1988. After I had left it was discovered that the founder/director had committed several acts of sexual abuse. He came to trial around ten years ago and was sentenced to prison. Prior to this John Coltman, a man of whom I knew little, had become a trustee. In the years that followed he became chairman of Mission for Christ and appeared to be acting responsibly. By 2010 he was functioning as the executive trustee and was able to draw charity funds from the bank on his sole authority. The Charity Commission became rightly concerned about how he was running the charity.
When Action for Christ was established in October 2010 it was the Charity Commission's expectation that John would not only never be a trustee but that he would not have any financial responsibility. Unfortunately the degree of their concern was apparently not understood either by the new chairperson or the organisation's solicitor, even though the Commission had thought they had made this clear. Although John had been charged with the task of transferring the funds from Mission for Christ to Action for Christ and winding up Mission for Christ, he managed by a series of subterfuges to retain control of the funds and keep the new trustees in ignorance of what was happening.
A few weeks ago John came to court charged by the HMRC with VAT fraud. He pleaded guilty and has been given a prison sentence suspended for two years. He also has been given 200 hours community service. John had illegally charged VAT to the charity for services provided through his privately owned company. Although we were not the only victim he had taken over £26,000 from us in these illegal charges over several years. The illegal VAT charges were not the only consequences of his mismanagement of the charity. In October 2010 the charity had almost £500,000 in the bank. Twenty months later when I became a trustee it had only £50,000 and running costs were such that it had only three months to survive. While some of this money had been spent legitimately and with the knowledge of the trustees, this was the first time that the trustees had been made aware of the overall situation and it only happened because a member of staff blew the whistle.
Together with my fellow trustees we took emergency action to reduce the unaffordable overheads John had set up. Regrettably, we also had to terminate a grant scheme supporting the leaders of three small churches and advise another charity with which we had been working that we could put no more money into a shared project. Action for Christ has been able to fulfil ministry engagements with the help of friends. The charity's financial resources are now in the hundreds and, at a time when professional legal advice is needed, we can no longer afford it.
It is only after the conclusion of the court case that we are able to be more explicit about what has happened. We can also be more particular about what we ask for prayer. Since I became involved I have had several conversations with the leaders of two national Christian denominations with whom John had also become entangled. All testified to the fact that they had become convinced that he was a very credible and competent Christian leader, and were shocked to discover what had transpired.
So here are some prayer points:
- Pray for John that he will realise the gravity of his crime and truly repent;
- Pray for the trustees (Elizabeth, Terry and me) as we seek to manage the charity, maintain a ministry, and clear up the several serious messes John has left behind;
- Pray for Mary, who was running a design and print service within Action for Christ but had to be made redundant;
- Pray for Heather, still providing a little administrative support on an ad hoc part-time basis;
- Pray for wisdom in a meeting on April 10th and 11th between the trustees and the Charity Commission;
- Pray that we will find a Christian solicitor able to provide free legal advice as we grapple with some complicated situations;
- Pray for me as I seek to manage the time I have available to meet my wider responsibilities and avoid being overwhelmed by this aspect;
- Above all please pray that the trustees will be guided by God regarding the way ahead. Action for Christ needs an income at the present time sufficient at least to keep our heads above water. We have pared the organisation to a minimum and are being good stewards. Only after the legal problems are resolved can we determine the way ahead. But God already knows the way that this should be. We are in his hands.
This Easter may the amazing things that God has done for us in Christ become even more alive in your understanding and experience of his grace.
Thank you for standing beside us in intercession.
Barry
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