Recently, we witnessed a powerful lesson in love through one of our women’s prison ministry team members in the Republic of the Congo.
I had seen the large pineapple sticking out of Ida’s purse as we walked into the prison for our weekly Friday service. Her daughter’s birthday was that Saturday, so I thought it was for the celebration.
When we arrived in the courtyard, Ida asked one of the ladies to peel and cut the pineapple into enough pieces for everyone present to have some. We then conducted our normal outreach activities—singing, praying, and sharing a Bible meditation.
Fruit of the Spirit
After the meditation, and after we had given the small bags of soap and milk to each woman that we provide every week, Ida got up to retrieve the bowl of cut up pineapple. She asked everyone in the group to sit down.
Ida then approached individual women, encouraging them to take a piece of the fruit. When each did so, in a soft voice she quoted portions from these two New Testament passages:
- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22–23).
- Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:4–7).
Calm
As Ida gently spoke these verses over each woman, an unusual quiet descended. No one said a word. We all sensed the calming, precious power of His Word that removes blinders and lifts the darkness.
When our team visited again last Friday, the women circled in closer to us and encouraged each other to join our time together.
Several of the women have since told us in confidence: “While you’re with us, we appear to be getting along. But once you leave, we say cruel words and make prejudiced remarks toward each other. We’re condemning, angry, and intolerant of the prison rules.
“But when Ida sat us down and said those verses to us, we were quiet afterward.”
Please join me in praying for lasting fruit to result from Ida’s vivid demonstration of God’s Word.
—Based on a recent report by Barb Sorensen, an Alliance international worker who 10 years ago began a prison ministry team in Brazzaville, Congo’s capital city.
What You Can Do
Pray
Use the weekly Alliance Prayer Requests to join the Alliance family in interceding on behalf of our teams in Africa and worldwide, who often serve in challenging circumstances that require Holy Spirit–inspired wisdom and creativity to communicate God’s love to those who don’t know Him.
Learn More
Read “From Shame to Hope,” an Alliance Life article that contains more details about Barb and her team’s outreach to inmates in Congo.