Prison Fellowship has partnered with Moody Bible Institute to adapt their devotionals for distribution to over 100,000 inmates in the United States.
The two religious non-profits recently announced their plans to partner up for what Prison Fellowship describes as a "historic" partnership and possibly one of the largest outreach efforts organized by Prison Fellowship since its inception. The two ministries are working together to adapt Moody's devotional series Today in the Word into two distinct 120-day booklets. Each devotional will target male or female prisoners. They will include the writings of Moody's team, testimonials, a Bible study organized around the four Gospels, and discussion questions for group gatherings. Each study is penned by Moody Bible Institute and Moody Theological Seminary faculty but will focus around PF's "Values of Good Citizenship." This endeavor is an extension of Prison Fellowship's ongoing efforts to distribute Bibles to various prisoners across the United States.
"We are humbled and honored to partner and collaborate with Prison Fellowship, and have a deep appreciation and high respect for their decades-long work," states Dr. Mark Jobe, president of Moody Bible Institute, in a press release. Jobe has previously served as an inner-city pastor and says that he has had several encounters with current and former prisoners. Jobe believes that resources like Today in the Word will play an integral part in helping prisoners "understand the Gospel of King Jesus and grow in their walk with Him."
Prison Fellowship chaplains have already started distributing the custom devotions as of July 1st. They will continue to do so in coming months.
Prison Fellowship was founded in 1976 by Chuck Colson, a former staff member in the Nixon Administration. After being convicted of several crimes, Colson accepted Christ into his life then pleaded guilty. He served seven months in Alabama's Maxwell Prison, where he penned his memoir. He then founded Prison Fellowship, which now serves prisoners, former prisoners, and advocates for criminal justice reform.
D.L. Moody founded Moody Bible Institute in 1886 as a school for evangelization. Since then, it has expanded into correspondence programs, curriculum creation and hosting its own seminary.
