Honoring the Beautiful Names of Men in Prison

Pastor Andy Hanson recently led inmates at Handlon and Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, Mich., through a lesson on the topic of caring for others.

Using the newly published book Precious Lord, Take My Hand, which he co-wrote, Hanson talked on that evening about how inmates can reach out and care for one another.

“As we explore together this arm of Christ’s church behind these walls, we will look at a number of ways we can be an intentional blessing to others,” said Hanson, pastor of Celebration Fellowship, a CRC congregation based at the Ionia prison complex, during the meeting with inmate leaders.

Now that the book is available, Hanson said, he is using it to teach inmate leaders lessons on a variety of topics — not just being a blessing to others — so they can in turn lead small groups in discussions.

Funded with help from a donor, the new book is grouped around various topics and seasons of the church year and offers one lesson per week for 52 weeks. Above all, said Hanson, the book focuses on bringing inmates closer to God and helping readers to see themselves as “kingdom-changers” for the Lord.

“We wrote this book to give the men something they can learn from and to allow them to have conversations geared to their circumstances,” said Hanson, who has been serving Celebration Fellowship for five years.

“We want the men to understand their identity as new creations in Christ, which means God will use them. We want this book to be a tool to help them better understand how God can work through them.”

One of the key roles of the church is to disciple its members. This creates a unique challenge for the church doing ministry behind prison walls, said David Koetje, who joined with Hanson to write the book.

“The book is intended to provide our ‘Bound but Free’ church members reflective Bible study material that is designed for small groups,” he said. “This study is contextualized for the prison setting in a book that brings artistic beauty into incredibly bland prison settings.”

Many colorful images, created by well-known artists, are placed throughout the book, including one of Jesus breaking bread, another of praying hands, another of someone visiting a prisoner, and yet another of a group of worshipers carrying flickering candles under a starlit sky.

“We wanted the book to be beautiful because prison itself is ugly,” said Hanson. “There is no sense of awe communicated, no sense of standing before a holy God, inside of prison.

“And the prisoners themselves are being continually told they are ugly. But this book is a beautiful book for beautiful people. We want them to enjoy God’s beauty. We want them to know they aren’t ugly.”

When he first came to the prison five years ago, Hanson used Timothy Leadership Training Institute materials to teach different skills and lessons to inmates.

But after a time, he and others who are affiliated with Celebration Fellowship saw the need to come up with their own material focusing on the prison experience.

Some inmates want to become leaders, while others don’t. Some inmates have a church background, while others don’t. Essentially, they need biblical material that is relevant to them.

“We wanted a book that addresses the needs and concerns and the situation the prisoners are in,” said Hanson.

The book begins with a section on caring for God’s people and then focuses on Advent, providing topics appropriate to that season. Other sections address the foundations of faith, Lent, being members of a worshiping community, living a life of gratitude, becoming free of addiction, and the challenges inmates face when they leave prison.

The way it works each week, said Hanson, is that he joins with another pastor, Greg Vander Horn, to meet leadership teams of inmates at Handlon and at Bellamy Creek, across the street from Handlon, to go over the week’s lesson.

Those leaders then meet with a few inmates to review and discuss the materials in small groups before weekly worship services.

Each lesson contains a Bible reading and such practical questions as How can a person change an addiction to drugs to a commitment for Christ? and How can someone start reconciling with their family before leaving prison?

Inmates played an important role in helping to sort through and make suggestions on how to improve the lessons before the book was published.

“When we were writing this, I learned so much from the men and saw how the lessons resonated with them,” said Hanson.

The book was recently distributed to the men during weekly worship services. Along with that, said Hanson, they asked each inmate to write his name in the book.

“It was important to do this,” he said. “This book is a gift to them through God’s grace, and we didn’t want them to put their prison ID numbers in it. We wanted their names because God has called us each by name.”

Although the book will soon be available to the general public, the most pressing challenge is to place copies into the hands of Christian inmates in other prison settings.

Anyone wishing for more information on the book can contact Celebration Fellowship Church or email David Koetje at [email protected].