One Parish, One Prisoner
A Program of Underground Ministries

We are partnering with Underground Ministries for a new initiative called “One Parish, One Prisoner.”  We are one of three pilot churches in northwest Washington State taking part in this program.  We are writing letters and building a relationship with somebody who is currently incarcerated, in hopes that we will be able to form the foundation of a support system for him as he re-enters the community upon his release.  We are excited to be a part of this program, and for the transformation that we hope to see — of those who are experiencing incarceration, of our congregation, and, eventually, a transformation of the way that our society views incarceration.

Here is a bit more about the project, from the Underground Ministries website (see the link above for their full website):

It started as an idea: “one parish, one prisoner.” We learned there are roughly the same amount of prisoners in Washington State as there are churches. What if, instead of starting a massive, expensive agency, we helped each church build relationship and come around just one person leaving prison? It would empty the prison system. It would change every Church. It would be mass resurrection.

It would be a movement of mutual transformation.

We are just getting started.

Underground Ministries is facilitating a pilot partnership with the WA Department of Correction (DOC), the Seattle Archdiocese, the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the Northwest Coast Presbytery, to experiment with helping church communities build relationships with incarcerated individuals releasing to their communities.