Lutherans urged to help at prison

MORE than 600 of the 968 convicts and remandees in Buimo jail in Lae are Lutherans so the church’s Lae city circuit needs to work closely with the prison rehabilitation programme, a pastor says.
Buimo prison chaplain Ps Nathan Simon urged the Lae city circuit to appoint 16 youth leaders and elders from parishes to work together in spiritual development programmes on Wednesdays and Sundays with inmates.
“God has created a person in his own image as a whole being but the spiritual being departs from the person and he or she walks into Buimo jail only with physical self after a court finds him or her guilty of an offence,” Simon said.
Simon was speaking to the Yabem district and Lae city circuit executives and members during the 31st conference of the circuits at Our Saviour Lutheran Church at Eriku.
The conference theme was ‘Liberated by God’s Grace’ taken from 2 Corinthians 5:18.
“Who will take care of the prison rehabilitation and ministry programmes in Buimo while the prison is in the heart of Lae city circuit?” Simon asked.
He said that Lae city circuit has the responsibility to restore the spiritual being of prisoners because more than 600 inmates were Lutheran Church members.
“We  proclaim that by God’s grace we are liberated but in Buimo jail, prisoners are soul-searching for that freedom – spiritually, socially, mentally and physically – that we enjoy for granted outside.”
He said most males were jailed for drugs, rape and murder while females were convicted mainly for crimes relating to marital affairs.