Perhaps you know the refreshment of perceiving someone’s eagerness for growth in faith—perhaps that person has even asked you to come alongside them for fellowship and for discipleship. Nearly 11 years ago, I encountered a whole new field of that eagerness in the unique and defined population of the California State Prisons near Fresno, Calif.

It began with a single letter from an individual on the D-Yard at Corcoran State Prison’s Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (SATF)—level 4 security. “Do you ever write to prisoners?” he asked.

(Note: A yard at SATF Corcoran is a distinct imprisonment segment of assigned security level within the larger institution; each yard is enclosed in razor wire and has both a central watchtower and five other points of watch, one in each of the five housing/cell units that surround a central exercise area about the size of a soccer field. Yard populations these days run at about 750–800 men; in August 2006, each had more than 1,000! The whole complex is surrounded by electric fence and watchtowers. Along one edge of each yard is a long administrative building for offices, education, chapel, medical services, cafeteria, etc.)

Getting to know the inmate who wrote, and getting to know a believing friend of his there, I quickly discovered the strong desire among the believers in those isolated, sequestered communities that someone from the church outside would reach in for fellowship. Because of God’s providential work prior to my involvement, the men inquiring were seeking the kind of handling of Scripture that a Reformed perspective brings. That desire for comradeship in faith far outstripped the involvement of churches at that time. I began, then, to seek the proper clearance to teach inside the yard in the chapel. That Bible study, with 8–10 men, has continued ever since. The population has changed over time due to transfer, but there has always been interest.

The second petition for fellowship came about 8 years ago from men on two of the yards at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, Calif. A faithful pastor from the United Reformed Church had gained clearance and gone in, but he was called to a pastorate out of state. Here were another 35–40 men hoping and waiting for someone to fellowship with them around God’s Word and to bring them a solid handling of the Bible. Like the situation at SATF Corcoran, the men engaged one another in Bible study regularly, even constantly, but there was a deficit of bridge fellowship with the church outside, and a strong longing for that gospel companionship. There are always new persons in this continuing fellowship because of transfer, and often there are young believers because of conversion during imprisonment.

A couple of years ago, one of the men who had been involved with the SATF Bible study was himself transferred to the other side of Corcoran State Prison. Corcoran’s two facilities comprise a vast population—more than 8,800 persons! From his new yard he wrote to our church and petitioned for partnership. He said he was confident he could rally 10 or 15 who would be interested. Very early in my experience with them, there were 30. This fellowship has continued.

The next yard-opportunity reveals something about the inter-prison connectedness of the incarcerated believing community. At the end of last year I received an email from a staff Protestant chaplain,whom I had never met, from Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, Calif. A group of believers with Reformed conviction was petitioning that someone would lead Bible study there.

There is a history behind that request. Sonora Orthodox Presbyterian Church Pastor David Bush and some volunteers from his congregation have a twice-weekly presence at the Jamestown, Calif. facility called Sierra Conservation Center. At least four men who had deeply appreciated Pastor Bush’s work had been transferred to Chowchilla. The petition had begun with them. But when I got to Valley State to meet the 16 or so that had gathered, I recognized three who had been members of my own studies in the other places! I then learned that there was a fourth, and a couple weeks later, a fifth was transferred in.

At present, I have ongoing fellowship with 50–100 men from five yards; in every case the prisoners petitioned for the comradeship in faith and in the knowledge of Scripture! How much more opportunity might there be? While I’m involved at three prisons, there are actually seven prisons within direct reach of Fresno churches; the combined population exceeds 34,000! Further, in the greater San Joaquin Valley, churches have about 20 prisons within reach. My experience so far with the believers where I’ve worked would indicate that on virtually any yard volunteers would be gladly welcomed.

The prison system is a unique field of need. Though the State of California exercises considerable effort to recognize and provide for the legal right of its prisoners to practice the faith of their choosing, funds are not sufficient to have religion-specific staff readily available to the population in any significant proportion, even in the major faith categories. What this means is that without volunteers, the inmates are, for the most part, intensely on their own to be the church to one another.

When I first came to Corcoran SATF, the 7,500+ men in the then-overcrowded institution had one Protestant staff chaplain available to them. Also, every staff chaplain in the California Department of Corrections is called upon to manage all the administrative needs of all the faiths on whatever yard their office is located: room assignments and scheduling, volunteer clearance paperwork, special dietary permissions or festival foods, non-threatening ritual equipment, usage of set-apart holy ground areas, requests, complaints, etc. I’m not seeking to criticize the state or undervalue the work of faithful chaplains; but, the task is simply too large. At Corcoran, both the population issue and the staffing issue have improved, but I mention the numbers to show how much fellowship and community relationship with the church outside can mean to those inside.

There was a time over the last couple of years that I wondered if I should approach the RPCNA and ask if I could be sent as a full-time missionary to minister in as many prisons as possible. A providential connection with the executive director of Metanoia Prison Ministries, Mark Casson, opened my thinking to greater possibilities—a hope of impact in relationship that could go far beyond just “How many places could Mr. McCracken go?”

I became acquainted with Mark because of our respective prison work and because he served as an elder in Fresno’s Sierra View PCA church. Years earlier, Mark had himself been an inmate along with Dion Marshall, the man who, after his release from prison, founded Metanoia. Metanoia’s goal is to partner with many of our churches and member-volunteers for a broad and enduring relationship impact through correspondence discipleship and face-to-face mentoring.

When the PCA as a whole denomination saw the value of Metanoia’s work and embraced it as an integral part of its Mission to North America efforts, the participation of volunteers began to increase tremendously. In 2010 there were 25 volunteers from five churches reaching out in correspondence fellowship to about 75 inmates. Today there are more than 800 correspondents and 1,200 prisoners being served. In 2010 no mentorship ministry had been developed. Today, because staff is available to recruit and to train, more than 115 mentors meet with prisoners monthly for that life-on-life, face-to-face fellowship. Take just a moment to reflect on the church-to-inmate relationship impact that represents!

I’m delighted that, because of Mark Casson’s request that I take up the new work of directing Metanoia’s ministry on the West Coast, and because of our Reformed Presbyterian Pacific Coast Presbytery’s call to the work, I can operate as an RP missionary-servant to Metanoia, maintaining and deepening my teaching relationship with the men with whom I have had long-term fellowship while also cultivating among our churches a culture of awareness and investment in this very ready fellowship and harvest field. If prison ministry among us could develop beyond the golden example of a few scattered individuals and become characteristic of us—characteristic internally when congregations think of outreach efforts, characteristic denomination wide, and characteristic as a joint effort between sister denominations—the potential for impact would far surpass what we have yet imagined. We won’t soon run out of opportunity!

Tim McCracken is an RP minister who is the San Joaquin, Calif., regional director for Metanoia Prison Ministries (PCA) – Mission to North America. Learn more about Metanoia Prison Ministries and involvement opportunities at pcamna.org/metanoia-ministries/