Leadership Journal

Several nationwide prison ministries report the current inmate crisis in America—that 1 in every 99 adults is currently incarcerated and that the recidivism rate is over 70 percent. But another aspect of this crisis is largely overlooked: the children. Today 2.2 million kids under age 18 have a parent in prison, and those children are seven times more likely than their peers to end up in jail.

Local churches are finding among these kids a new ministry field. And their new partner is AWANA Clubs International. A program called Returning Hearts rewards well-behaved fathers in maximum-security prisons with opportunity to restore relationships with their children. The annual event is a carnival of sorts for dads and their kids, held on the prison grounds.

In 2007, the Returning Hearts event at Louisiana State Penitentiary attracted over 600 volunteers from churches in 21 states. One of them was Phil Zilinksi from Fox Valley Baptist Church in Dundee, Illinois. "As a pastor it has been refreshing to see men who want to take the responsibility of fatherhood seriously again," he said.

AWANA has followed up with a 52-week discipleship program for fathers in prison called Malachi Dads. Inmates attend weekly meetings, write regular letters to their children (including their testimonies), work on a GED, begin a vocational program, attend a weekly church service within the prison, and memorize Psalm 1—all with the support and supervision of local church volunteers.

More than 150 men in several prisons are already engaged. "How awesome would it be for a locked up man to show a good example [to his kids]?" asks Summer Slater, a corrections officer at Louisiana State Penitentiary. "You got to break the cycle, and you got to do it somewhere."