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| Kairos is a ministry of the church ... a ministry of the apostles whom Jesus,
the Christ, has called into community and sent forth into the environment
of the correctional institution. Kairos has been called the best example
of the early church in existence today.
Kairos
is a Christian, lay-led, ecumenical, volunteer international prison ministry,
in which men and women volunteers bring Christ’s love and forgiveness
to incarcerated individuals and to their families. Kairos consists of
three programs: the Men’s and Women’s Ministry, begun in 1976,
Kairos Outside, begun in 1991, and Kairos Torch, begun in 1997. |
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The
Men’s and Women’s Ministry addresses the spiritual needs of
prisoners. Kairos volunteers go into prisons in teams of 30 to 40 to pray,
share the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ, share meals, and fellowship
with the incarcerated on a one-to-one basis. The first visit is a three-day
event, during which time the team teaches a short introductory course
on Christianity. Subsequent visits are monthly half-day reunions with
the prisoners over a twelve-month period. |
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Kairos Outside provides spiritual
healing to families of the incarcerated, who often feel that they too
are “doing time”. Spouses, parents and other relatives of
prisoners meet with teams of Kairos volunteers to share their faith and
gain strength from Christian community. |
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Kairos Torch provides a ministry
to youthful offenders, the most rapidly growing segment of the prison
system. Because young people between the ages of 13 and 19 are generally
housed in smaller institutions than adult offenders, smaller-sized teams
participate in this ministry. |
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Kairos Ministries currently
operates in 270 prisons in 33 states, England, Australia, South Africa,
Costa Rica, and Canada. More than 170,000 incarcerated men and women have
been introduced to Kairos, since its inception. The current number of
volunteers exceeds 20,000 per year. |
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Kairos Outside is active
in 19 states, Canada, England, Australia and South Africa, and includes
35 programs. Kairos Torch is operational in 10 locations. |
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Kairos Prison Ministry affects
the lives of prisoners in countless positive ways. Lives have been changed,
and former inmates re-enter society as better spouses, parents and employees.
Many released prisoners become volunteers, and give back to society. Some
start their own ministries, pastor churches, while others run re-entry
programs, and become mentors. |
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In 2003, Kairos volunteers
donated over 3.5 million volunteer hours to the various departments of
corrections here and abroad. If you multiply 3.5 million times the minimum
wage in the USA of $5.15 per hour, our ministry donated $18 million in
volunteer time. Volunteers paid $2 million for supplies, bringing the
total donation to $20 million. |
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Last year we held 618 weekend
programs in 309 ministry sites: 502 Kairos weekends, 80 Kairos Outside
weekends and 36 Torch weekends. The remaining volunteer time was spent
in pre-weekend and post-weekend trainings and activities. |
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In addition to having a positive
impact on prisoners, the program also has a very favorable effect upon
volunteers. Many volunteers acknowledge that the team training, with its
emphasis on introspection, honesty, sharing, and community, enhances their
spirituality. |
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Kairos programs have gained
the respect of the correctional system too. In a study of 505 inmates
released from Florida prisons, the recidivism rate was 15.7% among those
who had participated in one Kairos session, and 10% among those who had
participated in two or more Kairos sessions. The non-Kairos control group
in the study had a recidivism rate of 23.4%. |
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The savings to the taxpayer
are substantial. As one former prisoner put it: “It cost the government
about $1,000,000 to try me and to imprison me for several years, but a
$100 program keeps me out”. |
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